• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

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

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Twitter
  • FaceBook
  • RSS Feed
  • Get Published
  • Book Proposals
  • Book Business
  • Writing Craft
    • Conferences
    • Copyright
    • Craft
    • Creativity
    • Grammar
  • Fun Fridays
Home » The Writing Life » Page 24

The Writing Life

God’s Timing vs. Ours

By Dan Balowon December 22, 2021
Share
Tweet
20

With Christmas coming soon, we pause to remember what happened a couple thousand years ago.

Of course, we know the whole story. The King of heaven was born, lived and died, resurrected and returned to the Father where he came from, all over a period of about 33 years. We can read a lot about his life, family, teachings, friends, followers, and foes in the pages of Scripture.

But if we had a hundred lifetimes, we could never grasp the magnitude of what happened. God’s truth and our understanding are a mismatch made in heaven.

Since we know the entire story, I think we can venture outside our human made-up calendar of holidays and talk about the years after the first Christmas.

While we know a good bit about the last three years of Jesus’ life on Earth, we know comparatively little about his first 30.

We know the first “silent night, holy night” was the beginning of a 30-year period where the long-awaited Savior was living among people, known only to a relative few. Sure, we know Jesus and his family lived in Egypt for a time. Then there was the story from years later of this young man, whose parents left town without him, in the synagogue in Jerusalem. But overall, Jesus worked as a carpenter in Nazareth, a town that was not highly regarded.

One year before his public ministry began, the Savior of the world had been on Earth, living among us for 29 years.

His time had not yet come to begin the work for which he was born.

The Word walked among us there in Nazareth. Mothers delivered healthy babies and lost some. There were weddings, family celebrations, and burials. The Torah was read aloud for all to hear, including the parts in Isaiah about the coming Messiah.

People lived their imperfect lives in full view of God himself.

I’m sure Jesus lived as a caring, loving man should. He encouraged and comforted, wept and laughed, learned and taught, worked hard, and then stopped for lunch. Some days were better than others.

As we move into a new year, may we be people who have a clear idea of what “Emmanuel” (God with us) really means. He is at work, all the time, unseen to us. He works in the present and the future, as he did in the past.

But just because we can’t see him, doesn’t mean he isn’t at work.

He’s already been through the entire next year and is preparing the way for us with challenges to be met, trials to endure, joys to enjoy, and growth to be accomplished.

A number of years ago, at a particularly dark moment, the Holy Spirit put some words in my mind that I will never forget: “I see you.”

Whatever your situation, Jesus is with you. He sees you because his spirit lives in you.

Christian writers might have a better concept of how long things take to come to fruition, since writing is a time-consuming process. But they are still human and generally impatient.

So when our timing doesn’t seem to be working out the way we thought, maybe God’s timing isn’t on the same calendar page we are.

He is working. He is faithful.

Emmanuel.

Leave a Comment
Category: Personal, The Writing Life, Theology

Fun Fridays – December 17, 2021

By Steve Laubeon December 17, 2021
Share
Tweet
13

I particularly found this video of interest, having gone to high school in Honolulu. The Hawaiian language is fascinating. For example, the vowels a, e, i, o, and u are pronounced ah, aye, ee, oh, and ooh. And each vowel is always sounded out, no silent vowels. I lived on Halekoa Drive which was just off the Kalaniana’ole Highway. Enjoy your Hawaiian Christmas language lesson today! (If you …

Read moreFun Fridays – December 17, 2021
Category: The Writing Life

A Writer’s Favorite Things

By Bob Hostetleron December 15, 2021
Share
Tweet
17

It’s always struck me as a bit odd that the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from The Sound of Music, “My Favorite Things,” is considered by many to be a Christmas song. I suppose it’s related to the reference to “brown paper packages tied up with string.” Or maybe the sleighbells or snowflakes the song mentions. Sure, okay.  But as Christmas approaches this year, I thought I’d list a few of “my …

Read moreA Writer’s Favorite Things
Category: Personal, The Writing Life

Fun Fridays – December 10, 2021

By Steve Laubeon December 10, 2021
Share
Tweet
2

Today’s video is a wonderful seven-minute discussion of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and why it has become so iconic during the Christmas season. The last minute of the video is a commercial for its sponsor. Be forewarned! (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.)

Read moreFun Fridays – December 10, 2021
Category: The Writing Life

Publishing in the Dark

By Dan Balowon December 9, 2021
Share
Tweet
21

The story of the elephant and the blind man is told in many religious traditions. Even business seminars have found value using it to make a point. As the story goes, depending on what part of an elephant a person touches without seeing the whole, that forms their opinion of what the entire animal looks like. This same process could be applied to many things. A customer’s one-time experience with …

Read morePublishing in the Dark
Category: The Writing Life

New Year’s Resolutions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 8, 2021
Share
Tweet
8

New Year’s resolutions already? But we’ve only just finished the last of the turkey noodle soup, turkey tetrazzini, and flaming turkey wings from Thanksgiving! And we’re in the midst of deciding whether or not we need to make a run out to the Hallmark store to buy more gift wrapping paper and greeting cards. Stop the madness! Yet we are less than a month from January 1, when many people resolve …

Read moreNew Year’s Resolutions
Category: The Writing Life

How to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on December 7, 2021
Share
Tweet
2

If you want your readers to connect with your writing, you need to immerse them deeply into the mind of your characters. Your readers need to hear, see, and experience everything that your character experiences. But how do you do this? The answer is deep point of view. We have a guest on the show […]
You can listen to this episode How to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer on Christian …

Read moreHow to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer
Category: The Writing Life

How to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on December 7, 2021
Share
Tweet
0

If you want your readers to connect with your writing, you need to immerse them deeply into the mind of your characters. Your readers need to hear, see, and experience everything that your character experiences. But how do you do this? The answer is deep point of view. We have a guest on the show […]
You can listen to this episode How to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer on Christian …

Read moreHow to Write Deep Point of View with Karen Witemeyer
Category: The Writing Life

Fun Fridays – December 3, 2021

By Steve Laubeon December 3, 2021
Share
Tweet
8

Today’s video kicks off the Christmas season with something word related: “An Anagram Christmas.” Enjoy! Below the video are some fun anagrams to enjoy. Can you come up with more? (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.) Statue of Liberty = built to stay free Debit card = bad credit …

Read moreFun Fridays – December 3, 2021
Category: The Writing Life

The Happy Writer

By Guest Bloggeron December 2, 2021
Share
Tweet
7

Today’s guest post is by Courtney Ellis, author of the recently released Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit. Courtney is one of Bob Hostetler’s clients and lives with her husband and three children in southern California. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. ____________________________ There’s no cliché for a cheerful writer. We all know the …

Read moreThe Happy Writer
Category: Guest Post, The Writing Life
  • Previous
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 22
  • Page 23
  • Page 24
  • Page 25
  • Page 26
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 85
  • Next
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 · The Steve Laube Agency · All Rights Reserved · Website by Stormhill Media