Crystal Cheatham — Indie from the start

“If anything matters than everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again.” -The Shack, Sarayu (The Holy Spirit)

I just finished read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Go out and buy it yesterday. It was the cream of the crop for good imagery and out of the BOX thinking. What a surprising book! Books are most precious when they deliver on their power to change your life. And well, this book has taken my brain and rung it through a wringer. It’s like I’m seeing God in color instead of black and white. I won’t give anything away (at least I hope this isn’t a spoiler. It might be so you probably don’t want to keep reading if you plan on buying it. I don’t know.) but one of the discussions in the book is focused on religion. We all know I’m hot on emphasizing the balance between spirituality and Christianity and this book says all the things that it shouldn’t ever say (out loud). I read this thinking “This isn’t the God I serve.” Or is it? Take a look for yourself. The main character’s name is Mack and in the following excerpt he’s having a convo with Jesus and the Holy Spirit aka Sarayu:

(On Religion) Jesus: “As well intentioned as it might be, you know that religious machinery can chew up people!” (pg179) Jesus: “I don’t create institutions- never have, never will” (pg179). Jesus: “Remember, the people who know me are the ones who are free to live and love without any agenda” (pg181). Jesus: “Who said anything about being a Christian? I’m not a Christian” (pg182). ‘Does that mean’, asked Mack, ‘that all roads will lead to you?’ ‘Not at all’, smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop. ‘Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.’” (pg182) Sarayu: “It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you” (pg198). Sarayu: “Mackenzie, religion is about having the right answers, and some of their answers are right. But I am about the process that takes you to the <em>living answer</em> and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside” (pg198).

Those words are hard to swallow at first but gosh, I’m blown away! Isn’t that the kind of God that you WANT to believe in? I had a hard time reading this book because my insides were being revolutionized. Half of me wanted to believe that everything in it was true, that it actually happened, and that like it demonstrates, God REALLY is part of the world today. But then the other half of me was sitting coolly on a pile of religion (my God in a box) thinking that if I did believe this madness then I would be a heretic, a nut ball, a wayfaring and easily swayed fool. But I can’t deny what has taken place in my heart. I’m changed and every day I find myself understanding those “heretic” words a little more. Regardless of whether it makes me a fool or not, I believe. Have you read the book? Do you believe?