Yesterday I was sitting in the parking lot of the school where my little brother has his little league baseball practices and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. The practices are 2 hours long and it is almost a 30 minute drive from home from the field. Driving home was out of the question and there really was no other place to go, so I decided to download a book to my iPad.

As I sat trying to think of books I had been meaning to read but hadn’t, “The Shack” came to mind. I don’t really remember the first time I heard someone tell me about it, though I do know discussion of it has come up randomly over the years (with even Heather’s grandmother asking if I’d read it!).  After a few more minutes of browsing the iBooks store, I decided to download it.

As I began to read the book, I really didn’t know where it was going. It started out a little different than the plot I was expecting (I will not spoil anything in this post!) As I continued to read through the remainder of Daniel’s practice, the night that followed and this afternoon I almost couldn’t put it down. Though there are some points where you have to stop and re-read the sentences to catch their meaning, the beauty that flows through the words of the book are amazing. I found myself thinking: “this makes sense, this is the God I have been seeking!” It’s not that “The Shack” changes the view of God from scripture (just the opposite in fact), it kind of takes the God of scripture (along with the rest of the Trinity) and brings them to a close personal understanding. As the main character interacts with the three person Trinity (in the form of a big African woman, a Jewish carpenter and a free spirited Asian woman) I found myself interacting with them in a way I haven’t in a long time.

I can’t believe how much this book meshed with the God I have been seeing lately, the God I have discovered through the Bible. It is not the God of the “institution” but rather the God of creation and love.  The roles of grace and forgiveness found in “The Shack” are mirrored straight from scripture in ways that I think we have forgotten to understand them. God’s creation is so much more and his love for everyone is greater than one could ever understand (though we try to judge from our understanding; and fail).

While I know that “The Shack” is a work of fiction (and yes for some of you shaking your heads, it is NOT scripture), I believe that the God of the Bible is revealed in its pages. God has been teaching me all kinds of new things about his role in this world over the past few months and this book has helped at least give me some understanding of what he has been doing- showing me who he is.

And he is a God I am in love with. A God who is in love with me. And you.

That is the beauty of this book, the meaning of its words. If you are someone struggling to understand God, to understand loss, to understand the world- pick up this book. While it is not a final answer on anything, nor is it based on a real life occurance, it IS filled with (I beleive) a true glimpse into who God is and what he desires for us.

God IS love. May we live as such.

“Earth is crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning