The Shack

May I make a reading recommendation? If you haven't tried it already, I can highly recommend "The Shack." My friend Crista recommended it to me -- showing up late to swim lessons with mascara slightly askew. "I was just finishing up 'The Shack'" she explained. Her eyes were slightly red from crying and she recommended I buy it soon. I rarely buy books, choosing the library more often than not. But Crista's hearty recommendation, as well as this quote from Eugene Peterson got me to my local bookstore for a purchase. Eugene Peterson says " This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan 's Pilgrim 's Progress did for his. It 's that good! "

And I'm glad I took their recommendations. I'm really enjoying it. Well, enjoying might be the wrong word. It's Christian Fiction and the first section is heartbreaking. I admit it was hard to get through the first few chapters, which describe every parent's worst nightmare. But the point of the story is to show how God meets people at their place of greatest hurt to heal them. In the process, it tackles tough theological questions like "is God male or female," "what's up with pre-destination," "how does that Trinity thing really work anyways," "what was the tree of good and evil and why was God so adament about not eating of it" and "why does God allow bad things to happen to good people and vice-versa?" Despite the intellectual meat that the book holds, it never feels like a seminary textbook. It's warm and illuminating and vastly interesting. And yes, last night my mascara was also slightly askew. So, if you happen to see a copy of "The Shack" I can recommend it.