The Escape Room

Recently daughter -Jo and family ‘did’ an escape room. Locked into a room for sixty minutes they had to find a way to escape. They worked together, found clues, solved puzzles, cracked codes, completed challenges and escaped…

I sometimes wonder if we treat New Year’s Resolutions like an escape room. We lock ourselves in to lose weight, exercise more, learn a new skill, build a broken relationship, but we view it as an escape room. Perhaps we’ve tried before and failed, so to avoid disappointment we search for a way out…

About a month ago Tommy told me his story. He’d worked around London all his life and had recently retired to Lowestoft. He’d been married twice, and had been with his current partner, Julie, for eighteen years. On Christmas Day Tommy was planning to propose to Julie…

Yesterday I asked Tommy about his Christmas Day proposal. All had gone well. Julie wasn’t expecting it, but was delighted. Now they’re working out plans for the wedding. For them this isn’t a half-hearted resolution or an escape room with an exit code. Tommy and Julie are committed to each other and don’t want to escape.

This morning I read of Abraham and Isaac… God has promised that Abaham will be the father of a great nation, but he and Sarah are childless. Eventually, after many years of waiting, a son is born to them. They’re delighted!

God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham travels for three days, builds an altar, arranges the wood, ties Isaac and prepares to sacrifice him. Abraham’s locked in a room of obedience and faith from which there’s no escape.

Then God provides a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac. With God’s help they’ve solved the puzzle, cracked the code and exited the escape room.

This morning I’m musing on rooms I find myself locked in… relationships, activities, commitments… Which ones do I stay in… which ones am challenged to escape from… which ones might God be providing an exit strategy?