September 16, 2024

Realignment

Am I experiencing anything less than love, joy and peace?

The ultimate realignment question is:

WHERE ARE YOU?

“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?'”
— Genesis 3:9

WHAT IS THE LIE BLOCKING GOD’S LOVE?

“So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'”
— Genesis 3:10

WHO AM I BELIEVING?

“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'”
— Genesis 3:11

HAVE I BELIEVED ANOTHER VOICE? GOD IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH. EVERYTHING ELSE IS HARMFUL LIES AND BELIEVING IT RESULTS IN CORRUPTION WHICH CAUSES ME TO RELATE TO EVERYTHING IN A HARMFUL WAY (EVIL), INCLUDING LIGHT—THE RESPONSE BEING TO HIDE.

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
— John 3:19-21

GOD LOVES US. BELIEVING GOD IS THE WAY TO LIFE.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
— John 3:16

BELIEVING GOD IS THE WAY TO ENJOY GOD’S LOVE.

“for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.”
— John 16:27

BE AMAZED: GOD LOVES US AS HE LOVES HIS SON JESUS! ENTER INTO THE COMMUNION AND WONDER OF GOD’S LOVE.

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
— John 17:23

HOW WE LOVE—THE DEFINITION: OBEY GOD.

“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”
— 2 John 1:6

WHAT IS GOD’S COMMANDMENT? LOVE GOD. LOVE FOR EACH OTHER IS IN THAT LOVE.

“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’

Jesus said to him, ‘”You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'”
— Matthew 22:36-40

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
— John 13:34-35

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
— 1 John 4:20

WHERE AM I? AM I IN CHRIST—GOD’S LOVE?

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
— John 15:6-14

REST IN THE PLACE OF PERFECTED LOVE THAT COMES WITH BELIEVING GOD.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
— 1 John 4:16-18

So, am I experiencing anything less than love, joy and peace?

Where am I?

I’m believing You, God.

I am resting in Your love through obedience.

#perfectourlove

March 26, 2024

My New Daily Prayer

Father,
I love and revere You.

What is Your will today?
Who is the assignment?

Please show me how You would have me:

Go,
Share the good news,
Seek and restore the lost,
Make God real through Your love,
Tear down lies blocking Your love,
Share Your love and,
Be One

with Your children
that Your will may be done,
that Your Kingdom would come
today.

In the authority granted to me by Your Son and Christ, my beloved Elder Brother, my Master and King, for the purposes for which He has commanded me, I ask these things, requesting the resources, wisdom and power by Your Spirit to perform them

All for Your glory.

Amen.

January 13, 2024

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #2 – Jay Hurdle

In week 2 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for Jay Hurdle.

A young man with a prior felony has been working diligently to put his past behind him.

He’s holding down a job. His supervisor praised him as one of the best on staff. He’s taking care of his ailing mother. He’s showing up for his kids. He’s going straight from work to home.

He’s keeping his nose clean.

Then one day he decides to give someone he knows from around the way a ride, and they’re stopped by the police.

He has a felony, his rider has a felony, but what the young man doesn’t know is, the rider has a gun.

The rider throws the gun in the car and flees.

The rider escapes. The young man doesn’t.

Now he’s facing 10 years for a poor decision made in a split second about something as trivial as a passenger.

You’d think his efforts to improve his situation would be taken into consideration, but that’s not how the machine works, especially for certain categories of prior offenses and for certain people. All the system sees is your prior. It was without compassion.

But, Jay Hurdle was compassionate.

The young man was without direction, the public defender seemed indifferent, overwhelmed by his case load, and the young man couldn’t really afford to pay for his own defense.

Of all the lawyers we reached out to, Jay Hurdle was the only one to return the call.

Not only that, he arranged to meet with the young man, freely sharing hours of precious billable time to a complete stranger from whom he had no hope of recouping it.

The young man was terrified and Jay Hurdle gave of his time and expertise to help him gain some sense of direction.

I don’t know Jay Hurdle well, but I know the effect he’s had on our community very well.

Of the community service organizations and non-profits I’ve worked with, I was constantly brushing up against his work, very often him having donated it.

It seems that whenever I hear about something good happening in our community, I hear his and his wife, Cate Van Halsema’s name.

