I started hearing talk about The Shack about 4 months ago. It vaguely interested me, but I didn't really take much note of it. I recently stumbled upon a description of what the book was actually about, and decided I would read it.

After picking it up, I was incredibly disappointed. I found the first 30 pages or so nearly impossible to get to. The writing was dry, the descriptions overdone, and somehow still dull, and it just didn't seem to have a point. However, after those first 30 pages, I was hooked!


I personally don't understand the controversy around the book. I think it's entire purpose is to get you thinking- to make you evaluate your own relationship with God- not saying that the relationship found in The Shack is how it is/should be...but I think Young was trying to convey an overall sense of God be interested in the relationship. He might have gone totally crazy in how he expressed that idea- but he NEVER claimed (that I've seen/read/heard) that this book is how things are/should be.


I'm a Christian who believes that God is relational, but I still often find myself feeling quite distant...so if nothing else, this book has prodded that longing for a more intimate relationship. Will I "follow" the layout given in The Shack? Will I make that my spiritual reality? Of course not- that would be silly, and frankly- idolatry. But has this fictional story made me want to get closer to the *true* God, knowing that the fulfillment there would go far beyond the fulfillment Mack felt? Without a doubt!



God gave us the gift of creativity to express our love for Him, and His love, sacrifice, and acceptance of us, and I think this is a pretty cool example of that.