What strikes me most is the tenderness of Papa, Jesus and Sarayu towards Mack - the way they never make him feel "less" for needing food, sleep... the way they enjoy sharing meals with him, listening to him, spending time with him, enjoying him... Gandalf is one of my favourite figures in the Lord of the Rings (Aragorn being THE favourite one) and yet I am glad that Papa "mixes metaphors" and shows herself to Mack as a woman... I have heard people say (and they live it) that God is male hence males are more like God than women and have the right and probably even duty to boss around women so it's healing to me... Most pepole would agree that God is neither male nor female but so often exclusively male images and words and pronouns are used... a nice change!
So that's my introduction - if you want to know more, just ask - and provide coffee as Papa does in The Shack - cookies are optional, coffee is not