They are remarkably human and have given themselves to the betterment of our community, including in that people who others would omit.

I share this experience with Jay Hurdle because probably no one else in the world knows he did it.

And, if he did this, how much more?

I didn’t know Jay Hurdle well, but I know this is who he is: a neighbor the kind that Jesus spoke of.

I was grieved to hear of his passing.

There’s a Celebration of Jay Hurdle’s Life happening at the upstairs of Restaurant Tyler at 5:30 PM today.

If you’ve felt the effect of his life, I encourage you to carry it and pass it along, especially to Cate Van Halsema and his loved ones during this incredibly difficult season.

He is a man #duehonor.

He made our community better.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

June 3, 2023

Expect Trouble

I believe the unhealthy and unrealistic expectation to always be happy contributes to a lot of misery.

As Solomon wisely wrote, “There is a season for everything under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3)

Well-being is not the absence of storms.

Well-being is being able to weather them.

Well-being is:
full consciousness of my feelings without relinquishing control,
anger, without sin, (Ephesians 4:26)
grief, with hope, (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
hard-pressed, yet not crushed,
perplexed, but not in despair,
persecuted, but not forsaken,
struck down, but not destroyed,
surrounded by death, but I still share life, (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)
tribulations, but I still have joy. (James 1:2)

You don’t develop such a temperament without being tempered, without difficulty. (James 1:2-4)

Storms will come. They’re a part of life, in fact, we need them to be well. Don’t hide from them. Harness them.

Don’t bring it on yourself (1 Peter 4:12-19), but expect trouble. (John 16:33, 2 Timothy 3:12) Prepare for it. Sit and glean wisdom at Jesus’ feet, fast, study, pray.

Learn to grow in strength so, like Jesus, you can weather anything and help others through the storm. (John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

And, when you find yourself in a storm, count it all joy because you have sure shelter in Jesus Christ. (Matthew 7:24-25)

Not only will you and those sheltered with you not die, the storm will make you stronger. This is more than conquering.

Count it all joy.

April 7, 2023

Our Dream

Arguably, there is no institution more vital to the growth of God’s Kingdom than marriage and the family.

My wife and I have a burden for marriage and family.

One of our dreams and lifelong goals is to build a multi-tenant space like a farm with multiple cabins or cottages where we can host couples and families for rest, redemption and renewal, or to shelter people in need and help them get on their feet.

This we will do if the Lord permits. Please pray for us.

#perfectourlove #marriageranch

April 6, 2023

Due Honor: Jada

“And, Jada?!” this older white lady yells across the counter at the deli, “I’m done with that. I’ve given all that up; pastries, cakes, donuts, those sorts of things. I’m just doing fruit and water now.”

“Why’s that?” Jada replies as she approaches the counter, packaging the meat she’s just sliced for her.

“I’ve got to get these pounds off,” the lady quips as she playfully wriggles her hips.

Jada smiles, hands her the meat, leaning slightly across the counter. “I like your nails,” Jada remarks, “Did you just get them done?”

The older lady extends her hand in an exaggerated motion and says, “Yeah I wanted to be sassy but not too hussy.”

The lady’s name is Shirley. She is 86 years old, in Walmart, shopping, bursting with life.

A lot of that is due to people like Jada.

I know from experience that a lot of older people come to places like the gym and stores like Walmart because they’re lonely and to get social interaction.

I often say that “love is in the extra.”

Jada could have just done her job, but she went the extra mile, she made extra effort to connect with another human being which I know has an emotional cost. And, from what I can tell through her interaction with me is that she’d been doing it all the time. That takes a special person. It’s people like Jada that make our community and lives so much more enjoyable.

Jada could have just done her job, but I know her seemingly small kindnesses did more than any of us could imagine.

If you happen to be at Neighborhood Walmart on Market St. in Starkville, go to the deli, let her know she’s appreciated and tell her manager how awesome she is.

I did.

#duehonor

April 1, 2023

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #13 – Carrie Franks

In week 13 of 52 weeks of gratefulness I give thanks for Carrie Johnson Franks.

“Paul, I think my computer has a virus,” Carrie says.

Then she whispers, “There’s pictures popping up of naked Asian men.”

