So I haven’t written in several weeks and considering everything that has occurred in the last few weeks, I am surprised that I am writing now. I am fighting some pretty difficult circumstances that I won’t get into detail, just to let those reading know that these next few months will be a defining time of life whether for the good or the bad.
Recently, I have been rereading the Shack for I think the fifth time, always digging more out of it. In my current findings, my hope that is extracted out of the innumerous details and conversations is a bit broader. For those that haven’t read it, it is about a man, Mack, who lost his little girl to a brutal serial killer, this beat up shack in the wilderness being where they found the last evidence of the girl’s life. Three years later, God supposedly leaves a note in Mack’s mailbox to meet him at the shack for the weekend. Mack hesitantly walks into a weekend of conversation, fellowship and heartache with the God the father, “Papa”, Jesus, and “Sarayu”, the Holy Spirit. A great read for those who have their theology spectacles well intact. It will really help you break God out of that small box you put Him in.
Anyway, God provokes the meeting with a mysterious note for Mack to meet Him at the shack. Mack. not sure if it is a practical joke, the killer leading him away, or God Himself, he packs up and drives straight into the center of all His pain and despair over the last three years. When He does show up, is eyes immediately hit the spot of dried blood that was the last remains of his seven yr. old daughter, Missy. He lies beside it, caresses the strokes of blood as he cries out to a god he felt abandoned Him a long time ago. Even the cold metal of the gun tucked into his back feels like the only escape from his pain. You read on to see that the weekend in the Shack was strategically planned by God to boost Mack out of his past tragedies and to see God for who He really is, someone that wants to be in relationship with His creation.
For me, I am in a place of rock bottom, kind of living out my life as Mack did before the invitation to the Shack. Just dead, staying somewhat faithful enough to go to church and check off the list. The last couple of months, I feel like God has given me an escort back to my personal Shack, where all my pain, anger, and sadness live. Why does God bring us here in order to restore? The center of all my despair for life, for all my anger towards Him, the center of where all my hopelessness is stemmed from; this is where He wants to meet me? Everything around me is that reminder; wouldn’t that be harder for Him? Why doesn’t He bring me off to some mountain top like Moses or Elijah? A beautiful waterfall or still sunny afternoon lying in a hammock? No, let’s go where we can still smell the intensity of the blood and the tears, to dig to bottom of these roots and finally make a garden of weeds, productive. I’m still not that sure what that looks like for me, or what that requires me to do. I do know that is scares me, I don’t want to step foot into that again, just like Mack never wanted to return to the shack his girl was brutally murdered in. God, what kind of healing do you have in store?
I think essentially it is to meet us at the beginning of where the lies begin and we loose sight of how He really is. To realign us away from the distortion, He has to bring us back to where we first started believing the lies. It’s painful because one builds life foundations on his worldviews, so God start rearranging those, that is going to require many other adjustments into the rest of life. That seems to be a lot of trouble and a lot of pain for something we aren’t completely sold onto to begin with. Anyway, I say all this is a realization for myself: He brings us back to the wilderness to heal the pain from where is first began, to heal the hurt from believing falsehoods, and bring us into the reality of the bigger picture of His purpose and Glory. So the question remains…will one stay in the wilderness long enough to see what God is eagerly showing or does he bail out to avoid the discomfort and sometimes immense pain?
Recently, I have been rereading the Shack for I think the fifth time, always digging more out of it. In my current findings, my hope that is extracted out of the innumerous details and conversations is a bit broader. For those that haven’t read it, it is about a man, Mack, who lost his little girl to a brutal serial killer, this beat up shack in the wilderness being where they found the last evidence of the girl’s life. Three years later, God supposedly leaves a note in Mack’s mailbox to meet him at the shack for the weekend. Mack hesitantly walks into a weekend of conversation, fellowship and heartache with the God the father, “Papa”, Jesus, and “Sarayu”, the Holy Spirit. A great read for those who have their theology spectacles well intact. It will really help you break God out of that small box you put Him in.
Anyway, God provokes the meeting with a mysterious note for Mack to meet Him at the shack. Mack. not sure if it is a practical joke, the killer leading him away, or God Himself, he packs up and drives straight into the center of all His pain and despair over the last three years. When He does show up, is eyes immediately hit the spot of dried blood that was the last remains of his seven yr. old daughter, Missy. He lies beside it, caresses the strokes of blood as he cries out to a god he felt abandoned Him a long time ago. Even the cold metal of the gun tucked into his back feels like the only escape from his pain. You read on to see that the weekend in the Shack was strategically planned by God to boost Mack out of his past tragedies and to see God for who He really is, someone that wants to be in relationship with His creation.
For me, I am in a place of rock bottom, kind of living out my life as Mack did before the invitation to the Shack. Just dead, staying somewhat faithful enough to go to church and check off the list. The last couple of months, I feel like God has given me an escort back to my personal Shack, where all my pain, anger, and sadness live. Why does God bring us here in order to restore? The center of all my despair for life, for all my anger towards Him, the center of where all my hopelessness is stemmed from; this is where He wants to meet me? Everything around me is that reminder; wouldn’t that be harder for Him? Why doesn’t He bring me off to some mountain top like Moses or Elijah? A beautiful waterfall or still sunny afternoon lying in a hammock? No, let’s go where we can still smell the intensity of the blood and the tears, to dig to bottom of these roots and finally make a garden of weeds, productive. I’m still not that sure what that looks like for me, or what that requires me to do. I do know that is scares me, I don’t want to step foot into that again, just like Mack never wanted to return to the shack his girl was brutally murdered in. God, what kind of healing do you have in store?
I think essentially it is to meet us at the beginning of where the lies begin and we loose sight of how He really is. To realign us away from the distortion, He has to bring us back to where we first started believing the lies. It’s painful because one builds life foundations on his worldviews, so God start rearranging those, that is going to require many other adjustments into the rest of life. That seems to be a lot of trouble and a lot of pain for something we aren’t completely sold onto to begin with. Anyway, I say all this is a realization for myself: He brings us back to the wilderness to heal the pain from where is first began, to heal the hurt from believing falsehoods, and bring us into the reality of the bigger picture of His purpose and Glory. So the question remains…will one stay in the wilderness long enough to see what God is eagerly showing or does he bail out to avoid the discomfort and sometimes immense pain?
