Did God just call me an idiot?

To start with, The Shack is truley one of the best books I have ever read. It's changed my whole perspective on religion. And I'm not even kidding. I also confess to having thought of God as this old white man, the "bad cop" of all bible situations, while Jesus was the "good cop" (you know- saving people, doing whatever he's told, healing the sick). And the Holy Spirit- that's always confused me, not gonna lie. But this book seriously changed how I look at things.

Even if your skeptical about the God thing (as I was), read this book. If you don't change your mind about things once you finish, no harm done. But that wasn't the case for me. I had my mom buy the book for her to read on a plane ride, but as soon as we got home, I stole it and read myself. I was curious- its such an author success story, as I read in Writer's Digest one issue. It held incredible ratings, and has been on the topseller list for quite a stretch. I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about. What I found was understanding.

The book explained many of the hard ball questions that people throw at God- why is there so much hurt in the world? Why aren't the innocent and children protected from evil? How could God send his son down to die for humanity while he sat up on his cloud? How do we know God is with us? Why no direct contact with people? And for me, what the heck is the "holy spirit"? And it answers all these in cleverly written dialogue between a man well past his last straw (Mack), God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God is firstly portrayed as a heavy black African woman who loves to cook. Jesus is a middle eastern worker with a workshop. And the Holy Spirit, called Sarayu, is a tiny Asian woman who constantly works out back in the gardens.

And my favorite part of the book is when Mack is talking to Papa (God- and yes, he calls her Papa when she is in the form of a woman) about his emotions. She elaboratly explains that he is afraid of raw emotions and touches on some other topics. Mack listens carefully, nods, and sums it up in a simple sentence "So I'm afraid of emotions and (something else I can't remember). Anything else?" God sighs and mumbles that men are idiots sometimes and bustles into the kitchen. Laughing, Mack shouts back "Did I just hear God call me an idiot?" God's reply: "if the shoe fits, honey... If the shoe fits..."

I cried about eight times while reading this, and I can't express enough how glad I am that this book was published. Please, please read it. It's wonderful, and it really makes you believe that this 'holy trinity' does care about you and me.