The Shack

by William Paul Young

  “Have you been with me the entire time?” inquired Mack, a little ramped from the adrenaline rush.

  “Of course. I am always with you.”

  “Then how come I didn’t know it?” asked Mack. “Lately I’ve been able to tell when you’re around.”

  “For you to know or not,” she explained, “has nothing at all to do with whether I am actually here or not. I am always with you; sometimes I want you to be aware in a special way—more intentional.”

  Mack nodded that he understood and turned the canoe toward the distant shore and the shack. He now distinctly felt her presence in the tingle down his spine. They both smiled simultaneously.

  “Will I always be able to see you or hear you like I do now, even if I’m back home?”

  Sarayu smiled. “Mackenzie, you can always talk to me and I will always be with you, whether you sense my presence or not.”

  “I know that now, but how will I hear you?”

  “You will learn to hear my thoughts in yours, Mackenzie,” she reassured him.

  “Will it be clear? What if I confuse you with another voice? What if I make mistakes?”

  Sarayu laughed, the sound like tumbling water, only set to music. “Of course you will make mistakes; everybody makes mistakes, but you will begin to better recognize my voice as we continue to grow our relationship.”

  “I don’t want to make mistakes,” Mack grunted.

  “Oh, Mackenzie,” responded Sarayu, “mistakes are a part of life, and Papa works her purpose in them too.” She was amused and Mack couldn’t help but grin back. He could see her point well enough.

  “This is so different from everything I’ve known, Sarayu. Don’t get me wrong—I love what you all have given me this weekend. But I have no idea how to go back to my life. Somehow it seemed easier to live with God when I thought of him as the demanding taskmaster, or even to cope with the loneliness of The Great Sadness.”

  “You think so?” she asked. “Really?”

  “At least then I seemed to have things under control.”

  “Seemed is the right word. What did it get you? The Great Sadness and more pain than you could bear, pain that spilled over even on those you care for the most.”

  “According to Papa, that’s because I’m scared of emotions,” he disclosed.

  Sarayu laughed out loud. “I thought that little interchange was hilarious.”

  “I am afraid of emotions,” Mack admitted, a bit perturbed that she seemed to make light of it. “I don’t like how they feel. I’ve hurt others with them and I can’t trust them at all. Did you create all of them or only the good ones?”

  “Mackenzie.” Sarayu seemed to rise up into the air. Mack still had a difficult time looking right at her, but with the late-afternoon sun reflecting off the water, it was even worse. “Emotions are the colors of the soul—they are spectacular and incredible. When you don’t feel, the world becomes dull and colorless. Just think how The Great Sadness reduced the range of color in your life down to monotones and flat grays and blacks.”

  “So help me understand them,” pleaded Mack.

  “Not much to understand, actually. They just are. They are neither bad nor good; they just exist. Here is something that will help you sort this out in your mind, Mackenzie. 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 perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms—what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn’t make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don’t want to trust them more than me.”

  Mack allowed his oar to turn in his hands as he let it play in the water’s movements. “It feels like living out of relationship—you know, trusting and talking to you—is a bit more complicated than just following rules.”

  “What rules are those, Mackenzie?”

  “You know, all the things the Scriptures tell us we should do.”

  “Okay…” she said with some hesitation. “And what might those be?”

  “You know,” he answered sarcastically. “About doing good things and avoiding evil, being kind to the poor, reading your Bible, praying, and going to church. Things like that.”

  “I see. And how is that working for you?”

  He laughed. “Well, I’ve never done it very well. I have moments that aren’t too bad, but there’s always something I’m struggling with or feeling guilty about. I just figured I needed to try harder, but I find it difficult to sustain that motivation.”

  “Mackenzie!” she chided, her words flowing with affection. “The Bible doesn’t teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like and even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own. Life and living are in him and in no other. My goodness, you didn’t think you could live the righteousness of God on your own, did you?”

  “Well, I thought so, sorta…” he said sheepishly. “But you gotta admit, rules and principles are simpler than relationships.”

  “It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart, and they will never love you.”

  Dipping his hand in the water, he played, watching the patterns his movements made. “I’m realizing how few answers I have… to anything. You know, you’ve turned me upside down or inside out or something.”

  “Mackenzie, religion is about having the right answers, and some of its answers are right. But I am about the process that takes you to the living answer, and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside. There are a lot of smart people who are able to say a lot of right things from their brains because they have been told what the right answers are, but they don’t know me at all. So really, how can their answers be right even if they are right, if you understand my drift?” She smiled at her pun. “So even though they might be right, they are still wrong.”

  “I understand what you’re saying. I did that for years after seminary. I had the right answers sometimes, but I didn’t know you. This weekend, sharing life with you has been far more illuminating than any of those answers.” They continued to move lazily with a current.

