"The Shack"

Chapters 4-18

I have to say this book was a great read and really starts to make you think.

As you can imagine Mack does go to the Shack, the place where his daughter was murdered and finds something he could not of imagined in a million years. His friend lets him borrow his Jeep and he gets his hiking gear together as well as a gun, he is hoping he doesn't have to use. But to his surprise when he gets there, it is still the same place he had found almost 4 years ago but then something happens...he falls and hits his head and the world around him changes right before his eyes. And everything he thought of God and Jesus are somewhat a totally different then what he was told and believed. There were 3 of them, God himself, Sanjua and Jesus all working together but yet three separate people or "spirits" that had a plan for Mack.

My first reaction was that they were there to lead him home to be with Missy, and then it was maybe she is still alive and they will lead him to her but neither were true. They each had a purpose to show him the light and that even though he was a believer, they wanted to show him he had to truly forgive before he could heal and that the damage from not forgiving was hurting his older daughter Kate, who thought Missy's disappearance was her fault. They allowed him to make peace with his Father who he had so many hard feelings for, for so many years and Mack's heart was finally finding some peace but now it was on to the biggest challenge of all....trying to find forgiveness for the worst possible thing that could of happened, the death of his youngest child by a child murderer.

It was amazing to me that after all that Jesus, God and Sanjua taught him he finally got it and realized that by not forgiving, he was only leaving his heart unopened and his daughter to suffer also. So as you can imagine he did find that forgiveness and in return they showed him where to find his daughters body.

As with any good book there is always a twist, and in this one I never saw this coming but he finally "woke" up in a sense and started home to tell his family of what had just happened, but as luck would have it he was in a serious car accident with a drunk driver who ran the light. As it was happening I was thinking how can this be it, they just took him back to have him help his family find forgiveness and now he's gone? But of course that was not the case.

He was taken to the hospital and my a miracle he was alive and ready to explain his story but at first it was blurry and he wasn't sure it happened until his wife Nan was at his side and it started all coming back, so he finally got to his wife and kids, especially Kate who finally admitted she felt it was her fault but now Mack truly lost it and explained it was never her fault, it was all God's Plan.

After he was released from the hospital, they went back to the "Shack" to try to find Missy. Of course it was almost to much for the family when they went back but with Mack's directions her body was found and enough evidence was there to find the killer, and also allow the other four families to find their loved one's bodies.

I guess what learned from this story is that without truly forgiving someone your heart will be closed, and without an totally open heart you are not letting God in 100%. It also showed me that even the bad things that happen and it seems like it's not fair, it's God's Plan and World not ours. We have to take each moment and realize it could be our last, love our families and hold onto the one's that mean the most to us. Plus the perception of God isn't always as what we take it to be, and have to be open to new ideas and know that one day those that we love that have gone, we'll all be together again for all eternity.

Until next time.........

Happy Reading!