I have been guided throughout my life by my faith and by the message of love taught by Jesus. In our current time, Christianity is often perceived as a faith rooted in hatred or a lack of compassion for those who are different. Because of this, I often feel the need to explain what my faith truly means to me when I tell others that I am Christian. I have felt the same discomfort when people share these concerns with me. All I can offer in response is my life’s goal: to live by L.U.C.K.—Love, Understanding, Compassion, and Kindness.

Christianity is both simple and profoundly difficult. It is simple because it rests on just two commandments. The first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. The second, as Scripture tells us, is like unto this. That wording is not accidental. I believe it is meant to teach us that loving our neighbor is not a lesser commandment, but one that requires the same depth and fullness of love. We are called to love others in the same way we are called to love God and ourselves—fully, completely, and without condition. Regardless of your beliefs or the life you live, I love you and will treat you with L.U.C.K., because you are human and deserving of dignity and respect.

There is another point that is essential for me to say. I do not align myself with any form of hatred toward the Jewish people. Jesus was Jewish. He was raised in a Jewish family, lived within Jewish tradition, studied the Torah, and followed the practices of Judaism. The commandments I strive to live by were formed during and through those teachings. I follow the teachings of a Jewish man, and because of that, I could never hate the Jewish people.

I also want to be clear that I am not trying to guide anyone away from their faith. Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, those who worship many gods, one God, or no god at all—you are all worthy of love, dignity, and respect. My hope is not that we all believe the same thing, but that we treat one another with humanity. I believe that if we all chose to live with L.U.C.K., the world and its people would be better off.

Throughout my life, I have met people with many religious and nonreligious beliefs. Most are loving and kind. For those who choose not to be, I do my best to keep my distance when possible. Even then, I strive to treat them with respect. Everyone deserves to be heard, and loving others—especially when it is difficult—requires effort: effort to understand where they have been, to grow compassionate through that understanding, and to remain kind.

I am a first-time author, and this book was born from a dream. I struggle to comprehend how human beings can be so cruel to one another. While some of the darkest chapters of United States history are behind us, hateful behavior is still alive today.

I live with hope that one day we will all be free to live our truths. Many people do not have that luxury, as their circumstances place them at risk of physical or emotional harm. I want to be clear about who I am. I am a gay man married to a Black transgender woman. We live in a time when legislative bodies across our nation are actively working to take away LGBTQIA+ rights and, in doing so, treat us as less than human.

The African American community, along with many other marginalized groups, has suffered deeply in this country and continues to do so. When any group of people is treated as less than human, history shows us the danger that follows. My prayer is that when those who have been oppressed gain power, we will choose a different path. We must remember acts of oppression not to seek revenge, but to shine light on injustice and say, never again—and then choose Love, Understanding, Compassion, and Kindness instead.

We are all human. I believe we all have a soul, and a soul has no ethnicity, no gender—it simply is. I hope you enjoy this book. To all who read it, may you live freely and with L.U.C.K.