Summer Celebrations

                                    Statue sculpted by Thomas Ball to commemorate the Emmancipation Proclamation

I hope you all had a Happy Father's Day yesterday.  I am proud to live in a country where freedom and family are a cause for celebration.  I am not a perfect father but God gave me 3 wonderful daughters, their husbands and 4 perfect granddaughters.  They are great gifts.

Yesterday was also Juneteenth, a celebration for when the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they were free... more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  News didn't spread as quickly then as it does now.  Union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 declaring to all that slavery was abolished.  The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song and dance.  It is the longest running African American holiday.   The day dedicated to celebrating that freedom spread through out the states.  

Texas declared Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1980.  It  didn't become a federal holiday until 2021 in the United States.  

Let's all celebrate family and freedom with jubilant prayer, dancing, feasting and singing.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach

www.brooketraining.com

A Father's Role

The father in any family sets the tone or culture for that family.  He should be a role model, a mentor, an encourager and a challenger.  Yet many of us and many in our community have not lived up to that role.  Well...It is never too late.  Start now being one other's look up to.

 

At Brooke Training we try to go beyond teaching the transportation industry, we strive to be role models, mentors, encouragers and challengers to the people we are privileged to meet.

So on this Father's Day, I wonder who (in addition to your biological parents) has invested in you? Who has discerned wounds in your spirit? Who has taken you "home" for a season of listening and redirection? Who has taken a back seat to your own growth? Who is it that is always, always "in your corner"?

Or it may be that you now find yourself ready to pour some of that overflow into others who see you as their mentor, a parent, a friend. You honor those who have invested in you when you invest in others that God brings your way.

May this weekend be a time of gratitude for the opportunities we all have to mentor and be mentored by the men in our families and those who need a father figure.  I will spend time with my three girls, my 4 granddaughters and my beautiful bride.  I am blessed beyond measure.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach

www.brooketraining.com