Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
I don't remember who recommended Carnell's Restauarant, but good looking out!
I came for the hamburger and was not disappointed.
The first positive sign was its down home, rustic feel. There's a window at the front of the building you can walk up to and place your order. They give you a buzzer to let you know when your order is ready.
As I waited, I saw the tell-tale sign—their hot sauce. My wife and I judge a restaurant by the hot sauce they offer and the Louisiana Dot?! Yessir.
I ordered a double cheeseburger and fries. And for some reason even I don't understand, I ordered a side of hush puppies. Look. We listen. We don't judge.
The fries look sad because they were—probably some that had already been cooked and sitting under a lamp somewhere. The hush puppies were also depressed. They were mealy—almost the consistency of dressing, like they hadn't been cooked all the way through.
But, the burger?
🔥
It was made to order and that's what I came for. It ranks in my top three of all time, anywhere. And I don't even like cheese!
It possibly ties for second, except the other was a gourmet burger—this however, is a good ol' down home burger, like the one your Momma used to make in a skillet and put it on white bread back when they made burgers from real cows.
It's the type of burger that you could only get from a place like this. It's worth every second of the thirty minute drive.
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.
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 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 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.
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, July 5, 2025.
"I don't feel particularly patriotic," someone dear to me said, in light of recent events.
But we’re getting out and celebrating the birth of our nation.
And I made sure to wear my American flag shirt.
There are those who would like to take Old Glory the way of the Confederate flag—which, to me, means “whites only” and the subjugation of all others—but I won’t let them.
It’s foolish to withdraw, especially now.
When we step away, it leaves a vacuum they fill with meaning that is antithetical to the very spirit of our country.
Our nation is “for the people, by the people”—not “for some people, by some people.”
They, who brandish outsized flags with small-minded vitriol, are squatters. And the way not to lose your home to them is not to leave it.
Now is the time to lean in—and to fight the way true patriots do:
Through intelligent discourse.
By casting a vision for a country that works well for all citizens—even those with whom we disagree.
By creating conditions that deliver on the promise of our founding: to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
By organizing around that vision.
Through voting for which vision we deem best.
And through honoring the rule of law.
As we were walking yesterday, a white child looked at me and said, “Happy 4th!”
I exuberantly replied, “And Happy 4th to you, young man.”
Because I want him to associate me—my pride and my kindness—with that flag.
Get it in your heart: I am with you, I am your fellow American, and this is mine too.
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.
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.
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.
Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, June 6, 2025.
Remember my story about the refrigerator?
Well, the situation got even more complicated.
After painstakingly researching specifications, checking reviews, and comparing pricing, we selected what we thought was the best value for the money. We placed our order and scheduled delivery on Lowes.com.
We were pleased.
Weeks go by, and then we receive an SMS:
"The payment for Lowe's order was declined. Update it within 3 days to avoid delays or cancellation."
Wait. What?!
I scurry over to our bank's website to verify the transaction. And sure enough—we had already been charged.
So I called Lowe’s customer service to see what was going on.
Lowe’s rep: How may I help you?
Me: Hi. We recently bought a refrigerator through your website. I just got a message saying our payment was declined, but we’ve already been charged.
Lowe’s rep: That wasn’t a charge. It was a hold.
Me: Okay… but the charge is still showing on our card, and now it looks like you’re trying to charge it again.
Lowe’s rep: [abruptly] Would you like to speak to a manager?
I’m transferred to a manager, who explains that Lowe’s authorizes the card for the full amount when you place the order online, but doesn’t actually charge it. After a few days, the hold is released, and then they reattempt authorization. They do this repeatedly after a set number of days (maybe 10? no one really knew) until the order is delivered.
I explained this wouldn’t be a problem if the hold were released before the card was charged again—but it wasn’t.
The manager admitted this was a known issue that affects many online customers, and that many end up canceling their orders and reordering in-store. The problem? We purchased this fridge during a sale, and the promotional pricing was no longer available.
I asked if I could just buy a Lowe’s gift card and use that to pay, to avoid this loop of reauthorizations. She said there was a risk it would kick the order out completely—best case, it would delay delivery another 22 days. Worst case, we’d lose the sale pricing and end up paying nearly double.
I asked, “Are there any other options?”
She replied, “Sorry, no.”
Enter Samuel and Aliya.
I went to our local Lowe’s expecting to cancel the order, settle for a less ideal option, and face who-knows-how-long of waiting—all while we were badly in need of a refrigerator.
I explained the situation to the clerk at the appliance desk—Samuel. He pulled up the order, started researching options, and even logged into the distributor’s website to check stock. Then he called a manager to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.
Finally, he said, “Mr. Luckett, here are our options—it’s a possibility it may not work, but this is something we can try.”
Then Aliya walked up, responding to Samuel’s page for a manager. They deliberated some more. Then she said, “This should work.”
Together, we walked over to the customer service desk. They pull up my order, and after overcoming some obstacles, our original order with the original installation date was completely paid for and they provided me the paperwork to prove it!
Two people, stopped, and explored everything they could do to help me—rather than telling me what they could not do.
Samuel and Aliya saved my relationship with Lowe’s and made my life measurably better—I walked in with a problem and I walked out without one. They have no idea the weight they lifted off my shoulders.
