Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, August 3, 2025.
In Week 31 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for their best.
As a parent, I now realize that there's no manual for raising kids.
So many things depend on each other that one small difference can change everything. You can't necessarily take what you did for one child and apply it to another one, even from the same house within the same decade. So, certainly you can't rely on what your parents did and apply it wholesale to your own children. The times are different, the culture is different, you are different, and every child is different.
What I'm trying to say is this: parenting is hard.
No one has it figured out. Parents are constantly faced with having to make tough, critical decisions in real-time and as if for the first time because the changing dynamics make them so. For the most part, and speaking for parents who love their children, they are sincerely trying to make the best choices they can for their children from the options available at the time.
And I know my parents loved me.
I remember being a snotty-nosed brat that would stand back and catalog all the things I thought they did wrong—all the ways I believed they had failed.
But now, as a parent, I see the things that often go uncelebrated:
The sacrifices—what they went without so we could have.
The non-stop, day-in, day-out effort required to hold our world together.
The fortitude to keep going somehow when things were falling apart.
The things they did, but didn't have to, to put us in a better position, or simply to give us a moment of enjoyment.
The good they wanted for us and the countless things they did to give it to us.
All this on top of their own personal struggles.
They did an awesome job.
It was nothing short of superhuman.
I'm so sorry I ever thought otherwise.
And if you don't see it yet, as our elders would say, "Keep living."
They gave us their best.
You can't ask for more than that.
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, August 2, 2025.
How am I?
This is a question I ask myself often.
In my culture, that's expressed as, "You good?"
But walking with Jesus has reshaped how I think of wellness—or what "good" even means. It's very counter to how we think about it in the world.
In the world, we tend to think of being well as having the things we want. But being the creature rather than the Creator, and lacking ultimate context, we do not have a full understanding even of what we individually need and should want to be well.
There have been times that I had all the things that should make someone satisfied and happy, and I was absolutely miserable.
When I ponder my best moments—where I was truly "good"—I find these things to be the defining contributors to well-being. And the more of them I have, the more I am well. Here are the levels:
Contributor: Knowledge of God
(who is good and encapsulates everything good)
Level 1: Glad
I have hope.
Contributor: Presence of God
(fellowship with God, being with God, participating in His work)
Level 2: Fulfillment
I am more than satisfied—lack of nothing and abundance to share.
Contributor: Approval of God
(knowing He is pleased with me)
Level 3: Ecstasy
I don't want to leave. There's absolutely nowhere I'd rather be.
Then there's this other dimension, another level that is not like the others—that's simultaneously the foundation, and the summit, the lowest level, and the highest.
Contributor: The Love of God
Level Always: Thankfulness
The contributor which is the Love of God is always there, so I can always be thankful.
"in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
— 1 Thessalonians 5:18
It is the beginning, the end, and all in all, the level that makes all the other levels possible—expressed fully in the person of Jesus Christ.
There is no wonder the Apostle Paul prays,
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
— Ephesians 3:14-19
This is good. This is well-being.
And you know where I most often find it?
It's outside of my comfort zone, away from the things I tend to run to like isolation and indulgence.
It's in the fellowship of Christ's beloved,
in serving rather than being served.
in giving rather than receiving.
Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, August 1, 2025.
I'm in the chair.
A woman walks in the barbershop with her child.
The fellas start, "Man, Paul, talkin' about being fine…"
But, that doesn't excite me like that anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely notice women.
And it's a constant battle to conform my thoughts to match what Jesus thinks when He sees them.
But I've learned something:
A pretty face and a nice body are a dime a dozen.
My wife has the sauce and the substance too.
And you just don't stumble upon a wife. You have to find her—and you need favor from the Lord.
I had to struggle and toil as a co-laborer with Christ as He brought the precious gem of my wife forth.
Ain't no way I'm trading that for fool's gold.
I know what I've got.
"Who can find a virtuous wife?
For her worth is far above rubies …
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the LORD,
she shall be praised."
– Proverbs 31:10, 30
This is not just words in the Bible anymore.
This is truth to me now.
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, July 26, 2025.
Beloved, beware the use of AI when studying the Bible.
As with all science, AI can tell you "what" but it cannot tell you "why" because it lacks the capacity—a soul, spirit—to interact with the text.
But it will try, because it's created by people with a soul and spirit who may not be quickened by the Holy Spirit and believe—which are critical to even see the text (it is hidden from the proud and unbelieving, see Deuteronomy 29:29, Mark 4:11-12, James 4:6), not even to speak of interpreting it rightly. It's giving you someone else's interaction with the text and that's the most dangerous part.
Don't get me wrong, AI can be an excellent tool for Bible study, but as with any discipline: medicine, coding, etc., it is most effective when you have enough basic competency in a field to understand its fundamentals and ask questions that do not betray them.
In the understanding of Scripture, Jesus as God and King made flesh is fundamental (1 Corinthians 3:11).
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
My friend, Chris McKnight, became a DJ of some notoriety in Dallas.
One evening he called me and said, "You won't guess who I have in the car with me." Then his passenger said "Hello, Paul." That passenger was Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
We were geeking out over MJW because, as Theo from the Cosby Show, he was a fixture of our childhood. It felt like I grew up with him. So much so that his passing feels like losing a dear friend.
What he brought to us was so much more than acting.
