Consider these scripturally probing questions to enrich NEXT Sunday's (2.22.09) message:
The Shack Series (chapters 10): 
Wading in the Water
Day 1         In chapter 10 Mack walks on water with Jesus as Peter did. How was Peter's experience like Mack's
(see Matthew 14:22-33)? How was it different? What reason does Jesus seem to have for such a manifestation of the
miraculous? How does fear play a role in both instances? What overcomes the fear? Since most of us will never
actually walk on water, what practical benefits could we gain from being told of this event? What real fears in
your circumstances require water-walking faith on your part?
Day 2         How would you answer the question Jesus asks Mack on p. 141, "Where do you spend most of your time
imagining: in the past, the present, or the future?" The conversation goes on to suggest we spend an inordinate
amount of time fretting about the future because of our fears and our thirst to control our circumstances. Often
God is absent from these imaginings. What might be an example of this in your own life? Where do you hear these
same notes of fear and its cure in the observations about people made by Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34? Does the
wisdom of The Shack concur or differ? Where?
Day 3         "You're an ecologist?" Mack asks with seeming surprise on the bottom of page 144. What explanation
do you hear for this conclusion about Jesus in Coossians 1:15-17? What relationship does God give original man to
creation in Genesis 2:15? What thoughts toward the environment are appropriate for persons who want to live
pleasing to God? How does being a good steward of the earth differ from being a worshiper of mother earth?
Day 4         Submission seems to be a much more volatile subject among us humans than it does with God as The
Shack presents it. Compare what is said in the last full paragraph of p. 145 to Ephesians 5:21-33. How is it true
that, "Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and
respect?"Why and in what ways are we braced for submission going wrong for us? How would you imagine a
relationship working that truly reciprocates love and respect? For what reasons (list them) do our relationships
miss these dynamics?
Day 5         Reread the conversation on p. 149. How does it follow that asking: "What Would Jesus Do?" misses
God's intention that we die to an independent life and choose to live in submitted, dependent relationship with
Him? Since God "will never FORCE that union on you" (p. 149, last full paragraph) how do we maintain this kind of
relationship? What is the only command in John 15:1-5? What sort of things can we do that contribute to being
faithful in this command?