God is love

i just finished reading the book the shack. this is quite a long post because i have so many thoughts about this book. i’ve written it more for me because this year i promised myself to grow and to learn and to change and to be an all around better person and to find God at the center of my life.  i don’t really believe that anyone will actually read through all of it. but if you have the time by all means go ahead.

there are many people and believers attacking this book, claiming that it is heresy and scriptually incorrect. ive tried to be diplomatic and read both the bad reviews and the good reviews. i wanted to have a fuller understanding of what the book entails, but oh boy do the bad ones give me a headache. i had to stop.

i will start off by saying that i realize this is a fictional novel. however, by the end, i had no doubt in my mind that my God is an awesome God. this novel is helping me to grow in the understanding that He is so much more than my imagination or words can sum up about what He is and what He is capable of doing. It is helping me find my connection with Him, while learning to let his light shine through me and my life, and learning to love what God loves and forgiving the way He forgives. and for those reasons, i appreciate william p. young letting God work through him

God wants to have a relationship with me, by being at the center of my life. i can only compare this to the way i value my relationships with my friends and family.  i invite them into my life by going to them for advice, valuing their opinions about the decisions i make, seeking their encouragement and doing it for them in return. the shack shows that having a relationship with God is not meant to be difficult, i should be able to easily walk everyday with Him in my life.

i used to be afraid of God. acting and believing out of fear. i used to think of God as this cosmic judge judy who will sit on a big throne at the end of my life, roll out a long scroll, and bang down a gavel on all that i have done. But now i understand that He no more wants to condemn us, His children, than we want to be condemned for our mistakes. He is our Father, the creator of everything, and loves us despite our faults and mistakes. we are only human and each of us will continue to make mistakes for as long as we live on earth. so knowing that i will never be perfect in my life, how do i then reconcile this concept of my final judgement day? and when i think about this even further, who told me this and how did i come to believe in it?? so many people have different interpretations of what the Bible means to them and i have definitely begun to explore it more for my own understanding. my search for the truth.

for me, my spirituality and attendance in church is more than following a set of rules to live by. the shack shows me that as good and well intentioned as those rules are, just following  is not enough and it misses the mark on connecting with God and loving. my search for the truth and what God means to me is a personal journey. we are all different and we will all reach our understanding through different avenues, may it be christianity, judaism, islam, or kabbalah. and a big part of God’s love shining through you, is not to discredit anyone’s path but to respect it and love them for their search regardless of your disagreements. i think that’s why i have such a hard time reading through the bad reviews. i mean, we are all searching for the same truth and understanding. we just have different ways of going about it. no matter what avenue you take to find the truth, God will meet you there. and for me the shack is an aid.

after finishing reading the book, it was like a lightbulb had been turned on. God loves me. like really truly deeply loves me. His love is greater than i can imagine and greater than any human can give to me. i’ve only wanted to be loved and to feel loved. and i am! I AM LOVED! God’s love is unconditional, unlike the love of humans. its very different. His love is not based on feelings or emotions or because we make Him feel good. He is love. i never really understood this concept before. i struggled to feel His love. of course, its said all the time in church and through my parents. but i never really understood what this means and to what capacity. but i get it now. i really get it. and it makes me walk with a lighter step. with a more joyful step. i feel so much happier, now that i don’t need to seek  out love in other relationships. i want everyone to feel God’s love, and i look forward to loving with the God in me.

and because this is foremost my photoblog, i don’t want to leave you without any. here are a few pics from the crowds at the This Day Music festival 2007. i went as a second shooter for photographer Bennett Raglin, courtesy of a hook up through the incredible Johnny Nunez. i have been blessed to have my camera allow me to see parts of the world i would have never seen without. these are the beautiful people of Lagos, Nigeria.

~ak