"The Shack"

I heard a lot of talk about a good book everyone was reading. I've heard all that before, so I wasn't interested in it. BUT when a good friend of mine actually explained it to me, I was really interested in it. I couldn't wait until he was done reading it to get the book, and I couldn't read it fast enough either I thought, so I bought the audio book. It took me about 3 days (while at work) to listen to it with the little distractions between the day. It's about 9 hours long. Anyway enough of that, let me get to the book.

This book is fictional, but I believe this book is anointed in so many ways. There is a personal inner healing that takes place inside your soul, it is very emotional, and goes to your core. You get to think How God views things. You get a glimps of the trinity. And at the end you feel freed!

OK, I am going to talk about the inside of the book, so if you don't want to know, don't read any further.

The book is about a man named Mack who from his childhood leaves home early because of an abusive drunk father. Then moves to a point in his life with his 3 children. He takes them camping (without his wife) and during the camping trip, 2 of his oldest kids are in the canoe and it flips, one pops up the other is under. He rushes to save him. In all the comotion, his youngest daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer. Long story short, they never find the body, but they find her blood in the shack in the way back woods. Fast forward to his present day (about 5 years later), where he has a few more kids, and he and his family have struggled through the last several years over that incident. His wife has a great relationship with God (she calls God PaPa) but Mack struggles. He blames God for his daughters death.

One winter day, he goes to the mailbox to get the mail. There is a letter in there that says, meet me at the Shack, signed PaPa. He is not sure what to make of this... Is this the killer? Is his wife cheating on him? Is this some kind of sick joke? Is this from God? Not sure what to believe, he decides to tell his best friend, and he goes up for the weekend. Once he's up there, emotions fly, God shows up in trinity form, and they all work on him during that entire weekend. Mack gets some alone time with each one. So many wounds and mindsets that get healed in Mack, and forgiveness that follows frees him from the hurt that he's been carrying around all these years. There is a lot of laughing going on, and there is a lot of crying too. Very emotional book!

One part I will go into detail, is that when Mack spends time with Jesus, they go for a walk. They reach the lake and Jesus says we're going to walk on water. Mack says won't my feet get wet? Jesus said sure, it's water! Mack gets to the edge of the water and then he decides to take a step. And it works, he's on top of the water, shoes soaked, but he's on top! He turns around to see Jesus sitting down on the side taking off his sandals, then Mack laughs, gets off the water and takes off his soaked shoes and socks too.

The ending is truly a secret so I will not give that away.

It is one of those books that when you are done, you will want to share it with others too!

There are many "God Thoughts" in this book, and some that mess with yours/others "theology" The trinity described in this book is what I have envisioned it to be. There are some who say they are all the same, but I do not think that to be the case, for many biblical reasons, but for the best reason is this. The book of Revelations shows Jesus and God as separate beings. Jesus (the lamb) takes the scroll from God who sits on the throne. (Rev 5:7) However when Jesus was on earth, there is a union (acting in one accord) of all three. (Read my post on the Trinity if you'd like)

I recomend this book to all. For many reasons, but the biggest is that it brings light to the way we view God. GOD IS LOVE! It shows us the Heart of God in a real and understandable way. We blame God for so many things and it wasn't even Him who did it. Here's a quote from the book "Just because God can work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies, doesn't mean God orchestrates the tragedies. Don't ever assume that when God uses something, He caused it." "God doesn't purpose something bad in your life, but that doesn't mean He can't use it for His Glory!"


"The Shack" by William Young