Over the weekend I was so blessed to be able to assist in the “chaperoning” of a group of junior and senior high kids to the local corn maze. This adventure started out as any good chaperoning trip should – an hour long ride on a bus. Then we had the somewhat expected bus trouble ( blowing out a tire on the interstate), the highs and lows of drama ( Tennessee Won- YES, oh no Tennessee Lost- bummer) and then the fateful assignment from the youth leader. In the past it might have been the prayer for for food, or monitoring the boys restroom, or keeping one of “those” kids in your group, but tonight it was watch the dating couples.
Oh no, my heart froze, the dating couples in a corn maze, after dark! Luckily I had my trusty 15 inch maglite so I could pretend to be a officer of the law.
After finding the couples after they had already had escaped once on the hide ride, we went into the maze. A group consisting of 5 junior high boys, the 2 boys and their dates, myself, and 2 other chaperones entered the maze in that order. Quickly, the smaller boys dispeared into the corn as if they had been wisked away by aliens, only to have to be removed from the maze later in the evening apparently by the “corn cops”. I knew they were on their own, but I had a mission to stay on.
By this time, we had somehow found the outside loop of this maze, and march in long straight lines, in boy then girl order. These kids moved at rates of speed that seemed supernatural. They didn’t communicate with each other. They just kept plodded forward – heads slightly angled towards the ground, shoulders hunched over. It was so bad that all three of the chaperons expected at any moment the kids to turn around possessed by the corn with eyes wide and manic expressions on their faces. It had become a little bit frightening. This continued until we reached one of the “check points” in the maze and hollered “hey y’all, lets stop here” But no, undeterred, they continued blindly, on their seemingly possessed march through the corn. In desperation, my partner hollered out the name of one of the boys who then awoke from his state of hypnosis and returned to us. It was quite an adventure. After reconnoitering at the post for a few minutes one of the girls returned to us, and eventually we were able to round up the other couple, when they exited the maze via the entrance. I dunno how.
But here is one thing I know. That plodding – that determined focus to move forward, undettered by the distractions of life – that’s something to ponder today. One can look at it from two perspectives and I have been waffling on which one to attack. The first way could be to say that’s how we should live life – undeterred, focused on the path ahead, eyes on the prize. The second, well that’s for tomorrow. So, today, keep trudging through the corn, but know were you are going – heavenwward in Christ Jesus.
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 (New International Version)