The Shack--again

I listened to the audiobook of The Shack again this week. I had some alone time in the car, so I started with CD 3 and listened to the rest of the book. I start with three because 1 and 2 are the first chapters about the horror of having a child kidnapped and murdered and the depression that follows. I don't need to hear that again, but the conversations with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spririt will fuel my soul time and time again.
I realize that it is fiction, but so is Screwtape Letters, and I have read that book several times and learned great truths of my faith from CS Lewis each time I have read it. I happen to believe that God gifts certain people with the imagination that the rest of us do not have, and that those people can use that imagination to teach us.
When I begin feeling the "great sadness" that Mac discusses in The Shack, I listen carefully to his conversations with God. I too have wondered "WHY?" so often and have now come to accept that God did not make this world the way it is, but he did send Jesus to make everything right for us. I realize that some of Young's theology is questionable, but I'm firm enough in my faith to read something controversial and not be harmed. One thing I am certain of: God is very fond of me, He is very fond of Tony, He is very fond of Jason, He is very fond of Allison, and He is very fond of Carson. He is very fond of you.