The Shack

If you haven't already read the book The Shack, I highly recommend it.

The Shack revolves around Mack (Mackenzie) Philips. Four years before this story begins, Mack’s young daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family vacation. Though her body was never found, the police did find evidence in an abandoned shack to prove that she had been brutally murdered by a notorious serial killer who preyed on young girls. As the story begins, Mack, who has been living in the shadow of his Great Sadness, receives a strange note that is apparently from God. God invites Mack to return to this shack for a get together. Though uncertain, Mack visits the scene of the crime and there has a weekend-long encounter with God, or, more properly, with the godhead.

I have been trying to write this entry for days and have really struggled with what to say about the book in this blog. I know that there are many critics of the book who say, among other things, that it is not Biblically correct. I don't want to, nor will I, get into a huge theological debate over the subject. However, I feel a need to express my thoughts on the book. I will keep it simple, because to me it is simple. My opinion is that The Shack is a great work of FICTION that was never meant to be studied as theology. The story isn't about "religion" but rather a relationship which truthfully, isn't that what it's all about? My God is good. My God loves me. My God desires a relationship with me and he will not be limited by my stereotypes of who he is. This book really made me think about how I view God and the limits that I sometimes put on him. It left me with a yearning to know him more completely and a renewed desire to make him Lord over everything in my life.

I encourage you to read the book and form your own opinion.