The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity

by William Paul Young

There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules. And unlike illness, it is largely a corporate rather than individual experience.

I will tell you that you’re going to find this day a lot easier if you simply accept what is, instead of trying to fit it into your preconceived notions.”

but how do you step off a dock onto water?

When he looked down, it seemed that his feet were on something solid but invisible.

Be willing to reexamine what you believe.

“But you gotta admit, rules and principles are simpler than relationships.”

I give you an ability to respond and your response is to be free to love and serve in every situation, and therefore each moment is different and unique and wonderful.

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you. —Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth

An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others. —A. W. Tozer

Somehow he has become a child again. Or maybe more accurately, he’s become the child he never was allowed to be, abiding in simple trust and wonder.

Most of us have our own grief, broken dreams, and damaged hearts, each of us our unique losses, our own “shack.” I pray you find the same grace there that I did, and that the abiding presence of Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu will fill up your inside emptiness with joy unspeakable and full of glory.