Love from The Shack

I'm not sure where this post is going. I have several things floating around my head. Maybe it will become several posts, or maybe it will be just one long one. Most of this stuff will be excerpts from The Shack and my thoughts about the quotes. Some things will just be my rants...

A brief background of The Shack:
This man named Mack gets a letter from God to visit him at The Shack. The Shack is a very emotional scarring place for Mack and here he meets the Trinity. God (Papa) reveals himself as a black woman, Jesus is a Hebrew carpenter, and the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman. (Don't freak out or judge unless you read the book.)

"How can you really know how I feel?" Mack asked, looking back into her eyes.

Papa didn't answer, only looked down at their hands. his gaze followed
hers and for the first time Mack noticed the scars in her wrists, like those he
now assumed Jesus also had on his. She allowed him to tenderly touch the scars,
outlines of a deep piercing, and he finally looked up again into her eyes. Tears
were slowly making their way down her face, little pathways through the flour
that dusted her cheeks.

"Don't ever think that what my son chose to do didn't cost us dearly. Love always leaves a significant mark," she stated softly and gently. "We were there together."

Mack was surprised. "At the cross? Now wait, I thought you left him - you know - 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'"

"You misunderstand the mystery there. Regardless of what he felt at that moment, I never left him."

"How can you say that? You abandoned him just like you abandoned me!"

"Mackenzie, I never left him, and I have never left you."

"That makes no sense to me," he snapped.

"I know it doesn't, at least not yet. Will you at least consider this:
When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me?"

Later in the chapter:

"Papa?" Mack finally said in a way that felt very awkward, but he was trying.

"Yes, honey?"

Mack struggled for the words to tell her what was in his heart. "I'm so sorry that you, that Jesus, had to die."

She walked around the table and gave Mack another big hug. "I know you are, and
thank you. But you need to know that we aren't sorry at all. It was worth it.
Isn't that right, son?"

She turned to ask her question of Jesus, who had just entered the cabin. "Absolutely!" He paused and then looked at Mack. "And I would have done it even if it were only for you, but it wasn't!" he said with an inviting grin.

In my recent journey, I've little by little begun to understand God's love, although I'm sure I'll never be able to fathom it's depth. Reading this passage in The Shack brought tears to my eyes. It's as if the author of this book is the oracle of God's mouth. I can imagine God speaking these very things to my heart. I know this is how God, how Jesus, felt while he was on the cross. And when you can grasp this love, it will completely transform your life. It has mine.

It makes me wonder why people don't preach this. I can't see why if everyone knew this is how God felt, why they wouldn't run to Him. But people are scared. They are scared of such love and such grace...even "Christians". Christians, at least those that I've been in contact with, have often feared teaching grace and the amazing love of God because they felt it would create an outlet for sin. If people knew of God's forgiveness they would take advantage of it. But I think if people knew of the depths of God's grace, if they knew this type of love existed, they wouldn't want to take advantage. I think they would try even harder to do the right thing because they wouldn't do it out of fear of punishment but out of a longing to return the love that has been given to them.