The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity

by William Paul Young

Even in such a world of relative morality, causing harm to a child is still considered absolutely wrong. Period!

The Great Sadness had descended and in differing degrees cloaked everyone whose life had touched Missy’s.

We routinely disqualify testimony that would plead for extenuation. That is, we are so persuaded of the rightness of our judgment as to invalidate evidence that does not confirm us in it. Nothing that deserves to be called truth could ever be arrived at by such means. —Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam

It does a soul good to let the waters run once in a while—the healing waters.”

there’s no easy answer that will take your pain away. Believe me, if I had one, I’d use it now. I have no magic wand to wave over you and make it all better. Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.”

“Only I can set you free, Mackenzie, but freedom can never be forced.”

“Mackenzie, the truth shall set you free and the truth has a name; he’s over in the woodshop right now covered in sawdust. Everything is about him. And freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with him. Then all that stuff you feel churnin’ around inside will start to work its way out.”

“You misunderstand the mystery there. Regardless of what he felt at that moment, I never left him.”

when all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me?”

“You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.”

“Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings and removing its ability to fly.

I’m not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.”

“Although by nature he is fully God, Jesus is fully human and lives as such. While never losing the innate ability to fly, he chooses moment-by-moment to remain grounded. That is why his name is Immanuel, ‘God with us,’ or ‘God with you,’ to be more precise.”

“A bird is defined not by being grounded but by his ability to fly. Remember this, humans are defined not by their limitations, but by the intentions I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image.”

“So then, where does that leave us?” He felt as if he were asking the question for the entire human race. “Right where you were always intended to be. In the very center of our love and our purpose.”

“Mackenzie, I have no favorites.

I love the ones I am angry with just as much as those I’m not.”

“Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that people could work or live together without someone being in charge.”

So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can draw only upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life.”

“To force my will on you,” Jesus replied, “is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.

Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect.

“But I still don’t understand why Missy had to die.” “She didn’t have to, Mackenzie. This was no plan of Papa’s. Papa has never needed evil to accomplish her good purposes. It is you humans who have embraced evil, and Papa has responded with goodness. What happened to Missy was the work of evil, and no one in your world is immune from it.”

“You’re talking about the church as this woman you’re in love with; I’m pretty sure I haven’t met her.” He turned away slightly. “She’s not the place I go on Sundays,” Mack said, more to himself than to Jesus, unsure if that was safe to say out loud. “Mack, that’s because you’re seeing only the institution, a man-made system. That’s not what I came to build. What I see are people and their lives, a living, breathing community of all those who love me, not buildings and programs.”

“Marriage is not an institution. It’s a relationship.”

This whole thing is a process, not an event. All I want from you is to trust me with what little you can, and grow in loving people around you with the same love I share with you. It’s not your job to change them, or to convince them. You are free to love without an agenda.”

“Those who love me have come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims; some are Democrats, some Republicans and many don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.”

“Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes.

Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.”

And you will hear and see me in the Bible in fresh ways. Just don’t look for rules and principles; look for relationship—a way of coming to be with us.”

I know you and everything about you. Why would I have an expectation other than what I already know? That would be foolish. And beyond that, because I have no expectations, you never disappoint me.”

Jesus now spoke again. “Mack, I don’t want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything.

Light and color danced and wove a tapestry of love for him to step on. Some were crying out words of love, while others simply stood with hands lifted up. Many of those whose colors were the richest and deepest were lying flat on their faces. Everything that had a breath sang out a song of unending love and thankfulness. Tonight the universe was as it was intended.