  “So, will I see you again?” he asked hesitantly.

  “Of course. You might see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in creation, or in your joy and sorrow. My ability to communicate is limitless, living and transforming, and it will always be tuned to Papa’s goodness and love. And you will hear and see me in the Bible in fresh ways. Just don’t look for rules and principles; look for relationship—a way of coming to be with us.”

  “It still won’t be the same as having you sit on the bow of my boat.”

  “No, it will be far better than you’ve yet known, Mackenzie. And when you finally sleep in this world, we’ll have an eternity together—face-to-face.”

  And then she was gone. Although he knew that she was not really.

  “So please, help me live in the truth,” he said out loud. Maybe that counts as prayer, he thought.

  When Mack entered the cabin he saw that Jesus and Sarayu were already there and seated at the table. Papa was busy as usual bringing platters of wonderful-smelling dishes, again only a few that Mack recognized, and even those he had to look at twice to make sure they were something he was familiar with. Conspicuously absent were any greens. He headed for the bathroom to clean up, and when he returned the other three had already begun to eat. He pulled up the fourth chair and sat down.

  “You don’t really have to eat, do you?” he asked as he began to ladle something into his bowl that resembled a thin seafood soup, with squid and fish and other more ambiguous delicacies.

  “We don’t have to do anything,” Papa stated rather
strongly.

  “Then why do you eat?” Mack inquired.

  “To be with you, honey. You need to eat, so what better excuse to be together?”

  “Anyway, we all like to cook,” added Jesus. “And I enjoy food—a lot. Nothing like a little shaomai, ugali, nipla, or kori bananje to make your taste buds happy. Follow that with some sticky toffee pudding or a tiramisu and hot tea. Yum! It doesn’t get any better than that.”

  They all laughed and then busily resumed passing platters and helping themselves. As Mack ate, he listened to the banter between the three. They talked and laughed like old friends who knew one another intimately. As he thought about it, that was assuredly more true for his hosts than anyone inside or outside creation. He was envious of the carefree but respectful conversation and wondered what it would take to share that with Nan and maybe even with some friends.

  Again Mack was struck by the wonder and sheer absurdity of the moment. His mind wandered through the incredible conversations that had involved him during the previous twenty-four hours. Wow! He had been here only one day? And what was he supposed to do with all this when he got back home? He knew that he would tell Nan everything. She might not believe him and not that he would blame her—he probably wouldn’t believe any of it either.

  As his mind picked up speed he felt himself withdrawing from the others. None of this could be real. He closed his eyes and tried to shut out the exchanges going on around him. Suddenly, it was dead silent. He slowly opened one eye, half expecting to be waking up at home. Instead, Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu were all staring at him with silly grins plastered to their faces. He didn’t even try to explain himself. He knew that they knew.

  Instead, he pointed to one of the dishes and asked, “Could I try some of that?” The interactions resumed and this time he listened. But again, he felt himself withdrawing. To counteract it, he decided to ask a question.

  “Why do you love us humans? I suppose, I…” As he spoke he realized he hadn’t formed his question very well. “I guess what I want to ask is, why do you love me, when I have nothing to offer you?”

  “If you think about it, Mack,” Jesus answered, “it should be very freeing to know that you can offer us nothing, at least not anything that can add or take away from who we are… That should alleviate any pressure to perform.”

  “And do you love your own children more when they perform well?” added Papa.

  “No, I see your point.” Mack paused. “But I do feel more fulfilled because they are in my life—do you?”

  “No,” said Papa. “We are already completely fulfilled within ourselves. You are designed to be in community as well, made as you are in our very image. So for you to feel that way about your children, or anything that ‘adds’ to you, is perfectly natural and right. Keep in mind, Mackenzie, that I am not a human being, not in my very nature, despite how we have chosen to be with you this weekend. I am truly human in Jesus, but I am a totally separate other in my nature.”

  “You do know—of course you do,” Mack said apologetically, “that I can only follow that line of thought so far, and then I get lost and my brain turns to mush?”

  “I understand,” acknowledged Papa. “You cannot see in your mind’s eye something you cannot experience.”

  Mack thought about that for a moment. “I guess so… Whatever… See? Mush.”

  When the others stopped laughing, Mack continued, “You know how truly grateful I am for everything, but you’ve dumped a whole lot in my lap this weekend. What do I do when I get back? What do you expect of me now?”

  Jesus and Papa both turned to Sarayu, who had a forkful of something halfway to her mouth. She slowly put it back down on her plate and then answered Mack’s confused look.

