Where is God in the midst of tragedy?

DISCLAIMER: This is also my personal blog, so if you decide to look at older posts, there will be a lot that is not related to this class AT ALL. I also used this blog for a Marriage and Family class last fall. End of disclaimer.

My book for Biblical Heritage is The Shack by William P. Young. I've read it twice before, but it is a different book every time I read it, and I learn something new about it each time as well.

Mack, the central character, is a middle-aged father of five, living a normal life, until tragedy strikes. His young daughter, Missy, goes missing on a family end-of-summer camping trip. What Mack calls "The Great Sadness" descends upon him in full force as he tries to move through the rest of his life, trying to keep his life and family together after it was splintered by this trauma.

A while after Missy's disappearance, Mack goes to get the mail in the middle of an ice storm in the Rockies, and discovers a note in the mailbox: "Mack, It's been a while. I'll be at the shack this weekend if you want to get together. Love, Papa."

Mack is furious, convinced that this is some cruel joke. Why would someone pretending to be God (Papa is Mack's wife's [Nan] familiar name for God) talk about THE shack where Missy's dress was discovered after her disappearance?

Mack then recalls the day Missy disappeared. They were on a family camping trip while Nan was at a nursing conference. Kate, the older daughter, and Josh, one of their sons, go canoeing on the last day. The canoe tips over, and, of course, Mack rushes in to save them from the water. In the panic, chaos, and confusion, they soon realize that Missy is gone. That is when Mack realizes that his world is shattered.

So the central questions of the story are these: Where is God when tragedy strikes? Who deserves forgiveness? Are there acts that are unforgivable? Why does God allow tragedy and suffering to happen to His children? How do we reconcile our beliefs of a loving, benevolent, merciful God with evil, pain, tragedy, and suffering in the world He created? Who deserves forgiveness? Are there acts that are unforgivable?

These are the questions I hope to explore through the next 8 weeks of reading this powerful novel.

All quotes in this and subsequent posts cited from: 
Young, W. P. (2007). The Shack. Newbury Park, CA: Windblown Media.