LostWoods Blog

As I said a year ago when I started this blog, from time to time I’ll write about things that don’t have anything to do with cats. This is one of those times.

I am a Christian — some of you may know that already, or have guessed it. No secret, but I don’t go around beating people over the head with “religion” either. I’d much rather live what I believe and bear witness that way than become a street corner preacher.

I have a necklace with three “charms” on it that I wear almost all the time. Each is a reminder of the “things” that are most important to me in life. One is an amber heart — the first gift my husband ever gave me and a symbol to me of my friends and family - the people I love. The next charm is a gold coin from the Isle of Man with a Norwegian Forest Cat on it encircled by a gold, heart-shaped coin holder – obviously a symbol of my furry loves. And the third and most important charm is a gold cross — a symbol of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So… the other day I was in WalMart getting some groceries and stuff when I stopped by the book section to look for a new book or two to read. Why, I have no idea, as I have several sitting here at home begging to be read. But one can never have too many books! I picked up a book to read the back cover and as I put it back, another book fell on the floor at my feet. I glanced at the cover as I picked it up — not nice to leave things lying in the aisles! — and thought, “you ought to see what it’s about — broaden your horizons.” (Yeah, I get in a reading rut sometimes. Romances, Sci-fi, the occasional mystery…) It sounded pretty good and I brought it home. I started reading it Sunday morning and could not put it down.

The book is “The Shack” by William P Young. It is fiction — a story of a man whose youngest daughter is kidnapped and murdered. Yeah, that sounds uplifting, doesn’t it? But more than being a story of tragedy and loss, it is a story of hope and forgiveness. It is a story about faith and trust. And most of all, it’s a story about love and relationship. It is probably the most sensible and LOVING description of God’s desire for a relationship with each of us that I have ever read. I cried again and again, and ended up hoping that some of the lessons were sinking in so I could live my life more in communion with “Papa” (the name Mack’s wife calls God) and with much less worry about the stresses of the world around me.

I will be buying a few extra copies of “The Shack” to give away. I can’t give away my own - I know I’ll be rereading it. It wasn’t very expensive — only about $10 at WalMart — and one of the best uses of $10 I’ve made.

Anyway, if this sounds like something you might like to know more about, you can get more information at www.theshackbook.com

Tomorrow I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled cat programming. God bless!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Other Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.