Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, January 29, 2026.

In Week 5 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for Mary's daughters.

What you see in this picture is who I'm married to—a woman who is fearless, independent, and able to do anything.

When we were in college, even before we were dating, I remember Melissa asking me if I would help her with a blown taillight. I had never been so excited to do manual labor in all my life!

Because I knew that she didn't *need* me to do it, but she wanted me to. It was a privilege.

She could have definitely done it on her own. She can do anything.

And, she's largely that way because of her mother, Mary Harris, who wouldn't let anything get between her and getting it done. I see that in all of the Harris women—a quiet fierceness, a strength and beauty that evokes awe and respect.

I count myself privileged to be married to one of Mary's daughters.

I'm grateful.

In loving memory of Mrs. Harris whose birthday is this Sunday, February 1st.

#52WoG #ThankfulThursday

Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, January 16, 2026.

In Week 2 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a pause.

We're on a four lane highway and traffic comes to a stand still on both sides as far as the eye can see. But this wasn't because of an accident or construction. It was voluntary—a statement of solemn solidarity as our funeral procession made its way to the cemetery.

I've always appreciated this courtesy, but even moreso today.

When someone loses a loved one, especially someone that was a key fixture in their life, their world stops.

I liken it to a bustling city with thousands of people busy going in different directions carried about by the varying business of the day. In the middle of that mass, someone's suffering a crisis—someone's dying, but no one takes notice, no one stops, and everyone keeps moving on.

I was talking about this with my Dad at the funeral. We were discussing the sort of paralysis, a state of denial, and another kind of death that loss of a loved one can bring to those left behind. But, as my Dad said, "The reality is the birds keep singing, time keeps passing, and the world moves on. It doesn't stop."

And that is cruel.

But we can change that.

We can transform an otherwise bleak reality by bringing kindness and compassion into it.

We can help someone shoulder the soul-crushing weight of the world by embodying four simple words:

"You are not alone."

And this can be conveyed by a gesture as simple as acknowledging that someone's world has stopped and taking a pause to stop with them.

In doing so, we become a kind of bridge—the way back from the dead to the land of the living.

That's what these people on the highway did for our family. It inspires me to be that for others.

I'm grateful.

#52WoG #TheMinistryOfAPause #perfectourlove

Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, August 9, 2025.

In Week 32 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a home.

Remember a few weeks ago, when I said, “You can endure a lot of hell when you have a home to go back to”?

There is perhaps no one that this is more true for than my mother.

She's had more than her fair share of hell.

Not long ago she had a non-trivial surgery and afterward went to stay with family in their childhood home in Canton, Mississippi, to recover.

During one of our most recent conversations, she said, “Being home has been so good for me…” and then went on to describe a cool breeze as she was sitting on the porch, the memories, photo albums, her family, their upbringing…

This is what tethers her and gives her strength—roots that run deep in a place built on the love of Christ by my grandparents and that still endures today.

I'm so glad my mother has that.

And that we still have her.

I'm grateful.

#52WoG

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.

I'm grateful.

#52WoG #parenting

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.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, July 4, 2025.

In Week 27 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a treehouse in Mississippi.

I remember as a child growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, when I and a friend down the street built a treehouse.

My dad had just built a shed behind the house and we used left over boards and whatever other wood, sticks and nails we could could find around the neighborhood.

It was rickety as you might expect from a couple of ten-year-olds. It was essentially a crude lean to supported by the trunk of the tree and a couple of limbs. You had to climb in just so or the whole thing risked falling apart. It barely supported our weight, but it did and the one time we sat in it together was amazing.

We sat there all day practically, the passing of time marked by strobes of light that poked their way through our thatched roof and crawled across the floor. We talked some, sometimes in sitting in silence—but taking it all in. We couldn't have been more proud.

What a beautiful summer memory.

Such a simple but significant thing. Sometimes, we walk on gold so long that it becomes pavement to us.

Do you know how safe, care-free and wealthy you have to be for something like this to even be possible?

As a black man in Mississippi, I deeply appreciate this.

I have high hopes for my country—that it provides everyone with the freedom, safety and prosperity for their children to dream and build.

We can certainly be better.
But I am appreciative and thankful for what she already is.

Happy birthday, America.

I'm grateful.

#52WoG #4thofJuly #IndependenceDay

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

In Week 25 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a walk.

I used to be embarrassed to admit this: I didn’t graduate until 2019.

I came to Mississippi State as a Computer Engineering major in 1995.

I flunked out.

I stumbled and bumbled a lot. On top of that, life was lifeing.

But God.

He used my circumstances—and even my missteps—to lead me to the good works He prepared beforehand that I should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

He blessed me with the wonderful gift of my wife, then my boys. And I wanted to walk in a way that set the path of life before them—hoping to spare them from the way of death I was so painfully acquainted with.

By God's grace, I was able to earn six figures without a degree. I didn’t need a degree.

But I went back and finished anyway—not for me, but for them.

To show my children that when we aim, we finish. To show them the kind of conviction and patient perseverance required to thrive in life. And because I couldn’t require of them what I wasn’t willing to do myself.

So, I finished.

I finished so they would know they can finish—no matter how hard things get.

My eldest son started his college career during the Covid pandemic. It was rough sledding for a minute. It was tough. But he finished.

I don’t know if my finishing had anything to do with his.

But I do know this: God led me to walk in a way that didn’t give him any excuses.

Either way, his finishing filled my heart with joy. It was the hope of my efforts.

God turned my shame into a stage that my children could walk across.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG #finish

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

In Week 24 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for science and engineering.

We often joke that modern vehicles don't hold up in an accident like cars back in the day.

That is by design.

They look a mangled mess after an accident so we don't have to. They're engineered to crumple in places to absorb the impact so the force isn't transferred to the passengers.

Were it not for the grace of God and exceptional engineering, we would not have walked away from this accident.

We were banged up, but in one piece.

God bless each and every engineer involved in this vehicle's design. Your work is part of why we're still alive.

I'm grateful.

#52WoG