William Paul Young

Multi-millionaire Anthony Spencer is trapped in a coma and finds himself in a surreal world that reflects the skewed priorities of the life he's lived on earth where he meets a stranger who turns out to be Jesus and a grandmother who is the Holy Spirit. Pleading for a second chance, he is sent back to earth to redeem himself. There he must fight to put right the mess he's created, experiencing events through others' eyes before deciding how to use the miraculous gift he's been given. Before his illness he had set events in motion that he now needs to undo - but will he have the courage to make the right choice? THE SHACK is an international phenomenon, surpassing 1 million copies sold before being picked up by a mainstream publisher: its combination of radical spirituality with a heart-wrenching story made it a word-of-mouth hit, and CROSS ROADS has all the ingredients to repeat its impact.

What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

Cross Roads

Wm. Paul Young

Paul Young, author of the international bestseller, The Shack, tells a story of the incremental transformation of a man caught in the torments of his own creation, somewhere between heaven and earth. Anthony Spencer is egotistical, proud of being a self-made business success at the peak of his game, even though the cost of winning was painfully high. A cerebral hemorrhage leaves Tony comatose in a hospital ICU. He 'awakens' to find himself in a surreal world, a 'living' landscape that mirrors dimensions of his earthly life, from the beautiful to the corrupt. It is here that he has vivid interactions with others he assumes are projections of his own subconscious, but whose directions he follows nonetheless with the possibility that they might lead to authenticity and perhaps, redemption. The adventure draws Tony into deep relational entanglements where he is able to 'see' through the literal eyes and experiences of others, but is "blind" to the consequences of hiding his personal agenda and loss that emerge to war against the processes of healing and trust. Will this unexpected coalescing of events cause Tony to examine his life and realize he built a house of cards on the poisoned grounds of a broken heart? Will he also have the courage to make a critical choice that can undo a major injustice he set in motion before falling into a coma?

Scott Wilson

I liked this book, I wanted to like it more, but found that there was a lot of jumping between time and places and characters that made the journey through this book similar to the journey experienced by the main character - longer than I wanted. I liked this book less than the Shack but not by much.

That being said, I quite enjoyed the allegory in several places - particularly the scene in the temple and I found myself several times having to set the book down as the emotions I felt towards empathizing with the other characters in the book were too powerful and I needed to process.

I will be re-reading this book again to try to get further into the allegorical meanings. Definitely worth you picking up a copy and reading for yourself.

Sonia Flores

Es algo complicado hablar de este libro. Está conformado por tantas piezas, tantas realidades, que uno solo puede quedarse con esa que tiene que ver con uno mismo, con esa que se parece a nuestra vida y nos ha tocado más. Para mí ha sido el hecho de que, en efecto, nuestro corazón es como una tierra, baldía y árida o fértil según lo que habite dentro. El que nuestro terreno esté rodeado o no de una muralla depende de nuestras defensas y elecciones sobre de quién hemos de defendernos, y como esas esctructuras se agrietan a medida que reconoces que no sirven de nada. Y lo mejor o peor de todo es que para llegar a ese punto el dolor es necesario. Es necesario sufrir para ver la verdadera transformación y sacar de raíz todo lo que no nos permite avanzar y acercarnos a Dios de la forma que él quiere que lo hagamos. Y que solo intente entrar a nuestro corazón no es porque él lo necesite, es que nos ama tanto para decirnos cuánto nosotros lo necesitamos a él.

Los diálogos han sido dolorosamente ciertos. Wm Paul Young tiene una manera sutil de golpearte el corazón endurecido, de hablarte hasta que ya no sientes que estés leyendo una historia. De explicarte de manera casi poética y sublime cuestiones del corazón que de igual forma te llegan como un rayo y te rompen. Es una mirada profunda al corazón de Dios y al de nosotros mismos. Es una lectura preciosa que te hace querer volver a la búsqueda constante de la oscuridad que quiere ser erradicada por la única luz. Es lo choque de lo que tiene que ver contigo y se hace aplicable a tu vida porque no es una realidad, es la verdad.

Cross Roads What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

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