I want to follow

Browsing the book tables at Costco, I heard a lady say, "Ewww....that book is sooo weird." She held up the book, and I glanced to look at it. Oh yeah, that book.

In talking about some struggles my friend was having, my other friend said, "Tell her to read this book. It will help her."

"I have heard that book should be read with great caution," one of my relatives said.

"One of my patients said that this book brought her back to church after years of not going and made her trust God again," my sister told me.

"The Shack", by William P. Young

Some people might love it, and others might hate it, but one thing is for certain: It has captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of people.

****Urghhh******....Blogger failed to save a whole paragraph I wrote about what I liked and disliked about the book, and I have no desire to rewrite it again. So, I'm going to pretend that didn't happen and write about a conversation I had about the book with a friend of mine.

I told my friend that I thought the book contained an interesting exploration of the importance God places on man's free will because of His love for man. I said that this made sense to me. However, I didn't really like that Young was trying to explain how God could let a murderer kill Missy because of His commitment to allowing man to have free will. I said that I understood that God was hemming Missy in all around her with His love as she was being murdered and that she was now in a better place. I understand that God desires all sinners to embrace His forgiveness and turn to Him, including the murderer. Still, somehow, the way Young wrote this made it seem to me that God is less than sovereign. That He is sitting on His hands waiting and allowing, and trying to weave beauty out of the mess man makes.

My friend said, "Yeah, it's kind of like, why do we pray if man's free will rules the day anyways? I think that God intervenes directly and can supersede man's free will in some cases."

Me too.

I said, "Yeah, I don't think we are meant to fully understand how God works and when/how He chooses to get involved. All I know is that I have felt God's love in my life. I have seen Him work in my life and in lives of others, and I want to follow Him, with or without all of the answers to all of my questions."

She said, "And really, if you look at everything that Christ asked us to do, and if everyone did what He said, this would be a beautiful world! So, I want to follow, too."

After all of Young's postulating, interpreting, and creating, doesn't it all really just come down to that?

Either you will follow Him or not.

I do have major problems with the book, but I believe that God IS sovereign and can even use heretical/misguided books for His glory.