The Shack: Part 3: What the book teaches us about loss

In my last post about the book The Shack, the discussion will revolve around the emphasis of God not being there in the midst of tragedy and loss.  This is an important topic in theology and Christian circles today.  It is a topic all of us as believers deal with in regards to tragedy.
In the book, the author loses his daughter when she is abducted and murdered in a Shack in the wilderness while his him and his family were camping.  He goes through this hard time in his life where he blames himself for her death.  If he wouldn't not have gone after his other daughter Kate when she was in the lake then Missy may have still be alive.  The main character feels guilt and pain for allowing this tragedy to happen.  He then blames God for allowing this to happen.
The main character, Mack, can't believe God would allow this happen to him.  In the same way, he doubts God's presence everywhere.
Mack doubts that God was with Jesus on the cross. Mack says (98), "At the cross? Now wait I thought you left him on the cross."  Papa, who is personified by God, says in response to Mack's doubtful nature, "You misunderstood the mystery there. Regardless of what he felt at that moment I never left."  Mack distances himself from the thought of God's presence his life.
As sinners, we fall away from our hope in Jesus Christ.  We forgot the beauty of God's presence everywhere  in our lives.  The great thing about the God we put our hope in is that he is everywhere, if we turn to him he will welcome us into relationship with us daily.
One important thing that I was able to conceive from this book is that God is with us wherever we go in life.  His presence will never leave or forsake us despite the fact that we fall away from him or the pain that is in our life.  His omnipresence is not too be questioned because of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture that shows how God speaks to him daily.  God is with us in the Old Testament and in the New Testament through Jesus, the Apostles, Paul, and many other believers.  At times, I have lost sight of this fact in my life, during junior high of high school but God worked in that time in my life, putting friends in my life to reminds me of God's presence in my life.  God helped me realize who he was in my life and I rededicated my life to him at the beginning of my senior year.
God's presence is always with us in the midst of pain and tragedy.  He is faithful when we are not.