But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:25

Have you ever been in a situation where all you wanted was a way out, an escape route? Who am I kidding? We’ve all been there. The walls, real or imaginary, are closing in around us. We may feel as if we’re suffocating. All kinds of illogical thoughts crowd our minds, and all we want is a clear path to something better than where we are. I can’t begin to count the messes I’ve found myself in that I wanted to be free of….sooner rather than later.

I recall on our honeymoon that Ken saw a drive-in movie theater that he wanted to check out. I was game until I learned that the feature was a horror movie. I tried to tell him that I was terrified of horror movies but he really wanted to go. So, we went and, as I told him, I was terrified. I promptly slid into the floor of the car, and tucked myself under the dashboard, with my hands over my ears. It was the last horror movie that he took me to, but after we left, we went back to our campground to spend the night in a tent. (We’re nature lovers, not city dwellers, so a camping honeymoon was right up our alley.) Not so that night. I heard everything that moved—and there was a lot of movement. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough the next morning.

And then there was a trip to Gatlinburg, TN, when my whole family wanted to take the skylift to the other side of the mountain. I’m also very uncomfortable with heights and swinging from a cable in a car full of people was not my cup of tea, but I didn’t want to keep all of them from going. So we loaded into the cable cars, the kids left the platform first and then Ken and I launched. I couldn’t breathe, my heart leaped up to my throat and my face became white as a bleached sheet. Ken really thought I was having a heart attack. But he realized my terror was real, perhaps unfounded, but real and he never asked me to ride another skylift or any of his favorite roller coasters again.

Just a few years ago, we went to a fall festival with our daughter’s family and, after viewing all the exhibits and souvenir booths, our granddaughter wanted to go into the corn maze. I don’t know why we allowed ourselves to be talked into this little bit of lunacy, but in we went. Two demoralizing hours later, after all our tracking skills were exhausted and we just wanted a cold drink of water and our air-conditioned car, we finally located the exit. I can’t imagine a human fascination that clamors for the opportunity to become lost and hot and thirsty, but we do it over and over again. We have, however, jointly sworn off corn mazes.

We haven’t tried the craze that swept our country and the world a few years ago and is still going strong. That would be the Escape Room phenomenon. As I understand them, these well-designed rooms are accompanied by a storyline provided by narration and all the clues that a good team of adventurers needs to make their escape. But I can’t get past the idea of being locked into a space with a group of people for a specified time period, people who, being human, are going to argue about the best pathway out of that particular dilemma, where loud noises will bounce from wall to wall assaulting my very sensitive ears. And not the least disturbing is the statistic I read that only thirty percent of those bold adventurers accomplish their escape. Those are not hopeful odds. My hope would be built upon the fact that the person with the key would open thedoor when the allowed time had elapsed. I could be assured that escape would come because the proprietor would be anxious to ready the room for another group of hearty adventurers who were willing to pay the price. I would just need to survive the intervening chaos.

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. Psalm 119:114

And wouldn’t you know, life mirrors that very description. In the chaos that surrounds us, loud voices tell us how to live, what to wear, what job suits us best. Others tell us we’re not good enough, pretty or handsome enough, wealthy enough…and the list goes on until we don’t know which way to turn. I’ve learned that the only way to “escape” the giant room of life is by searching out or creating a quiet space to spend time with Jesus. In His presence, I can escape from a confusing and disastrous room of chaos into a beautiful room of peace and comfort. Won’t you join me there?

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4