Memorable One-Liners: An Introduction

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I thought I might write a few blogs on some of the really good one-liners in the book The Shack by William P. Young.

The author of The Shack is named William Paul Young and on his MySpace many refer to him as Paul. In the foreword of the book the author talks about the main character and says it's family tradition for all the men to have the same first name but to be commonly called by their middle name.

Oddly, this author has the same two names as my husband, William Paul. And just as interesting is the fact that it's family tradition in the Burleson family to name the first boy born to each family William (Something) Burleson. Thus, in our family we have William Paul and William Wade. Paul's Dad was named William Reed and his Dad was William Arthur and his Dad was William Painter, etc. Common things catch your attention and the thought "Well, look at that!" crosses your mind. Links you right off to what you're about to read.

In this post I want to tell how I came to hear about and to read this book.

Cherri, our oldest, called me one day and said something like, "Mom, stop what you're doing and go buy this book, The Shack, by William P. Young." I of course immediately say Why? Why do you like it?

Her response was that a friend with whom she had been sharing life experiences and who has gone through some recent tragic events, said he had a friend recommend this book and he wanted Cherri to read it. He wouldn't tell her why, he just said read it and then let's talk.

Cherri went to the bookstore that day and bought the book and read it that day and into the night. She said it captured her and she experienced many emotions as she read it. She even cried as she told me snippets from the book and how it touched her. She didn't even want to talk about the book until she was able to process what she had read and what it meant to her. When she saw her friend, she could only say, later. She just wasn't ready.

She then told me she told Mike, her husband, about the book, and as he was reading it, he was overcome with emotion and couldn't talk about it. He would just walk into the room and nod his head and give a motion that meant it was really touching him and then turn around and leave and continue reading.

I immediately bought the book, but it was on the table and I didn't get to read it that day. Paul picked it up and got to the sixth page of the foreword and said, "I can tell I'm really going to like this book." He then started to read me the phrase that caught his attention and couldn't finish because he was overcome with emotion. When he could finish, he said something like he thought this was such a true statement but he had never read it in print. The statement: I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing.

One of the first statements that I want to write about in future posts is the one following that one: …and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside.

I was telling Cherri what her Dad said about the statement he read, and she said to me, "Now Mom, don't let Dad read this book for you." I think she was afraid I was too busy and wouldn't get the full impact of reading it for myself. I promised her I wouldn't. She continued with what she had discovered, that each one who reads this book is touched in a different way, perhaps where their hurting points or needy areas are. She then shared with me what had spoken to her.

So, I then read the book.

I have been a part of book study groups before and I love them. It's so fun to read a book at the same time your friends are reading it, and then coming together to discuss what you've read and how it affected you. To me, that's so beneficial because we're all at different points in our journey of life and we learn from each other. Writing posts about the truths in this book and how they've affected me I hope will prompt any who are reading to share how they are affected. It will be my substitute for being able to participate in a book study group.

That's the intro to a new string of posts to come.

MB