A note from Russ
When I began this book, I thought it would be easy. The Gospels would give me the people, the place, and the destination; I would simply tell the story between them. Instead, I found myself standing before eighteen quiet years and asking questions Scripture does not answer for us.
That silence has become both the difficulty and the gift of the work. This first letter is a look at where the manuscript stands, the decisions that keep me awake, and what the process is teaching me about faithfulness in the unseen years.
From the manuscript
From Chapter 4: What Joseph Has Kept
Joseph has just admitted to the children that when Mary first told him she was carrying Jesus, he did not believe her.
“I had already begun thinking about how I would live without her. What I would say when someone asked. Where I would go so I would not have to see her.”
“Father,” Mary says softly.
Joseph shakes his head once. He wants to finish.
“She was sitting in front of me, telling me the truth. I could see she was frightened. And I was thinking about how to leave.”
The last word catches. He brings his free hand to his face and keeps it there.
Jude’s mouth begins to tremble. Simon reaches for him beneath the table. Jesus watches his father’s bent head. Joseph is the person who speaks when everyone else has become frightened. Now Mary is holding his hand while the room waits.
“I had never seen her look at me that way,” Joseph says at last. “As though I were someone she needed to be afraid of too.”
Mary moves closer. “I was afraid of losing you.”
“I know that now.”
She waits until he looks at her.
“You came back.”
Joseph wipes his face with the heel of his hand. He gives a small, embarrassed breath when he sees all seven children watching.
“Yes.”
Book Progressions
Progress measured in pages kept and pages surrendered
Some days the writing advances by a chapter. Other days, progress means admitting that ten pages are beautifully written but belong in another book. I am learning that revision is not failure. It is the slow discovery of the story I was trying to tell all along.
The household is beginning to feel inhabited now. Rooms have shape. Work has a rhythm. Family members have distinct voices. My frustration is that every convincing detail creates three new questions. My encouragement is that the questions are becoming better ones.
Current milestone: the early Nazareth chapters are moving from research notes into a connected narrative. The next challenge is preserving the mystery of Christ without making Him feel distant from the ordinary life around Him.
“Sometimes progress is not another page written. Sometimes it is finally knowing which page must go.”
Decisions & Dilemmas
What belongs in the story?
How much could Jesus have known as a boy? What came through Scripture, what came through Mary and Joseph, and what did the Father choose to reveal? The book must take His full humanity seriously without diminishing His divinity.
That leaves me weighing nearly every scene. A moment may be historically possible and emotionally honest, but does it illuminate the larger story, or merely satisfy my curiosity? I want imagination to serve truth, not compete with it.
What I’m Learning Spiritually · A Sermonette
The holiness of the hidden years
We naturally notice the public moments: the sermon, the miracle, the calling, the cross. Yet most of Jesus’ earthly life was lived outside the public eye. Nazareth reminds me that obscurity is not the same as inactivity.
God may do some of His deepest work in seasons that seem uneventful to everyone else. A faithful day in the workshop, a meal shared with family, a Sabbath prayer repeated year after year. None of it was wasted. The hidden years were not a pause before the “real” story. They were part of it.
That thought has become personal. I often want visible proof that the book is moving forward. Perhaps faithfulness is quieter: returning to the desk, telling the truth as carefully as I can, and trusting God with the pace.
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52
Inside the Author’s Head
Excited, humbled, and occasionally overwhelmed
Here is the honest version: I move between confidence and doubt more often than I expected. One morning a scene feels alive; by afternoon I wonder whether I have any business attempting it. The size of the subject has a way of keeping the writer small.
But I am still curious. I still want to look through the doorway of that household and understand what may have shaped those public years. And I am grateful for readers willing to walk through the questions with me before the answers are polished.
This newsletter will be the place where I share that unfinished journey: the breakthroughs, the discarded pages, and the thoughts I am still learning how to say.
Until next time,
Russ