Have you ever seen the movie or read the book “The Shack”?
If you haven’t, you should. If you have, remember with me for a minute.
In the story, there’s a man who gets a mysterious letter that says something along the lines of “come to the shack”. He knows the shack; it’s the place where his little girl was found murdered. He’s mad, but he decides to go, not really knowing what to expect. While there, a lot happens, but what I want to highlight is this: he found Jesus, he found the Trinity. He went to a place that physically represented hurt, but emotionally he found peace. He found rest. He found a place where time stood still. It was beautiful.
On Saturday, my team was relocated due to a youth group with 30 students coming for a week to the place we are staying. A man named Richard heard of us needing a place to stay and happily opened his home.
Let me tell you about my time here, only half way through the week.
It feels like a secret hideaway that we’ve been invited to by Jesus. It feels like a little glimpse of the mansion Jesus has prepared for me in Heaven.
It’s been a place of refuge. A place where we have come with heavy things on our hearts, and life has been spoken over them.
It’s been a place of confronting the enemy, demanding that demons flee.
It’s been a place of abundance. On our measly $5/day WorldRace budget, we have feasted, fed an extra person, AND had leftovers. Our food has literally been multiplied.
It’s been a place or prayer, a place of battle, a place of deep revelation.
It’s been a place of gleaning knowledge and wisdom, hope and understanding.
It’s been a place of deep conversation, a place of peace, and bliss.
Time has stood still. The days last forever but they pass by quickly.
I was excited to be invited into the comforts of a huge home; a place that overlooks Hermosa Beach, has bedrooms for each of us, a full kitchen to actually cook.
But what I’ve found is so much more. The Lord gifted us with this time of richness. Not richness in the earthly things, but richness in the Holy Spirit.
My time at Richard’s has been rich.