  “Mack,” she began, “you must forgive these two. Humans have a tendency to restructure language according to their independence and need to perform. So when I hear language abused in favor of rules over sharing life with us, it is difficult for me to remain silent.”

  “As it must,” added Papa.

  “So what exactly did I say?” asked Mack, now quite curious.

  “Mack, go ahead and finish your bite. We can talk as you eat.”

  Mack realized that he too had a fork halfway to his mouth. He gratefully took the bite as Sarayu began to speak. As she did, she seemed to lift off her chair and shimmer with a dance of subtle hues and shades, and the room was faintly filling with an array of aromas, incenselike and heady.

  “Let me answer that by asking you a question. Why do you think we came up with the Ten Commandments?”

  Again Mack had his fork halfway to his mouth, but he took the bite anyway while he thought of how to answer Sarayu.

  “I suppose, at least I have been taught, that it’s a set of rules you expected humans to obey in order to live righteously in your good graces.”

  “If that were true, which it is not,” Sarayu countered, “then how many do you think lived righteously enough to enter our good graces?”

  “Not very many, if people are like me,” Mack observed.

  “Actually, only one succeeded—Jesus. He not only obeyed the letter of the Law but fulfilled the spirit of it completely. But understand this, Mackenzie—to do that he had to rest fully and dependently upon me.”

  “Then why did you give us those commandments?” asked Mack.

  “Actually, we wanted you to give up trying to be righteous on your own. It was a mirror to reveal just how filthy your face gets when you live independently.”

  “But as I’m sure you know, there are many,” responded Mack, “who think they are made righteous by following the rules.”

  “But can you clean your face with the same mirror that shows you how dirty you are? There is no mercy or grace in rules, not even for one mistake. That’s why Jesus fulfilled all of it for you—so that it no longer has jurisdiction over you. And the Law that once contained impossible demands—‘Thou shall not…’—actually becomes a promise we fulfill in you.”

  She was on a roll now, her countenance billowing and moving. “But keep in mind that if you live your life alone and independently, the promise is empty. Jesus laid the demand of the Law to rest; it no longer has any power to accuse or command. Jesus is both the promise and its fulfillment.”

  “Are you saying I don’t have to follow the rules?” Mack had now completely stopped eating and was concentrating on the conversation.

  “Yes. In Jesus you are not under any law. All things are lawful.”

  “You can’t be serious! You’re messing with me again,” moaned Mack.

  “Child,” said Papa, “you ain’t heard nuthin’ yet.”

  “Mackenzie,” Sarayu continued, “those who are afraid of freedom are those who cannot trust us to live in them. Trying to keep the Law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of keeping control.”

  “Is that why we like the Law so much—to give us some control?” asked Mack.

  “It is much worse than that,” resumed Sarayu. “It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might think, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they have only the power to accuse.”

  “Whoa!” Mack suddenly realized what Sarayu had said. “Are you telling me that responsibility and expectation are just another form of rules we are no longer under? Did I hear you right?”

  “Yup,” Papa affirmed. “Now we’re in it—Sarayu, he is all yours!”

  Mack ignored Papa, choosing instead to concentrate on Sarayu, which was no easy task.

  Sarayu smiled at Papa and then back at Mack. She began to speak slowly and deliberately. “Mackenzie, I will take a verb over a noun anytime.”

  She stopped and waited. Mack wasn’t at all sure about what he was supposed to understa
nd by her cryptic remark and said the only thing that came to mind. “Huh?”

  “I”—she opened her hands to include Jesus and Papa—“I am a verb. I am that I am. I will be who I will be. I am a verb! I am alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I am a being verb.”

  Mack still felt as if he had a blank stare on his face. He understood the words she was saying, but they just weren’t connecting yet.

  “And as my very essence is a verb,” she continued, “I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules—then something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless ‘I am,’ there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.”

  Mack was still struggling, although a glimmer of light seemed to begin to shine into his mind. “And this means what, exactly?”

  Sarayu seemed unperturbed by his lack of understanding. “For something to move from death to life, you must introduce something living and moving into the mix. To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense, is to move from Law to grace. May I give you a couple of examples?”

  “Please do,” assented Mack. “I’m all ears.”

  Jesus chuckled and Mack scowled at him before turning back to Sarayu. The faintest shadow of a smile crossed her face as she resumed.

  “Then let’s use your two words: responsibility and expectation. Before your words became nouns, they were first my words, nouns with movement and experience buried inside them: the ability to respond and expect. My words are alive and dynamic—full of life and possibility; yours are dead, full of law and fear and judgment. That is why you won’t find the word responsibility in the Scriptures.”

  “Oh, boy.” Mack grimaced, beginning to see where this was going. “We sure seem to use it a lot.”