My Thoughts on The Shack...

I find it interesting how that there are few fence-sitters when it comes to this infamous book. People are either hot or cold on the subject of The Shack. I was one of the cold people on this subject. I resented it and had no desire to read it's contents. It was only when I was in a situation in my life that I had nothing to go on, no how-to manual on dealing with a particular crisis in my life that this book was dropped in my lap. In the last three weeks of reading I have been challenged and encouraged by the heartbreakingly honest words of Mack as well as the encouragement from Jesus.

I have had so many "aha!" moments through each chapter as Mack talked with Papa, Jesus and Sarayu (the Holy Spirit). I have highlighted so many lines throughout each chapter because in one way or another I was challenged in my own heart about things I didn't think I thought. I found my self indentifying with this man.

Mack is any man, woman, or child that has experienced something difficult in life. He is the devastated parent after a death of a beloved child, an exhausted woman who knows the right answers but can't see her relationship with God anymore, and the child who finds herself devastated in a way he/she never could imagine.

This book is not for those who have never been hurt. It's not for those who don't want to be challenged in their belief of how personally connected God is to his children . This book is written for those who have experience such an immense trauma that their life has been rocked upside down and they have no idea where to turn and wonders if God sees them where they are at in life.

Last week the sentence that grabbed my eyes and gripped my thoughts was at the end of chapter 8. Mack and Papa are having a somewhat heated discussion and Mack says, "One last comment...I just can't imagine any final outcome that would justify all this." [I fill in my own heartbreak in "all this"]
"Mackenzie." Papa rose out of her chair and walked around the table to give him a big squeeze. "We're not justifying it. We are redeeming it."

I will end on that note for tonight. I'll write more on chapter nine later when I have untangled some of the mess in my mind and have allowed the Lord to talk me through some of these things that have been planted in my heart.