The Shack

I just finished reading The Shack. I don't know what to say....this book is packed with so much that it is hard to take it in. For the past few weeks while I was reading the book I found myself thinking about the lessons contained in it. I don't want to give away anything but I will say this. I found that the conversations between Mack and God that went on for chapters a little monotinouse at times and found myself about to flip forward a few pages. Each time I was tempted to do so I felt that God was telling me not to skip one word of this book. As I continued to read I found almost every time that there was something powerful written within the text of what I almost skipped over.
I am a very passionate person and since I am a musician I guess tend to be in touch with my sensitive side. I found myself having to close the book and take time to weep uncontrollably. It is hard for me to think of God in such a personal and intimate way. Even though I have been teaching for years that God wants and desired that kind of relationship with us I always thought that excluded me. I can't imagine God referring to me and saying, "I am especially fond of that one". I suppose that this book is the first step on a journey for me. A journey that will drawy me close to God. Not a big and mighty God, even though He is big and mighty, but a real, walk with me, talk with me God. A God that I can call Papa. www.theshackbook.com
I have been trying to write a song for weeks that I can't seem to get down on paper. Sometimes the words come easy for me. Most of the time the melody comes at the same time. Each time I sit down to the piano I seem to be so clogged with what I want to say. I can't seem to get the poetic flow or the words out. I guess I could send this idea to Taylor Swift and then it wouldn't matter if it rhymed or had any poetic flow. LOL!
A few weeks ago we attended a youth service and one of the kids gave a brief testimony about his dad being away serving in Iraq. He told a story about when his dad came home after one of his deployments. He said that all the soldiers got off the plane and began to walk toward their families and out of the sea of tan he spotted his dad. He recongnized him by the way he walked. I grabbed my pen and pad and wrote down, "I know the way He walks". My impression was that in the sea of all the distractions and things that fight to gain our attention that we can cut through the maze of people and things and recognize the Father by the way He walks. Those of us who have a history of God walking close to us, taking care of us in unexplainable ways and carrying us through unimaginable circumstances know what I am saying. We know God in such a way that we can recognize His walk because we have walked with him, we know His voice because we have heard it many times before and we know the way He speak to us.
I was taking my daily walk around my neigborhood the other day and I felt God saying to me, "I started giving you the inspiration and background for this song several years ago. All of a sudden my mind was taken back to a time years ago when Patricia and I had taken a group of kids to Super WOW in Jekyll Island. I was taking a much needed walk to get a break from the stress of tending to 30 plus teenager and chaperones. One of my kids from a previous youth group that I had taught in 9th grade was serving on staff that year. She came by on her bike and said, "I thought I recognized that walk". It never even registered with me what she had just said. It always seemed that I learned so much more from my kids than they learned from me. This just reminds me that God is always weaving. He is always working toward bringing honor to Himself. Sometimes it takes years.
I still have no idea how this song will be written. I have so many thoughts. One direction is to concentrate on how our lives are to be lived in faithfulness. Our walk of faith should be recognized by those around us. The other direction is to concentrate on God's faithfulness and how our relationship with Him should such that we should be able to recognize His walk.
It is no secret that our family has had our share of trials. But as we look back over the history that we have with our loving Father that we can see Him working and weaving. Our prayer now is that we won't just see Him when we get through this time of unemployment and uncertainty but that we will see Him ON THE ROAD. That we will be able to cut through the maze of people and things and situations and circumstances and pick Him out because we know the way He walks.

Blessings
Allen