The Shack

If you haven't read the book "The Shack" yet, I would recommend you find a copy.

I haven't been touched by a fiction book since "Gone With The Wind" so you know it's been a LONG time. Of course...there are those Christian naysayers who want to condemn the author of blaspheming God when William Young's portrayal of God is an Aunt Jemimah type of person.

And as I read the book, I truly began to think that the story was true. How could anyone write with just detail...without it really happening.

But let me tell you what touched me about this book....the truth of the character of God...and the message that will touch millions of people who have never thought about believing in God. This book, in my opinion, is an evangelistic book, being used by God to bring others closer to Him.

I'm not one to get so immersed in books I become part of them, but in this book, I felt the pain of Mac's heart when his daughter was kidnapped and murdered. I felt the agony of his soul when he was faced with the truth.

In one part of the book, God....had cooked up a wonderful breakfast for Mac. After the breakfast, Mac is so confused about God's love. Mac cannot believe that God would love the man who murdered his daughter. Mac cannot believe that God would allow his daughter to be murdered. In this exchange of words, God allows Mac to become furious, angry, hurt and despondent.

Since I don't have the book in front of me, this is the exchange as I remember it.

Mac: How can you love this beast who took my beloved daughter?
God: I love.
Mac: Why did you let him live and my daughter die?
God: I have given men freedom of choice.
Mac: You are God. You could have changed the outcome ... but instead you let this beast roam free, still roaming free, and my daughter is gone, we've never found her body, we've only found her blood. Why did you chose my daughter to die?
God: Mac, I love all. I cannot separate my love in levels for what they do and do not do. They are my creation. I cannot choose one over the other.
Mac: I don't understand.
God: Okay, let's look at this another way. I will give you all your children back to you... you choose which one dies. Any of them...you choose which one you want to allow to die.
Mac: I can't do that...I love them all...I can't do that.
God: I know. Mac...every person on earth is my child.........now...choose Mac...think of your three children and choose which one you want to give as a sacrifice for the others.

Mac has fallen on the ground, sobbing and screaming "I cannot choose any of my children...why didn't you just take me instead. Why did you have to let my baby die? Why didn't you let me die instead. Couldn't you have allowed me to do this instead of one of my children????

God said...I think you're beginning to understand. I cannot choose any of my children to die...so I died for them all. My love for all of them is equal... I think you understand now, my son.

Toward the end of the book, you see Mac's character change. The message of the book is real. God is love...God's love gives us freedom...because God is love.

It's a powerful fiction book. None of it is true. But WOW.... the feelings are amazing.