I heard about a family that got themselves lost in a seven-acre corn maze in Massachusetts. Don’t laugh, it’s true. Of course the whole premise of a corn maze is to get through it, not to get lost, but this particular family got themselves lost and stayed that way. They stayed lost so long, they were the last mazers on site and the sun had gone down. To make matters worse, they had their three-month-old baby and five-year-old child with them. (It’s probably not a good idea to bring along a little baby to a corn maze. I’m just saying they probably should have reconsidered that.)

I’ve never been lost in a corn maze myself. I was lost once in a cornfield, though. When I was little, my grandparents owned a farm and they planted corn on quite a few acres of it. I can remember chasing a pretty blue butterfly into the cornfield one sunny day. I followed the butterfly far enough into the cornfield that when I looked up to find where I was I realized that I was lost. The corn had grown well above my head and I had lost my bearings. I could see the blue sky above me, but that was it.

(Just for comparison, I was about nine years old and alone, cell phones had not been invented, and my grandparent’s farm was about forty-four acres with maybe twenty acres of it planted with corn.)

When I heard about this poor family lost in a corn maze I had a few thoughts. First, I remember that I didn’t panic when I realized I was lost in my grandparent’s cornfield. I never even told anyone I had gotten lost. Even in my nine-year-old mind, I knew that if I just kept walking in a straight line, I would eventually walk out of the cornfield. Now I might have ended up on the far side of the field, but I knew there was no way I wouldn’t get out on my own.

Again, I didn’t have a cell phone as this family did, but if I’d had the phone I now have I could have called 9-1-1 like they did (Yes, they really did call 9-1-1), or even better, I could have pulled myself up on GPS and followed it’s instructions on how to get out, or called the maze owners and gotten help. Also, the story in the news said that there were signs posted instructing lost mazers to text in for clues on how to get out.

Instead, as darkness was falling, this family began to panic. I’ve mentioned before that panic never serves us well. They had made a poor choice in bringing a baby with them, bugs were beginning to bite, and I am sure the five-year-old was getting really scared in a darkened cornfield. Still, they had everything they needed to get themselves out of this bad situation on their own, if they had not let panic take hold of them.

Even if they had been in right the middle of those seven acres, walking straight in any direction would have had them out in just a few minutes. Instead they freaked out, shut off their brains, and had to call in reinforcements through 9-1-1. A police department K-9 unit was dispatched and found them a mere twenty-five feet from the maze entrance.

Twenty-five.

Feet.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.”

If we ever have the feeling of panic rising up within us, we need to remember that it is not coming from God. The Bible tells us that He is not the author of chaos. We have to learn to stay calm and take inventory of our situation. We should pray for wisdom and for peace in the situations we face. We can ask for a clear mind and we can fight against the panic that wants to confuse us and keep us lost.

I doubt that many of us will ever find ourselves lost in a corn maze, but we may feel lost in other situations. Before we hit the panic button, lets just stop and think. What resources do we have on hand? What wisdom can we call upon to help us? And remember, even if we are completely out of control of our situation, our God is not. Its in times like these you put your trust in Him, take a deep breath and move forward, not in fear, but in strength and confidence. He’s likely already provided you with all you need to make it out of your maze.