I'm now rereading a book my mother sent me last week, The Shack. I had read about it in the Family Christian Bookstore flyer, and was excited to get it. It starts out like your average fiction book, interesting story line that pulls you in. Around chapter 5 you get blindsided by a very interesting twist. The main character meets with God and the conversations that take place from that point forward, not to mention the descriptions of the amazing relationship of the Trinity, well, it gives a person a lot to think about. I can say that I've given a lot of thought to this little book and then reflected on my own relationship with God.
Here's another sample from the book (this might be a longish entry...sorry!):
"...I always liked Jesus better than you. He seemed so gracious and you seemed so..."
"Mean? Sad, isn't it? He came to show people who I am and most folks only believe it about him. They still play us off like good cop/bad cop most of the time, especially the religious folk. When they want people to do what they think is right, they need a stern God. When they need forgiveness, they run to Jesus."
"Exactly," Mack said with a point of his finger.
"But we were all in him. He reflected my heart exactly. I love you and invite you to love me."
"But why me? I mean, why Mackenzie Allen Phillips? Why do you love someone who is such a screw-up? After all the things I've felt in my heart toward you and all the accusations I made, why would you even bother to keep trying to get through to me?"
"Because that is what love does," answered Papa. "Remember, Mackenzie, I don't wonder what you will door what choices you will make. I already know. Let's say, for example, I am trying to teach you how not to hide inside of lies, hypothetically of course," she said with a wink. "And let's say that I know it will take you forty-seven situations and events before you will actually hear me-that is, before you will hear clearly enough to agree with me and change. So when you don't hear me the first time, I'm not frustrated or disappointed, I'm thrilled. Only forty-six more times to go. And that first time will be a building block to construct a bridge of healing that one day-that today-you will walk across."
"Okay, now I'm feeling guilty," he admitted.
"Let me know how that works for you," Papa chuckled. "Seriously, Mackenzie, it's not about feeling guilty. Guilt'll never help you find freedom in me. The best it can do is make you try harder to conform to some ethic on the outside. I'm about the inside."
"But, what you said. I mean, about hiding inside lies. I guess I've done that one way or another most of my life."
"Honey, you're a survivor. No shame in that. Your daddy hurt you something fierce. Life hurt you. Lies are one of the easiest paces for survivors to run. It gives you a sense of safety, a place where you only have to depend on yourself. But it's a dark place, isn't it?"
"So dark," Mack muttered with a shake of his head.
"But are you willing to give up the power and safety it promises you? That's the question."
"What do you mean?" asked Mack, looking up at her.
"Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. But the fortress needs walls, so you build some. These are the justifications for your lies...."
This definitely hits on some major points that give a person a lot to chew on, but its good reading and very interesting the entire way through. I hope people get a chance to read it and reflect on it-I think it'll change your walk with God.