“That’s very specific,” I joke. “Is there something we need to talk about?”

“Well…” she teases, “You caught me. Asian men are kinda my thing. And, peanut butter.”

We shared a good hearty laugh.

Carrie made work delightful.

Though I worked as an independent contractor, she made me feel like I was fellow colleague in the company, another member of the team.

And, she was thoughtful.

During the recent storm that wreaked havoc across the state, she thought to go into the office that weekend to check on things, and she sent me a heads up about items that may need my attention so that, to use her words, “I wouldn’t feel bombarded that Monday morning”.

That’s just the kind of person she was.

At every business I support, there’s the local techie, the first person other employees turn to for help and the person I can trust to help perform tasks on servers or network equipment to quickly bring something back online. I refer to them as my local I.T. pros.

Carrie was my local I.T. pro.

Each time she’d help me with something, I’d promise to send her some Asian men and peanut butter.

Carrie was my local I.T. pro.

But, because of her kindness, Carrie was more than helping hands at the office.

She was a friend.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

March 24, 2023

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #12 – Enjoying A Meal

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #10 – Beauty In Mississippi

In week 12 of 52 weeks of gratefulness I give thanks for a meal.

It was nothing earth shattering or particularly special.

It was just a meal –fast food, at that.

But a little more than a decade ago, I suffered a devastating financial disaster.

Since then, I’ve been moving and navigating life like a bear is chasing me -running, evading on my worst days and rushing anxiously on my best.

Life was a scramble. I was always moving quickly to get to the next thing.

I remember one of the lowest days of my life was when I was picking up my dearly beloved son from elementary school. He was moving at a casual, carefree pace and I yelled, yes yelled unlovingly and angrily, “Would you come on here?!”

I’m so sorry.

I hadn’t really been living, not enjoying anything, rather just trying to survive.

I didn’t even enjoy food. I ate without really tasting it. All I wanted to do was get energy and end the hunger.

But on this particular day, I felt free to put the demands of the world aside and enjoyed my meal in contemplative silence.

No phone. No laptop. No work. No ministry.

Just me, a plastic fork and food on a paper plate.

I took time to register the textures, the flavors, the smell.

I ate it slowly, enjoying every morsel and thanking God for every bite.

I say it wasn’t earth shattering but, maybe it was.

Whatever it was, I enjoyed it.

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

March 9, 2023

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #10 – Beauty In Mississippi

In Week 10 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness I give thanks for beauty in Mississippi.

One bright Saturday morning, I drive out to Noxubee Refuge to do some reading and studying.

I park on the bank of a quiet little inlet, the water dotted by young bald cypress trees.

A number of people come and go, fishing from the bank.

Then this man walks to the bank with a bucket and two fishing poles. He sits down on the ground and casts. Shortly thereafter a whole gang of young children, four or five of them, come bustling across the road with their fishing poles and start plopping their lures in the water.

The man seemed utterly unbothered. He interacts with them, talks with them, instructing them to be careful.

Then the mother walks past, trailing the children. She sees me in the truck, stops, locks eyes with me and yells, “You want some kids?” She smiles. We laugh and she takes a seat near her husband.

After some time, a young black boy with dreads and camouflage pants walks up to where the family is camped out on the bank. He starts talking to one of the other children, then one-by-one he and each of the kids hug each other, and finally the boy hugs the father and mother.

The boy stands on the bank chatting for a while and then goes back across the road to where his family is fishing.

At some point both families, as different as they seemed, come together on the bank and earnestly behave as though they were one big family.

This is not the picture people tend to paint of Mississippi, but here it was –clear as day and beautiful.

What stays with me, is the expression of the children’s faces. That wasn’t tolerance. That was joy.

The beauty I saw on a bank of the Noxubee Refuge is the beauty I want to call out everywhere and for everyone in our great state.

Yes, we have grave challenges in Mississippi, but there is hope.

These people, just being people, sharing a pastime and the natural beauty of our planet, reminded me of that.

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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Paul Luckett

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Category Archives: Life

Realignment

My New Daily Prayer

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #2 – Jay Hurdle

Expect Trouble

Our Dream

Due Honor: Jada

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #13 – Carrie Franks

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #12 – Enjoying A Meal

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #10 – Beauty In Mississippi