The Shack - my thoughts

Took the time to read The Shack over the weekend. This is a novel that seems to have taken parts of the Christian world by storm, with over three million copies in print. Its a story about a guy (Mack) who's daughter is abducted during a vacation and how he deals with her brutal murder. Most of the words written about the book are to do with how it portrays Mack's meeting with the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit back at The Shack where his daughter was most likely murdered. Author Paul Young (He calls himself WM. Paul Young - which is a pretentious way of saying William, I assume) portrays God as a black woman, Jesus as a not too attractive looking guy and the Holy Spirit as some form of free spirit with no real bodily form. The relationships between the three of them and how they then relate to Mack is the basis of most of the book. The key thing of course is that this is a novel - a work of fiction. Some of the stuff that has been written about the book would make you think it was a new version of the Bible. Its a novel.
Is it helpful in understanding the Trinity? In part I think it is - it would be worth hearing a theologian discuss the way this is portrayed in relation to what the Bible says.
Must go looking on the web.

Orange at Easter

We're spending the Easter holidays at Orange, a city in the central west area of NSW, about four hours drive west of Sydney. Orange's altitude means its climate is ideal for cool climate wines and great food. The nearby village of Millthorpe continues to develop as a boutique and antiques centre - this is one of the laneways in the village.
Its a great place to get away from city life for four days - raining now, but very peaceful. Visiting the rural areas of NSW makes you realise how city life forces its hectic pace on you, so its good to get away.
The autumn leaves are just starting to show and the chill in the evening air is quite exhilarating.
Back to the grind this week - but its been a good break.

Remembering 59 DVD

After over two months of not blogging, figured it was time to catch up with what's been happening. Last week the documentary I produced and directed on the 1959 visit to Australia of US evangelist Billy Graham was released. Remembering '59 looks at Australia in the 50's, the person of Billy Graham and then the impact of the four month visit by Billy and his team.
We interview people like Archbishop Peter Jensen and others whose lives were impacted by the Crusade meetings.
We launched the DVD at two public meetings last week, in Scots Church Melbourne and Wesley Mission's Lyceum Theatre in Sydney. Over 400 people saw the DVD and from all accounts, they loved it. Check it out on the web site: www.remembering59.com.au
Also this week on Good Friday, watch Seven at 12.30pm for a half hour program called Beyond Winning. Four Christian sportsmen and women tell their story in a program I produced for Bible Society.