The Shack

I never wrote about this movie-I thought I did. I read this book about 10 years ago when it came out. I went to see this movie with Mrs. Johnson because we saw the preview for it when we saw "La La Land." We also brought Tony along to see it.

Some of the scenes that stood out to me (may not be in order):

When Mack (the main character) was in a boat and black water started coming in, threatening to drown him/sink the boat and the character of Jesus came to him and when Mack looked at him and took his hand, he stepped out of the boat and walked on top of the very water that was threatening to overtake him. Reminded me of grief. Mack was reminded again and again in the movie that the only time he was able to walk on the water was when he kept his eyes on Jesus.

The scene where they buried his daughter was beautiful. They had never been able to find her body and they did in this one scene. They wrapped her body in beautiful linen and laid her in the coffin with flowers. The coffin was beautifully carved with butterflies. After they buried her, the character who played the Holy Spirit poured some tears on the top of the grave that she had collected earlier from Mack, and right after she did, a beautiful tree grew. (I keep trying to find out which song was playing in the movie during that scene, but I haven't had any luck with that yet). In one review of the movie, they note that the coffin was probably crafted by Jesus the carpenter. In the movie, he was working on something in his workshop.

The love that God has for His children was emphasized greatly throughout the whole movie. The character of God was often saying, "I'm especially fond of that one," but He means all of His children.

There was a scene with someone named Wisdom who encouraged Mack to be the judge of things even though he didn't know everything behind people's actions. God gives us free will and we decide how we treat each other. If we treat each other badly, that's displeasing to God, but he still loves us all the same. There was a scenario where Mack was told he had to decide to take one of his children to heaven and send one to hell. He couldn't make the choice, so he offered himself in their place. That is exactly what Jesus did for His children-He took our place. It was an amazing way to explain it.

There was a part in the movie where Mack was allowed to see his daughter, even though she couldn't see him. He was behind a waterfall which, now that I think about, was mentioned earlier in the movie. Anyway, it reminded me of the veil that separates us right now. His daughter was playing in a beautiful field with other children. It gave him such peace to see her. I thought of how much of a blast you are probably having right now. When he asked the character if she could see him, he was told no but that his daughter knew he was there.

In the end, Mack was given a choice to stay there or go back to earth. I had forgotten this from reading the book, but it turns out that on the way to the shack, Mack had been in a car accident. This reminded me of the movie "Miracles from Heaven" when the little girl was given a choice to stay in heaven or return to earth. I found it interesting that this movie depicted the same thing. I believe that you were given a choice after your accident, and you chose to stay there. Not because you didn't love us, but I think because of the kind of life you would have had with your injuries, etc. God is SO loving that he leaves so many choices with us. He doesn't want robots or slaves-he wants His children to choose to love Him.

Another part of the movie showed the character of God seeing everyone as different colors. In that scene, Mack confronted his alcoholic/abusive father who gave him a big hug and admitted that what he had done to Mack in his childhood was wrong. This was a picture of redemption in my mind-that the wrongs that have been done to us in this world will all be made right.

I am so glad I saw this movie. I know it was fictional and there are theological issues with it, but the message of love and purpose it gives is beautiful. Focus on the Family had some good things to say about it and someone named Julie Roys was quoted as saying, "I feel that in our zeal for theological correctness, we may be trampling on something beautiful."