S.O.S.
It’s been around as long as I can remember. In fact, it was adopted in 1906 as the default code to be used in a moment of distress, and primarily for those ships on the waters in perilous situations.
Previously, the letters CQD were the default code and it is thought that SOS was more easily communicated since the Morse Code was Dash-Dash-Dash-Dot-Dot-Dot-Dash-Dash-Dash. And, there would be no confusion about it having any other meaning. We often think of SOS as meaning Save Our Saucepan. No. Wait. That was for the scrubbing pad that was and probably is, so popular back in the day.
No. SOS does not mean Save Our Ship or even Same Old Ship. The Morse Code series was simply chosen as easy to communicate on the wired and wireless routes of distress communication. And no, the Titanic was not the first ship to use it. In fact, it seems the Titanic interspersed the old code (CQD) and the new code (SOS). Imagine the panic of the radio operator trying to get the word out… Help!
So, what did CQD stand for?
Maybe you don’t know because you never called out for distress! Actually, CQD stands for General Call Distress. I remember hearing the phrase “CQ, CQ” in a movie that my son loves so well. Can you guess it was in Contact? Sure had no clue what that meant back then!
Of course, this makes me think of those in distress all around us, and for many different reasons. Perilous times makes us call out for help. Distress causes up to look up from our low estate and search for salvation. Our struggle is often getting the attention of those who can provide the best help for the moment.
It was just reported that an elderly grandmother survived for several days with a fractured back after an accident on a lonely road in Texas. After swerving to avoid something she went off the road, over the hill and crashed by a pond. She pulled herself out of the car through the broken windshield and survived by soaking her t-shirt in a pond. Unable to crawl to the road, or to get anyone’s attention, she simply waited. And waited. Until help came.
We see these stories all the time. In pain. Trapped by the situation. Unable to call for help, we have grown to depend on our tech devices to help notify others when we are in need. But there are times and places that tech cannot give us our help. 911 is not always available, especially if you have no cell signal! Some plan for tragedy moments, but the probability of you having all your ducks in a row for each event is that you will only minimally be prepared for the moments of stress, or distress.
I’m just saying. There are things we know to do when that moment strikes, but we are not always prepared for the event.
I remember a Science Fiction story from my teen years. Part of the graduation scenario of this future time and place was that you would enter a “warp” device and end up on a planet somewhere in the universe and you would have to survive for an established time period. You did not know if the destination was hot or cold, wet or dry, jungle or desert. You prepared for the trip by trying to plan for all possibilities, and inevitably you had to trim your supplies down to a certain size package.
Generally speaking, there is nothing you can do to prepare for every contingency, but you can try your best to be a generalist to survive any disaster.
Take it to a spiritual thought for a moment. When we are struggling with the woes of life, and it seems like the stress is building and something is about to go “boom!”… then where do you go to find your answer?
David seems to be the one who writes more about this in his collections of songs (Psalms). If you can track them back to the event and put them into the context of the moment, they show us how we can — and should — learn to call on God in the moments of stress.
In a time of finally reaching the place where God wanted him, David writes a song that can easily be looked on as a prophetic Messianic psalm. But the one phrase I point out is this one:
“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.” (2 Samuel 22:7 ESV) (And Psalms 18:6)
You see, though we may read the collection of his songs in the book we call Psalms, David experienced an event in his life where he wrote and sang about the solution in one of the other books of the Bible. Here, in the second book of Samuel, David records his song how God delivered him out of the hand of King Saul. David describes God as his rock, fortress, and deliverer (verse 2 in both locations). He knew what God could do!
In a popular song by Dottie Rambo, I find these words comforting. As a child of God, I understand that my answer to my dry of distress cry comes from the source of my daily strength. Part of my answer to SOS comes from knowing where to turn to when the troubles assail. Instead of crying out to just anyone who will listen, I definitely turn to the Rock of my salvation.
Where do I go when there’s nobody else to turn to?
Who do I turn to when nobody wants to listen?
Who do I lean on when there’s no foundation stable?
I go to the Rock, I know He’s able, I go to the Rock
I go to The Rock for my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the Rock
Where do I hide till the storms have all passed over?
Who do I run to when the winds of sorrow threaten?
Is there a refuge in the time of tribulation?
When my soul needs consolation, I go to the Rock
I go to the Rock for my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the Rock
Who do you turn to when stressful times come? Some continually return to the same source where they feel they get the most assistance. They want a fish, instead of learning how to fish. That want a handout, instead of learning how to stand on their own! I want to know that there is a better place, a better source of answers, a better spiritual place to be. Especially when I need it the most.