He-llooooooooooo!

How is everyone out there? So I'm finding out that The Shack is a pretty controversial book! First, may I say that this is indeed a fiction book. It is not fact. It is chunks of truth and theological issues peppered into someone's imaginary account of a face to face meeting with God. So I don't think we can take every detail of the author's descriptions of God literally. Number one, it is his imagination, or at best, his best guess. I don't think they harm God's truth. I think it is a beautiful picture of God's love for His children. It's like every other book I read, I don't necessarily agree with every single point that is made, but if I benefit from the major theme and points in the book then I take those with me. I think the author of this book has an intensely creative imagination, and an incredible knowledge of our Lord, and he married the two in this amazing piece of fiction. This book is very focused on God's grace. It is not perfect, it is not the Bible! Something that I think God has been teaching me lately is how judgemental I am. Reading this book just confirmed that for me. We as Christians think we know the perfect way, that our understanding of truth is exactly right and all the others have it wrong. What I am realizing is that this is very self righteous. Did the Lord intend for us as a body to be divided? We certainly are. Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Methodists, etc. Each denomination has it just right! What is the point? Christ!! We are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ. Granted, yes we are called to seek the truth, absolutely. But if we don't agree on these 'secondary' issues, can we just humble ourselves and love our brothers anyway? What if we all did church together? I have been so convicted of my own arrogance as of late, and I am seeing how rampant it is in the body of Christ. I think we have it all wrong. Let's stop focusing on our man-made rules and traditions and focus on Christ. Let's learn from his example. We're human, of course we are going to have disagreements and interpret things differently, and that's okay...to a point. When someone is twisting God's word we absolutely must seek the truth and speak it. When it divides us completely, then it is a problem. The body is trying to operate and there's a foot detached over there because it disagrees with the leg on a non-essential issue! My point is, as believers, we are supposed to be one. We are supposed to fix our eyes on Jesus, together. So that is my rant for the day. Enjoy! Please feel free to agree, disagree or share your thoughts on this matter. On a lighter note, Taryn cut her first tooth this week! We thought she was getting a cold because she had a little fever, wasn't sleeping at night and had a runny nose but were surprised to find out her first pearly white was making its grand entrance into the world! Also, just so everyone knows, Stacy Minor is now 40! Love to all!!!