It feels beyond my amateur writing ability to summarize this book and put into words what it means to me. It is a story of great loss and sorrow, yet also a story of redemption and love beyond what we truly are able to comprehend with our limited human capacities.
I had painted for me by Mr. Young a picture of the type of relationship I believe God yearns to have with us. I saw myself reflected in Mack, the main character in this book, time and time again. While I have not yet, thankfully, had to grapple with my own Great Sadness (to the degree that he has), I have seen enough of it in the lives of those I love and in the world at large that I have asked many of the same questions Mack did. Basically, why all the suffering, Lord? Why all the rotten, dirty evil that stinks up this earth? And where are You in the midst of it? How Young wrestles with the answers to these through the story is incredibly powerful, and while I recognize this is all constructed out of his imagination, essentially, it nontheless transformed my view of the God I thought I had been serving all these years and truly shaped my view of him into that of a LOVING Father.
BOTTOM LINE: I would go so far as to say life-changing. This blew the lid off the box I have so carefully constructed for God to fit in.
WARNING: The beginning 1/4 of the book is, at times, difficult to read (especially for those of you who are parents) BUT - totally worth it.
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