Dr Paul Allen

The day  The Shack  sold its hundred thousandth copy, it became likely there would be a movie adaption. The day it sold its millionth, it became practically guaranteed. And, sure enough, it comes to theaters, starring Sam Worthington , Octavia Spencer , and Tim McGraw . I am sure that watching and reviewing  The Shack  would be an unwise and even sinful spiritual decision. For that reasonI will not be seeing or reviewing  The Shack . Let me explain why. The Shack in Brief I trust you are familiar with  The Shack , the book that came from nowhere to sell more than twenty million copies. It is the story of Mack, a man who has suffered a terrible tragedy and whose faith has been left in tatters. But then he receives an unexpected invitation to return to the scene where that tragedy unfolded.  In a little shack, he encounters Father, Son, and Holy Spirit , each in human form—Papa, an African-American woman, Son, a middle-aged Middle-Eastern man, and Holy Spirit , an eclectic

“Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee” (Gen. 31:20). Having his wives’ full consent in his decision to flee Paddan-aram, Jacob and his entourage begin their return to Canaan in today’s passage. Concern for his clan’s safety factors into this move, but Jacob’s growing desire to trust God and return to the Promised Land cannot be ignored. Genesis 31:21 says he “set his face” toward Gilead, a region east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River where the Israelite tribes Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh later settled. Jacob is taking his family and making a beeline for his God-given country. This caravan makes its move while Laban is shearing the sheep (v. 19), which is a wise decision. Shepherds were busy during the sheep-shearing season and worked from sunrise to sunset gathering wool from their flocks. Jacob was therefore able to get a lead of several days on his father-in-law. Moses tells us Jacob “tricked” Laban (v. 20), a term that literally means “