PLEASE NOTE: This site is not endorsed by William Young or Windblown Media. This is strictly a fan site. For more information on Mr. Young or the book itself, please visit www.theshackbook.com or www.windblownmedia.com
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.
I'm not a reader. It really takes something with some depth and some chunck to really get my attention to captivate me fully. I knew there was talk out there about this book called THE SHACK. A good pastor friend of mine had read the book and highly endorsed it, and I was intrigued by some of the conversation I had heard about the book, and came across a copy of the audio book. Before I proceed on my experience and thought on the book, let me share where I come from and my life experience and how it ties in.
I am 37 years old and hail from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I don't come fromt he friendliest of backgrounds or life experience. I was raised in a dysfunctional single parent home where my mom was an alcholic and had her share of issues. The early years of my life consisted of staying in bars and boyfriends homes, and seeing my mom beat and abused physically, mentally and emotionally. From the time I was born I was considered for abortion, then adoption, but ultimately my mom decided to keep me through her struggles, and looking back today I can say she gave everything she had to be the best parent she could be with what she had. Because of my surroundings and introduced to sexual behaviour at a young age, I grew up dealing with sexuality and pornography (thankfully I never resorted to smoking drinking, drugs, or the barhop lifestyle I grew up in). In early 1980, after a severe fight between my mom and her boyfriend, and having all of our belongings thrown out a 2nd story window on to the street, I was taken from my mom and placed into state custody, and jumped from foster homes and group homes, having been in 5 different foster homes and 3 group homes, and 7 schools in 8 years.
I accepted Christ in November of 1983, and through all the flip flop of my life, I always strived to serve Christ. I led a bible study group in high school, and through encouragement of those in my church, I went to bible college. I met my wife in March of 1990 while in college, and was married in August of 1993. We were married for 10 years till we faced the blow of divorce and were apart for 3 years. I went through so much of my "SHACK" experience during that time, where God came to me in my point of need, even through my struggles, and allowed me to recieve healing enough to reconcile my family in December of 2006.
However I find myself back in that corner of doubt, questioning God's direction and desire. We went on to serve as youth pastors in inner city ministry in Michigan, which culminated into a deterioration of the ministry, and we sent our 14 year old daughter to her grandparents house in Georgia for what was supposed to be a temporary stay for some spiritual "detox". That temporary stay has now been 10 months and we have seen our daughter twice. We are in place where we are struggling to keep our faith and trust that things will come back together and we will be reunited.
Now back to the book...this last weekend, we drove down to go see our daughetr in Georgia from Nashville thanks to the woman we are staying with. I brought the audio book along just as something to offset the loads of music we had. It took us right up to the moment we pulled back in the driveway at the house where we're staying. Here are my thoughts on the book...We all have a story...we all face hardships and trials in our lives and we face a choice...we hang on to those things and we let those circumstances dictate the output of our lives in how we live to how we react to friends, family, and those around us, and ultimately, GOD. Without a solid foundation of faith and trust, the storms come and will rock us back and forth, and in some instances, right off our pedistal of life. Willie came face to face of sorts with his creator in THE SHACK, and is face to face alos with his pain, hurt betrayal, and loss of his daughter Missy. When he goes to find retribution for thos ewrongs done, instead he is faced with a mirror of himself, his past, and his hurts and his failures...abd faces the biggest fight of all...releasing all of that to be free, event to the point of forgiving tose who caused the greatest pain and grief in his life.
My prayer is through this site, you will find an outlet to share your story, especially if you have read the book. I think we can all relate in one way or another with this. If you havent read this book yet, PLEASE go to your local Christian bookstore and pick up either the hardback, softback, or the audiobook of THE SHACK...Please allow God through the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to the inner realms of your heart and spirit that no one sees and deal with your hurts, pain, disappointments...allow God to be God...your life will be forever changed.
JOHN CASSANDRO
Cross Plains, Tennessee
www.shoutlife.com/jcassandro
