Very Fond of Each One of Us

I just finished reading The Shack by William P. Young for the second time.  I found the story more compelling and the theology even richer this go around.  I didn't have a child when I first read the book, but now that my daughter Ashlyn is around the same age of the tragic girl Missy, I had to work hard to not empathize too much with the protagonist, Mack.  I can't imagine what it must be like to experience that kind of loss.  But we all know that someone somewhere suffers immensely every single day.  One of the big issues raised in the book is how people of faith come to grips with the tragedies and injustices of life.  Where is God in natural disasters?  Why does he sometimes intervene in the face of human evil, whereas other times he restrains himself?  A lot of other theological issues get analyzed in the course of the narrative, but I'll let you read it (or reread it) yourself.  One thing that stands out more than anything else in the book is that we have a God who is very fond of each one of us.  We were made for  relationship with this God and one day, though not always evident from our point of view, the seemingly senseless stuff of our world will finally make sense.  Amen. - Shay