The
story is about a man who is deeply affected by his childhood relationship with
his father, and then by a tragedy involving one of his own children. When life
seems to become overwhelming and he's ready to completely abandon what he
thought was his faith, he gets an unseemly invitation to meet God at the place
of his deepest tragedy. His experience with God in this place casts an amazing
light on God's desire for relationship with us.
I'm
not sure I can wholeheartedly recommend all the theology presented in the book,
but the gems I picked up were very impactful. Here are some of those gems:
God speaking..."Your choices are not stronger than my purposes and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome."
When we think of our future it is often dictated by fear of some kind, and rarely, if ever, pictures Jesus there with us.
"When all you see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of God."
"Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."
"Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception - what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your paradigms, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms - what you believe."
In addition to these gems were many others, but they are too closely intertwined with the story to share them here. If you want to read an emotionally charged book that will challenge you to look at your relationship with God and will test the boundaries of 'religion', I highly recommend you read this book.
God speaking..."Your choices are not stronger than my purposes and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome."
When we think of our future it is often dictated by fear of some kind, and rarely, if ever, pictures Jesus there with us.
"When all you see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of God."
"Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."
"Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception - what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your paradigms, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms - what you believe."
In addition to these gems were many others, but they are too closely intertwined with the story to share them here. If you want to read an emotionally charged book that will challenge you to look at your relationship with God and will test the boundaries of 'religion', I highly recommend you read this book.
