"the shack"

So, I will now add my thoughts to the many blogs and comments on the book "The Shack". I'm not usually someone who reads fiction - most of the time I don't enjoy it. I had many people tell me that I should read the book - the most adamant being my mom whose opinion on books I trust, as she often points me in the direction of really good books. Also,I had read many people's comments on the theological issues with some of what is in the book. So, I picked up having really no idea of what to expect when I read it.

Now, before I begin, I don't think I can argue against any of the theological issues that people have found with the book. I'm not so sure about the idea of God the Father appearing as a female and yet being called Papa. I'm not sure about a few things, and for that I caution people to read this book with a discerning mind and guidance from God as to what is truth and what is not.

But, depsite anything I might have questioned, I cannot deny the incredible honest reality of the struggles that main character deals with in this book. Who among us hasn't struggled with forgiveness? Maybe not in the scope spoken of in this book, but I think we all have those people in our lives that we have struggled to forgive, or that we are struggling to forgive right now. "The Shack" is an incredibly powerful story of forgiveness and the journey to get there.

There's also the storyline of struggling to forgive God for a wrong that happened to you or to your family. Our wisted, incomplete view of God comes to play in this. I think we all struggle with this to some degree and we shouldn't feel like we have to hide that or deny it.

Honestly, all I can say about this book is what everyone else is saying: "You have to read it!" It's a story that will tug at the deepest part of your heart and challenge you immensely if you let it. Read it with a discerning mind asking God to filter any untruth out, but READ IT!!!

note to readers

After a couple of email comments I received about my blog, I was looking back over some of what I have written in the past while. I had people tell me that I was really good at pointing out where the church needed to grow or change in order to live up to what we have been called to. There are many times when I have issued a challanege in an area where I believe the church, as a whole, does need to step up, or we, as individuals need to step up.

Please note that these things come out of my love for the church and my desire to see us living what Jesus calls us to live. I don't point out things where the church or individuals may need to grow lightly. I point them out when I see them (or think I see them, I don't profess to be an expert on any of this either) because I think it's when we acknowledge where those weak points are that we can begin to make the changes to better live out what God calls us to.

Also, I don't write about things that I have all figured out in my own life. Most of what I write comes out of what I'm learning in my own life. I am far from having it all figured out. But I believe that as believers we need to be sharing the lessons we're learning and challenging one another to deeper growth. That is my purpose in writing this blog.

I don't want to come across as a know-it-all seeing all the problems and having all the answers. I seek to humbly challenge people to greater growth in their walk with God.

heavenly minded

I don't know about you, but there have been a couple of times where I have heard people caution that we, as followers of Christ, must be careful that we don't become so heavenly minded that we're of no earthly good. I'm not so sure this is the caution we need in our culture today. I think we struggle with exactly the opposite. We become so earthly minded that we're of no heavenly good.

I started thinking about this when I read Colossians 3:1-2 yesterday. These verses say:
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things above, not on earthly things." (NIV)
Paul makes it very clear that our hearts and minds should be focused on the things of God, no on the things of this earth. So, reading this passage made me start to wonder if the caution to not be too heavenly minded was maybe, at least, somewhat, unnecessary.

As I thought about it some more, I came across a definition of what it means to set our hearts and minds on things above that I found helpful. The Life Application Study Bible puts it this way:
"Setting our hearts on things above means striving to put heaven's priorities into daily practice. Seeting our minds on things above means concentrating on the eternal rather than the temporal."
By that definition, we should be seeking to be heavenly minded, not earthly minded. And I think that is something that is definitely lacking at times in our world. Maybe we need to spend more time focusing on the things of God rather than the things of this world.