The Shack, by William Young

~~Comparing Jesus' life on earth to a bird he was holding, Papa said about Jesus, "Although by nature he is fully God, Jesus is fully human and lives as such. While never losing the innate ability to fly, he chooses moment-by-moment to remain grounded. That is why his name in Immanuel, God with us, or God with you, to be more precise".

~~Papa said, "The God who is--the I am who I am--cannot act apart from love!"

~~As Mack told the Trinity about his children, he suddenly felt silly and said, "Here I am telling you about my kids and my friends and about Nan, but you already know everything that I am telling you, don't you? You're acting like it's the first time you heard it." To that they replied, "We have limited ourselves out of respect for you. We are not bringing to mind, as it were, our knowledge of your children. As we are listing to you, it is as if this is the first time we have known about them, and we take great delight in seeing them through your eyes.... Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself--to serve."

~~Papa told Mack, "You're going to find this day a lot easier if you simply accept what is, instead of trying to fit it into your preconceived notions."

~~When Mack asked Papa if he enjoyed punishing, Papa replied, "I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it."

~~Mack asked why Papa doesn't restrain evil and Papa answered, "We carefully respect your choices, so we work within your systems even while we seek to free you from them."

~~"I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome," Papa said.

~~Papa told Mack, "The real underlying flaw in your life is that you don't think that I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything-the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual live-is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me.... Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me..... For now I just want you to be with me and discover that our relationship is not about performance or you having to please me. I'm not a bully, not some self-centered demanding little deity insisting on my own way. I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only throught a relationship of love. And I do love you." Mack said he couldn't imagine any final outcome to justify the mess in the world (or more specifically his daughter's murder) and Papa replied, "We're not justifying it. We are redeeming it."

~~Talking about friendship with Jesus, Mack said he didn't know how to submit to friendship. Jesus said, "Let me show you. Just keep giving me the little bit you have, and together we'll watch it grow."

~~The Holy Spirit told Mack, "You will learn to hear my thought in yours."

~~Regarding rules Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) said, "Religiou is about having the right answers, and some of their answers are right. But I am about the process that takes you to the living answer and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside."

~~When Mack asked Sarayu if he'd see her again, she replied, "Of course. You might see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in Creation, or in your joy and sorrow. My ability to communicate is limitless, living and transforming, and it will always be tuned to Papa's goodness and love. And you will hear and see me in the Bible in fresh ways. Just don't look for rules and principles; look for relationship-a way of coming to be with us."

~~Jesus told Mack, "I don't want to be first amoung a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life-your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being