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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Faith

Faith

Gray Saturday

By Steve Laubeon April 8, 2023
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I wrote this many years ago and post it every Easter weekend as a reminder. May it speak to you in some small way.

Gray Saturday
by Steve Laube

Holy weekend is such a study in contrasts.

Friday is dark. Somber. Frightening in its hopelessness and pain.
I do not like Dark Fridays.
The nails bury themselves deep into my soul.
They become a singular stake through the heart of this sinner.
Piercing. Rending. Bloody.
Vanquishing this creature of the night who dares to follow his own way.
Christ’s death becomes mine.
The death I deserve.
Alone. Anguishing. Agonizing.
There is no one or nothing that can assuage this dreary weight upon me.
I stand in silence. Staring at the stars and wondering if they can hear my cry or if they care.

Saturday is Gray.
Caught between the darkness and the dawn.
We move around as if yesterday had not happened.
Errands. Busyness. The routine. They conspire to distract from the lessons.
The mundane becomes standard. Bleak. Meaningless. Gray.
Why did Jesus have to wait for the weekend?
Why this middle day of contemplation and forgetfulness?
When night comes we will have survived the gray day.
But only because we know tomorrow is only hours away.
What would it be like if we did not know such hope?

Sunday is Light.
A celebration of life, love, and hope.
It is only because of Sunday that we can face the Fridays of turmoil.
Lift your face toward the dawn.
See the grace that speeds across the hills as the sun licks each place with its touch.
The Son touches your face and the chills of rapture spread to the tips of your toes.
This gives us reason to live.
This gives us reason to love.
This gives us reason to hope.
To live where there is no life.
To love where there is no love.
To hope where there is none to be found.

Unfortunately, we all live in the Saturday Gray.
Forgetting the darkness and depth of our sinfulness.
Forgetting the truth found in the dawn.

Let us be mindful of this during the coming months.
We have been given a choice of days in which we can live.
None of us want to wallow in Dark Friday.
None of us should be satisfied with Gray Saturday.
Instead, let us celebrate and embrace the peace and warmth of the gracious gift of Christ’s resurrection and life.

© 2002 Steve Laube

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Category: Christian, Faith, Personal, TheologyTag: Christian, Faith, Personal, Theology

A Maundy Thursday Writer’s Prayer

By Bob Hostetleron April 6, 2023
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Lord, at your last meal with your closest friends and followers, you wrapped the servant’s towel around your waist, and washed your disciples’ feet. And though Peter objected at first, he submitted, saying, “Then, Lord … not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” (John 13:9, NIV). Like Peter, Lord, I shudder to submit myself and my writing to your cleansing work. But I know I …

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Category: Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, Theology

Voices of Courage: Why Military Writers are Important

By Dan Balowon February 8, 2023
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Successful books always come from a writer’s inspired, creative mind and heart. Every time we attempt to make publishing a science, making it more about business nuts and bolts, rather than art, serendipitous creativity seems to find a way around the science, nuts, and bolts. Effective and wise business planning is important, but Christian publishing’s guiding principle should be Proverbs …

Read moreVoices of Courage: Why Military Writers are Important
Category: Agents, Book Business, Branding, Career, Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration

All Wrapped Up

By Steve Laubeon December 19, 2022
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When I was a boy, my family had the tradition of opening our gifts on Christmas Eve. But another tradition was that there would be one more gift waiting for us the next morning, Christmas day, from “Santa.” I have a vivid memory, as a little boy, of being disappointed one Christmas Eve that the thing I wanted most was not among my unwrapped presents. However, I knew, I was just certain, that it …

Read moreAll Wrapped Up
Category: Christian, Faith, Personal, SteveTag: Christian, Christmas, Faith

In Your Time (A Writer’s Prayer)

By Bob Hostetleron June 30, 2021
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Heavenly Father, you make everything beautiful in your time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). I submit to your timing. I await your timing. I desire what you will, as you will, when you will.  That goes for my writing, too. I long to touch lives with my words … in your time.I want to write passionately, effectively, impactfully … in your time.I yearn to think and …

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Category: Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, Theology

Fear and Its Antecedents

By Steve Laubeon March 16, 2020
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The coronavirus is the topic on everyone’s mind. Your community, your family, and even yourself may have been or could be affected. Maybe not by the virus itself but by the economic and societal fallout of the cancellations and shutdown of communities. Many experts, much smarter than I, are speaking erudite words of “stay calm and be wise.” I land on the fact that God is bigger …

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Category: Encouragement, Faith, Theology

A Writer’s Prayer of Confession

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon March 4, 2020
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Most holy and merciful Father: I confess that I have sinned by my own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. I have let the idea of being a writer distract me from devotion to you. I have made myself busier with words than with your Word. I have been consumed by my writing plans and …

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Category: Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, Theology

The Only Answer

By Steve Laubeon December 17, 2018
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Hope you had a blessed Christmas!

The last four weeks I have posted what was, in actuality, an Advent series. Note the key words in each post:
Wait
Prepare
Expect
Give
 The Christmas season is one that is full of family, fun, food, and friends. But under it all is the foundation of our joy. The answer to our greatest longing. Of course, saying there is an answer assumes there is a …

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Category: Agency, Christian, Faith, PersonalTag: Christian, Faith, Writing Craft

Writers Give to Others

By Steve Laubeon December 10, 2018
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My hope is that this headline is true. While the writing profession (or obsession as some describe it) is a solitary one, it is in giving to others where its impact can be felt.

Time

The gift of time is precious as we are given a finite amount in this life. To mentor another writer. To blog freely. To teach at a conference or school setting. All are example of a beautiful way to both give …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Encouragement, Faith, InspirationTag: Giving, Writing Craft

Integrity in All Things

By Steve Laubeon September 24, 2018
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The issue of integrity, or lack thereof, has reared its head within our community of Christian writers. (A link to the article “Sexual Harassment Uncovered at Christian Writing Conferences.”) It is a time of sorrow. Many have been hurt, and the heart aches to hear and read the stories. It is ugly, horrible, and that’s just about what we know. It is inexcusable. Innocent lives forever changed. Our …

Read moreIntegrity in All Things
Category: Agency, Faith, Personal, Theology
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