The Shack

I recently just finished this book which was a Christmas present from Shane. His mom had said it was really good so he bought me a copy. I knew nothing about it when I started reading it. Apparently, it's #15 on the New York Bestsellers list and I hope it keeps moving up in place. When I first started reading it, I was like, "man this is going to be a sad and depressing story." Then as I got further into it, I was thinking this man either had some incredible hallucination or it had to be true. I decided to believe the majority of his encounter as a matter of my faith.

The basic story of the book is about a man who experiences tragedy in his life and gets an "invitation" to meet God at the place of the tragedy. Through his recount of the meeting, you learn and hear many things from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It's hard to believe and follow at first, but gradually the experience makes you dumbfounded.

The basic points I got from this book are as follows.

1. God does not ultimately care what religion you are or how many committees you serve on at church. He just wants you to have a PERSONAL one on one relationship with him.


2. He wants us to give up our dependence on earthly securities (jobs, politics, rules, etc..) and TRUST in HIM.


3. We are not on this earth to be the most successful, have the most stuff or acquire the most awards....etc....We are here to LOVE people and have relationships with them.


4. We have got to take care of this earth. I'm not a huge "save the earth" person, but the Holy Spirit is very concerned for the shape the earth is in.

Now please don't think I'm loony for this post. I would like to hear your thoughts if you happen to read this book. I hope to start focusing my energies more towards relationships and loving people more often than the mundane things that will ultimately not make me happy.