21/05/2026
A few days late on this because I was under the weather, but I want to acknowledge a really good weekend.
It has been six months since I officially earned my Doctor of Strategic Leadership, but this past weekend my family and I made the trip east to spend a couple of days at the beach and allow me to walk for my commencement ceremony at Liberty University.
After the ceremony my wife asked me if I was emotional, which she knows is rare for me. What I told her was that I was just so happy watching everyone else walk across that stage. You do not earn a doctorate without years of academic grind layered on top of whatever else life is putting you through at the same time.
Every person crossing that stage paid for it with their own particular version of late nights and quiet sacrifices.
I tried to clap for every single person who walked and I possibly annoyed some. However they deserved it. Some may not have had family in the audience the way I did. Mine was there. That part was not lost on me.
My research chair could not be there in person, but she sent me one of the best messages watching online and telling me what finishing meant to her and how proud she was.
Dr. Jonesy