Orginally published: Adventures in the Life of a Southern Gospel Wife ~ December 2009 ~ SGMRadio.com

I have a confession: I have really not started ‘Christmas’ around here at all.

We have no photos for the Christmas cards.

We have no Christmas cards.

I have not made a list, much less checked it twice.

I have not found even one of those ‘perfect gifts’ for someone.

And I sort of don’t care.

As our family looks back on 2009, we see a big whirlwind of not just activity but big life changes. My husband’s career changed. Our ministry has changed and expanded greatly. Both Rod and I are stay-at-home, work-at-home parents now, and so the dynamics of our home have changed dramatically. We have a post-high school kid in the house. We have one who is making plans to travel to Europe with her high school choir. We have one who got herself out of diapers and into Princesshood. We had one in the hospital… twice… who is into everything else the rest of the time!

Because of these changes, and the changes in the world around us, we are simplifying as much as we can. We are planning, when the time is right, to move into a smaller house and, like many, having one car. We are eating at home much more often. We are enjoying what we already have instead of wishing for the next shiny thing.

I don’t just want the simple things; I feel called to them. I feel like there is too much to do… loving our family and paying forward the love of Christ… to focus on the petty and the complicated.

I don’t want to debate the importance of the sexual orientation of the latest American Idol or whether reading Dan Brown novels or letting my kids watch Disney movies is evil. Nor do I think God is spending much of His time worrying about more than the condition of my heart, as that is where my actions will begin.

Along those lines, and like good Christians are supposed to, (please note sarcasm), I have just read The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young. I am now trying to keep my thoughts simple as I ponder its message and why it is so riveting to so many people.

The Shack strikes pretty much every emotional cord I have. It’s not much of a spoiler to tell you that a young child is murdered in this book, and as expected, her disappearance and death cripple her family. This is not the first time I am telling you that this very kind of thing is my worst fear, worst nightmare, and I am essentially avoiding tales like this, because there are enough real life ones to keep my tissue boxes empty.

The first problem I had with The Shack is the same I have with Dan Brown novels: interesting concept, riveting storyline… pretty mediocre writing. The descriptions have not passed the Show Don’t Tell 101 test, the protagonist’s inner dialogue is often trite and tinny. And as is the case with too many country and gospel songs bearing the word ‘angel’ in the title, the situations were manipulative.

Moreover, I fear that like anything on Oprah’s list of cultural must-haves, this book is going to mislead people. It presents a very wordy, complicated, and causal view of the gospel that can’t even really be equated to The Gospel, and because it is presented via very lovable and loving God-characters, it’s easy to swallow.

In fact, as I was on an airplane home after four long days away from my kids, reading about this poor, grief-consumed father getting to see his child’s joyful romp in heaven, I was swallowing it too.

And then I started to research and review, and realize that The Shack isn’t much different from the ‘prosperity gospel,’ or drive-thru church, or ‘more than one way to Heaven’ or whatever you want to call it. The Shack’s story is telling people that God would never punish His (or Her!) children, because sin is punishment in itself. It tells us that God will submit to us because He wants to form a circle of relationship with us. And while that is some lovely ear candy, it contradicts what the Bible tells us.

The Bible tells us that God hold us to standards and gets angry when we rebel against them (Matthew 25:31-46, for one example).

The Bible tells us that sin has consequences. (Romans 6:23)

The Bible tells us that God is Lord of all. (Revelation 17:14)

Maybe that’s a letdown compared to The Shack’s bear-hugging, big-dinner-cooking Mama-God who admonishes us gently for our forays into independence but basically, eventually, gives us everything we want. But it’s what the Bible says.

Don’t be disappointed though: here is what else The Bible tells us:

God loves us. He loves us so much He made a perfect world for us to live in, with beautiful things to look at and smell and taste. He gave us companions to love and with whom to experience joy. And – ready for the simplest part of all? –

He gave us His Son… His Son… to bridge the gap between God and us that we created. He sent Jesus – Immanuel – to be God with us.

(That’s why we’re stringing the lights, baking the cookies, and catching up on Martha Stewart watching for centerpiece-inspiration, my friends!)

There isn’t much ‘southern Gospel wife’ or ‘adventure’ in this message – and it’s not for the lack thereof in my life or heart – but I would be remiss to hold from you any message I feel has been given to me and through me. And I am not saying don’t read certain books or listen to certain speakers, because I believe every person has to decipher for herself what is truthful.

I just believe that perhaps I am not the only one being called to the simple.

At Christmas, the world around us tempts us with 500 Ways to Make the Holidays Prettier, More Colorful, and More Stressful; it tempts us to look at sources other than God’s Word for our truth. And the truth, it bears repeating, is simple:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14