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The Shack

Book Review by Sue Elwin

A bird is not defined by being grounded but by its ability to fly.”

As I sit watching a squirrel ruffle its whiskers on the conservatory roof I am left wondering whether “The Shack” will also momentarily absorb my attention and later line the box of cast offs due for the charity shop or is it as the book cover promises the “Pilgrim’s Progress” of our time?

“I’M DONE, GOD,………I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE. I’M TIRED OF TRYING TO FIND YOU IN ALL OF THIS.”

Through the worst imaginable pain Mack is brought to the end of both himself and his relationship with God.  At this crisis point God intervenes and orchestrates a series of extraordinary encounters so facilitating Mack’s journey of healing from a life time of pain.

Young goes beyond Bunyan and explores the character of God and moves towards answering some imponderables; the Trinity, the question of free will, pain and suffering to name but a few and draws us into an understanding of how God promises that “… every human is designed to live-out of my life”.

Pilgrim’s progress was the second book after the Bible to be translated by  missionaries, in fact these two books were often the only two owned by  American settlers. I’m not sure whether “the Shack” will be my second most important book in my collection but for a 248 page read it does have the potential to be life changing in that I am left longing for a deeper relationship with God.

One of my daughters asked “Did it really happen? Is it true?” We would all hope to avoid the trauma that Mack suffered,  however it is often the agonies in our own journeys that draw us into a deeper communion with God, and so in a sense “The Shack” speaks of a resolution that we all long for.

For less than the price of lunch at Starbucks “The Shack” will be more satisfying, last longer and is guilt free.  I’m sure our copy will be on and off our bookshelf for years to come.