Loosing a book

So a year ago I was dealing with a difficult situation in life. At this time I ended up going to China for work and the time away gave me incredible perspective on the situation. I drew closer to Christ during that trip and ultimately began to understand what he was putting me through. One of the ways I got closer to Him was through the book The Shack. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it, it will redefine the way you look at the trinity and your own walk with Christ (naturally in a good way :)

Well anyways, its a year later. I'm sitting in a Hong Kong hotel room in the middle of a trip that for all intensive purposes is the same as last years. While life is a tad bit different, I'm needing that same time away from the states for time closer to Christ.

Here's the funny part. I brought with me The Shack on this trip too. It was my intention to re-read it and to use it in much the same way i did last year. Here is the funny part.

While I finished reading the book in heartfelt tears on a Chinese Taxi ride. This time around at about page 90 I left the book on a Chinese Taxi ride. Totally spaced my mind and realized the book is gone for good. I can't help but romanticize this, imagining the book as a powerful tool in my life. It entered into my life in a taxi ride, and it left in one too. Like a person whose God given purpose in your life is to be apart of it for only a season, teaching you an invaluable lesson. The Shack is gone now.

When I take a step back though, and reflect on this. I think of it this way. I can't box God, pull him out of a book, even as good a book as The Shack. I think He removed that from this trip so I could focus on Him during this time.

Whether its a place, or a person, or even a thing. God isn't there. He's inside. A part of us, we have been given the Holy Spirit, a powerful tool to experience the love and presence of Christ at any time. While other things help us connect with Christ, ultimately they are just things. We may feel the presence and intimacy of Christ in a relationship, worship, in nature, in service to the poor, and these things are all God given and beautiful, but I'm learning that I can't use them. Even for as good a purpose as to be closer to God, because I inevitably start to rely on them and not God. While I can appreciate their place in my life, they come and go. And I have to be okay with that. Which only happens when I am not relying on them, but God. Who doesn't leave.

I don't think I will buy The Shack again. I'll let it go, as I'm finding I must with some of the concerns in my life right now. Who knows, maybe as it floats away into Chinese Taxi land, it will touch someone else's life as it did mine. I think that's a good prayer to pray.