Saturday Night Session With William Paul Young

I now know how Cinderella must have felt coming home from the ball. Accelerated, wishing it didn’t have to end, yet knowing that when the clock strikes twelve it must end. In other words, it was an incredible evening that I won’t forget.

William Paul Young, or Paul Young, as he is known to his family and his friends, is as good a speaker as he is a writer. He is humble, kind,funny, wanting no glory or accolades for a book that was originally meant for his children’s eyes only, with no idea that the it would instead be read by eyes all over the world.

Who knew that a book written in single space and printed at Office Depot because doing both was cheaper, would be used by God to bring so many to Christ. But it has, and William Paul Young has the emails and letters from so many who came to believe in Christ after reading this book. Many of them agnostics and atheists from around the world.

To tell you every part of this evening would take up enough space to write a book myself, so instead of giving every single word he said, I invite you to listen for yourself over at the Emmanuel website, going to the archives, or listen tomorrow morning at 11 am Central time as Paul Young speaks in the morning session. It will be worth the time spent whether fan or critic of his book The Shack. I doubt you will come away with the same criticism for the book, most of which is unfounded as I hope to show later on, but even if that doesn’t change, it is worth the listen. In fairness if nothing else.

Let me begin by telling my impression of what William Paul Young is not.

*He is not a Universalist. I know, I know what has been written about him, but listen to him speak in detail. He is not a Universalist.

*He is not a heretic. His love for Christ, his theology, his love for his brothers and sisters in Christ is incredible. In fact except for a handful of people through out my lifetime of fifty three years, I don’t think I’ve seen as much love and grace coming from a Christian.

*His portrayal of the Trinity is not unbiblical, in fact he understands the Trinity quite well, and the names given fit perfectly when you understand why he chose the names he did, portrayed them as he did. If you have ever been deeply wounded where something in you dies, you will understand perfectly why he wrote it as he did. I’ve been there, I understood.

I arrived at 6:20 hoping to get a good seat and had the privilege to see Paul and Mary Burleson along with other members of the family. It was great to talk to them, both are a joy to be around. They look good too.

The evening began before 7:00, as Wade announced that Mr. Young would be signing books until the service began at 7:00. The line was long as I went to the back of it, anxiously waiting to have the copy of my daughter’s book signed. She was called to work and could not come with me.

I wondered if I would make it to the front before 7:00, but it was not to be. Wade counted off assigning numbers to the next thirty people, promising that there would be another signing after the service and we could be first in line. No one seemed to mind because Paul Young was giving time to each individual, ending each book sign with a hug. Incredibly generous.

The service began promptly on time, and as introductions were made, William Paul Young came to the stage met with a standing ovation, he then proceeded to turn around and clap upwards to the heavens. He was giving all the clapping, the standing ovation, to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

He then turned around and began by telling us he is not an author. “It’s true,” he said. “I’ve never had anything published before.” He then proceeded to tell the incredible story of how The Shack got to where it is now. I say incredible because it was. Only God could have orchestrated such a thing. The details can be heard by going to the Emmanuel church website and clicking on the archives. To write about it wouldn’t do it justice. I don’t want to leave anything out, which I would have to due to space. Only by hearing it will you get the full impact his story gives.

The Shack is eleven years of William Paul Young’s life. He is both Mackenzie Philips and Missy, the daughter who is killed by a serial killer.

The Shack is a portrayal of Mr. Young’s loss of innocence. The pain in the book goes deeper than death. In fact, Missy in the book represents something in Paul Young that died, and God taking him on a journey to healing.

Paul Young said during the course of the evening “Sometimes to heal somebody, He(God) has to tear something down.” This statement not only furthered in bringing the book to my understanding, but I also couldn’t help but think of other areas that this is true.

At question and answer time, someone asked Mr. Young how he chose the names for the Trinity in the book. Each name was carefully chosen for a specific reason. Such care was used in the deliberate choice of names, that to not see God’s hand in this book was near impossible. Especially my having read it twice.

Sarayu(name for the Holy Spirit in the book): Paul Young was searching for just the right name, and not finding any in English that best described the Holy Spirit, he searched elsewhere in other languages. After finding none that suited there, he happened to be speaking to a friend who was from India. He then asked his friend for a long list of words. After receiving the list and looking through it, he came upon the word sarayu, meaning wind.

Not wanting just any word meaning wind, he asked his friend what kind of wind this word was. She told him that this particular word meant a common wind that takes you by surprise. Thus the name for the Holy Spirit who appeared to Mac in the shack was born.

Sophia(the personification of God’s wisdom according to the book(pg. 171): This name comes from Proverbs 8 and means wisdom. There is also a specific reason that Sophia is very beautiful.

Papa(God in the book): “It took me (I forget how many) years to erase my father’s face from the face of God.” Papa is chosen to show the intimacy we have in God. The Bible says so much so that we can call him Abba, which means daddy, or in this case Papa.

William Paul Young has an incredible story to tell and he is telling it. The message of The Shack is the same message that Imonk wrote of in his post today along with the post by Trevin Wax. It is a story of God’s grace, love, care, binding the wound of those who are in a pain so deep that the person God created them to be dies due to horrendous tragedies. It’s a story worth reading, it’s a story worth passing on. And I think it will be for a long, long time.