Embracing authorship

Welcome to "Faith Lessons in Real Estate"

My name is Ali Ban, and I’m an author. (I said it! In public!)

First, a few words of gratitude to my fellow Substackers. There are so many gems of articulateness here: the shared joy of writing; the aha moments of introspection as we read these stacks; the common push/pull between pressure/ambivalence to build your platform already—this community overflows with genuinely given and felt encouragement.

Because of the love, acceptance, and encouragement I’ve witnessed in the Substack community, after months of lurking while scrolling and reading, I’m finally stepping out in faith with this intro post.

Back to my identity: it’s much easier to say “I’m a real estate agent” because I have a track record and there’s evidence in the MLS. I’m a bit less bold to say “I’m a Christian real estate agent”—not because I’m ashamed of Jesus, but because sometimes I’m guilty of doing or saying un-Christian things.

With this and future posts, there is now evidence in the world of my authorship. Also—God willing—my first book will soon be birthed. Like this far-flung corner of Substack, the book exists to encourage other Christian real estate professionals. My hitherto private passion to write is getting real and shared, no matter how few or many readers God sends. Sink or swim, here goes:

I’m a Christian real estate agent AND author who writes about “Faith Lessons in Real Estate” . . . knowing God will never let me sink, I’m going to just keep swimming!

Photo by Kekai AhSam on Unsplash

The just keep swimming mantra is what got me to Rabbit Island (photo) and safely back many years ago. Even in my youth, it was crazy and dangerous and difficult. Now I enjoy it from afar off the Windward coast of O’ahu—like in this beautiful photo!

To my fellow writers and real estate professionals: may you also just keep swimming through any fear of sharks; through any physical, emotional, or spiritual weariness.

Especially if you are a Christian real estate professional, I invite you to join me here to celebrate our purpose and privilege to serve God in our industry. He gives us myriad opportunities to obey His commandment to love others; all day long we communicate, negotiate, and advocate for our clients and with our industry peers. If we partner with the Holy Spirit, God will transform our earthly work into His eternal work.

My goal here is to give peer-to-peer, not-preachy encouragement from a fellow disciple in faith. I would love to hear your mutual shouts of praise—and perhaps a wee bit of humble commiserating—about the joys and challenges of doing real estate for the Lord. Thank you for reading!

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)