The Shack

Chapter 12

• Mack leaves the waterfall, heads back to the lake, and realizes the Great Sadness is gone. (p.170)

“The Great Sadness would not be a part of his identity any longer…He wondered who he would be now that he was letting all that go – to walk into each day without the guilt and despair that had sucked the colors of life out of everything.”

• Has there been anything in your life that sucked the colors of life out of everything, but once you gave it all to Jesus you felt like a different person?

• Mack is having a hard time believing all this is real. (p. 172)
• Mack tells Jesus that he struggles with thinking that Missy was alone and terrified. (p. 172)

“I keep thinking about her alone in that truck, so terrified”…”Mack, she was not alone. I never left her: we never left her not for one instant. I could no more abandon her or you, than I could abandon myself.”

• Jesus tells Mack that Missy prayed for him. (p. 173)

“She may have only been six years old, but Missy and I are friends. We talk. She was actually more worried about you and the other kids, knowing that you couldn’t find her. She prayed for you, for your peace.”

• Do you think your kids have this kind of relationship with Jesus?

• Mack tries to walk across the lake, once again, doing it on his own. (p. 174)
• Mack realizes that sharing his pain with Jesus made the “hugeness” of it seem less powerful. (p. 174)

“The darkness hides the true size of fears and lies and regrets. The truth is they are more shadow then reality, so they seem bigger in the dark. When the light shines into the places they live inside you, you start to see them for what they are.”

• Is there anything in your life that seems so huge, that you don’t even let Jesus handle it?

• Jesus tells Mack that he has been speaking to him for a long time about missy (p. 176)

“I’ve been talking to you for a long time, but today was the first time you could hear it, and all those other times weren’t a waste either. Like little cracks in the wall, one at a time, but woven together, they prepared you for today. You have to take the time to prepare the soil if you want it to embrace the seed.”

• Do you think God is preparing the soil in your life?

• Jesus tells Mack that Church isn’t about buildings, it’s about people. (p.178)

“…It’s all about relationships and simply sharing life. What we are doing right now – just doing this – and being open and available to others around us.”

• Jesus tells Mack that he’s not big on religion and not fond of politics or economics. (p.179)

“They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about. What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?”

• Do you agree with Jesus on this statement?

• Mack understands that security can only be found in Jesus. (p.180)
• Mack learns that he just needs to trust Jesus and love people. (p. 181)
• Jesus explains that Mack can be in the world but not of the world. (p. 181)

“…I can give you freedom to overcome any system of power in which you find yourself, be it religious, economic, social, or political. You will grow in the freedom to be inside or outside all kinds of systems and to move freely between and among them. Together, you and I can be in it and not of it.”

• Do you feel that you live your life more “in the world” or more “of the world”?

• Jesus tells Mack that he’s not a Christian. (p.182)
• Jesus explains that not all roads lead to him, but he’ll go anywhere to find you. (p. 182)

“Does that mean that all roads lead to you?”…”Not at all…most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”

• Do you believe that there are many roads to Jesus?