Condolences to his family and loved ones. May honor always be upon your name, sir. 🙏🏾
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, July 21, 2025.
During our last Bible Study, Brother James Triplett said something powerful:
“From this study of John, I realized that God sees, then He speaks to produce what He sees. That's powerful. That makes me ask—what am I seeing? What am I speaking? Because as His child, my words have power.”
He's not wrong.
Proverbs 18:21 says,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
You can completely change the path someone is on by the words you speak.
Here’s how that practically plays out for me:
I’ve never met a “bad” kid.
There are, however:
● Bad environments
● Bad health
● Bad options
● Bad choices
But, they aren't bad. That's not what God saw, nor what He called them (Genesis 1:31).
Approaching a person based on the truth of God's declaration rather than their perceived problems makes a world of difference.
I look forward to seeing everyone at The Hub tomorrow night for Starkville Bible U as we continue to encounter Jesus and learn how to express His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐤𝐞? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝?
Some time ago, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that our desire—what we want—is the test of whether we have God’s heart.
Our desire indicates our salvation and status as God’s children.
The children of God desire God.
We may have many battles, but this is the war: 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝.
The Holy Spirit is again providing a fuller picture of what that means.
It began with an observation in The Parable of The Ten Talents or Minas recorded in Matthew 25 and Luke 19. The account in Luke includes a curious detail not found in Matthew: the bookends of Luke 19:14 and Luke 19:27.
Before and after the master charges the servants with their work, gives them the necessary resources, and evaluates them, we find these two verses:
Luke 19:14
“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, ‘𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴.’”
Luke 19:27
“‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦.’”
What the Holy Spirit set ablaze in my heart about both verses is the people’s rejection of the master’s kingship.
So what does it truly look like to desire God?
The true indication of whether I desire God is whether I want Jesus as King.
𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.
The litmus test of whether I’m truly saved is whether I am eager for Jesus to be my King and want Him to rule over me.
1 Corinthians 12:3
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵.”
The phrase “𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵” is not just about saying the words. It’s about a posture of adoration and submission.
The heart posture is the chief thing, and I think we would do well to take counsel from the thief on the cross that all our theology must harmonize with.
Luke 23:42
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, ‘𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮.’”
Cultural Christianity, easy believism, and dead orthodoxy (all products of the industrial church) readily embrace a far away, father-like God to whom we can respond only emotionally. But where it gets real and contentious is when God demands the throne—even more so when He comes as a real person to assert those demands.
God and His kingdom are 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. He is King, represented in the person of Jesus Christ. To accept Him as Father but not as King is not to accept Him at all.
1 John 2:23
“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
The right posture of the heart is 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞—two sides of the same coin, such that our obedience indicates whether we have any real love at all.
John 14:15
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
It’s not enough to adore Him,
Nor even to do His works (Matthew 7:22),
But to want to—because you love Him as King.
If we truly see Jesus for who He is, we will want Him to reign.
𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬.
If that’s you—𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝! You’re a real one.
That’s the work of the Holy Spirit, making you God’s child through faith in Jesus Christ.
If that’s not you, but you’re convicted reading this—𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝!
Being aware that you don’t have a heart that wants Jesus to reign, and 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵, is also the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing you to become God’s child through faith in Jesus Christ.
Even if you don’t have that heart, you can pray for it with confidence—because 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭.
Luke 12:32
“𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮.”
𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝: 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.
#DoYouWantJesusAsKing #TheRealBattleIsDesire #desire #kingship #spiritualwarfare #perfectourlove
Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
Whether I get anything out of Scripture depends on whether I’m actively looking—because I’m in need.
“Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, ‘What do you seek?’”
— John 1:38
Those who are satisfied with themselves and with the world—who think they need nothing—receive nothing.
“Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’
Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains.’”
— John 9:40–41
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…”
— Revelation 3:17
And even if I think I receive something, what determines whether it’s worthless fool’s gold or the true riches is what I want.
Those who want worldly gain will find nothing that satisfies.
“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
— John 6:27
But those who want the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—which starts with wanting the King, Jesus Christ—will receive overflowing fulfillment.
A deep, abiding joy.
They will never hunger or thirst again.
“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’”
— John 6:35
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.”
— Matthew 5:6
So I either come to the Word for Him—Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh—or I get nothing at all.
Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
Week 28 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness: I give thanks to God for a neighbor.
Years ago, before Uber or Lyft, my family and I were leaving Chick-fil-A in Columbus, Mississippi, only to discover our car wouldn’t start. Someone attempted to give us a boost, but even after more than 10 minutes of charging, there wasn’t so much as a whisper.
Another man, observing all this, walked up to me and said, “That battery’s not charging. The problem could be the alternator or the battery, but you should at least start with a new battery. Do you need a lift to the store?”
Then he took out an immaculately organized toolbox from his truck and proceeded to help me remove the battery from my car. He drove me to AutoZone, waited with me while the battery was tested and as I bought another, then drove me back and helped install it. He stayed to make sure the car wouldn’t cut off while idling.
That man was Tim Chaltry.
I recently learned that he passed.
This is how I’ll always remember him: as someone who demonstrated what it means to be a neighbor—caring, compassionate, generous, and available. He was a real-life Good Samaritan who went the extra mile… for me, and doubtless for others.
