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Monday Musings~The Shack

Close your eyes and picture a man with Caucasian features, maybe a little tan, a beard, long brown hair, wearing a robe and sandals. Who are you looking at? Jesus right? Now close your eyes again and picture a large African American woman wearing an African inspired dress and headband cooking and singing to funk. Jesus is not the first person that comes to mind when you see this image.

Isn't it amazing how we are all so programmed to view God, or Jesus, as just one image. Even if you are not a "believer" you still can visualize this image of Jesus. Who came up with this picture anyway? I have read through the Bible a few times and studied much about Jesus. Never have I read a description of his appearance other than what we can "assume" based on where he came from. What if God, the Trinity really, doesn't look anything like the picture we have seen a million times? What if he, or she, shows himself, or herself, in a way that speaks to each of us individually; intimately? Who is to say what God really looks like? Have you seen Him?

I am reading the book, The Shack, at the moment and am challenged. This book has opened my eyes to see God in a whole new light. We get so caught up in the religiosity of it all that we often lose sight of the intimacy that we should be having with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible does clearly explain specific things about Christianity but is it the same for everyone? Does everyone have the same Christian experience? Should they? No! Yes, according to our Christian beliefs, there is one way to Heaven. Jesus specifically states that He is, "the Way, the Truth, and the Light" and that the only way to enter the Kingdom is through Him. However, is everyones journey the same? Do we all have to have the same "version" of what God looks like or how He speaks to us?

I went to church Saturday night after reading about half of this book. I sang the worship songs and listened to the message. I do this every weekend. I stand when it's time, sit when everyone else sits, listen to the message, blah, blah, blah. I am not saying this is a bad thing. I am just saying that it is easy to get caught in the routine of it all; stay inside the safe little box of "religion" and religious traditions. Well, Saturday was different for me. It was fresh and more personal. The worship meant more to me because my God was exactly that: my God. I didn't have to base my image on what someone thought He looked like years ago. No. He is my personal God, my Father, my Friend. No longer do I have to experience my beliefs based on what someone else tells me. I can read the Bible with freedom and clarity allowing God to touch me personally based on His Word.

Again, let me reiterate that there are spiritual truths to the Bible that cannot be explained away or changed by us. I think that is what started all this; we have made God into what we want Him to be and are missing out on the true glory He wants to show us. No longer will I place God in a box. I will open myself up and allow Him to speak to me the way that He knows I need. I am open; waiting excitedly for what I will experience now that I have let God out of the box!

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