When life overwhelms, it's natural to try to get away. Escape holds a powerful allure amid hard times. In every season, a myriad of pressures, challenges, regrets, and disappointments plague our lives. These trials and tribulations often provoke us to cry, "I've got to get outta here!"

Even though we have many good reasons for trying to escape, as Christians, we have even better reasons to depend courageously on our Savior in the ups and downs of life. Pastor Rush Witt helps us learn to bravely run to Christ instead of running away.

I Want to Escape explores the reasons why we so often want to run and offers hope-filled direction to experience Jesus's grace and mercy to comfort us and lead us on a better path. You will learn to recognize the classic signs of escapism: denial, distraction, self-destruction, and thoughts of death and to instead take the path of courageous dependence on Jesus, who remains closer than a brother even when we're ready to run. At the very center of Christian courage stands not a principle or a system, but a Person who intimately knows each one of us.

I Want to Escape is part of the Ask the Christian Counselor series. This series walks readers through their deepest and most profound questions. Each question is unpacked by an experienced counselor that gives readers the tools to understand their struggle and how the gospel brings hope and healing to the problem they are facing.

Witt, Rush

Rush Witt, MDiv, DMin, is Lead Pastor of Paramount Church in Bexley, Ohio and a certified counselor. Rush and his wife, Kathryn, have three daughters and two sons.