For Daniel, being a brother has always meant setting a good example and being a pillar of support for his siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have tried to set a good example,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t always mean that they will follow in my footsteps. I want to be there when they make life-altering decisions for themselves. I want to support them and their decisions, and if I don\u2019t like their decision, I support them in making the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel personified this quality by taking on the role of head of household when his parents divorced during his junior year of high school. Left with the urgency to keep the home going, he would leave school to take on a fulltime job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhenever our mother and father divorced, both of our parents had issues they were dealing with,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, we still had to eat, the electricity needed to stay on, and the house still had to function. I left school and got a full-time job to support our family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few years later, Daniel decided to join the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI decided to join the Army and left my checkbook at home,\u201d he said. \u201cStephen would write checks to pay the bills. We did that for a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second oldest, Stephen, was around 11 when Daniel left for the Army. He made sure that all of the bills got paid and stepped into the role of head of household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Stephen, being a brother has always meant acting as a rock for his siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou want to be something that<\/em> is never changing,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou<\/em> want to be that rock on which they will<\/em> always be able to depend. I think, for<\/em> me especially, that dependability is a big<\/em> thing. It\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always<\/em> tried to do. I have always tried to be<\/em> dependable for Andrea and Daniel.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel\u2019s time away was a challenge for the siblings, but their bond and love for each other helped them see the other side of some challenging times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe wrote letters back and forth to let each other know everything was ok and being taken care of,\u201d said Stephen. \u201cIt was hard, but we had faith that it would all work out. And it did. We had a rocky upbringing, but I wouldn\u2019t change a second of it. You get to where you\u2019re at and appreciate where you came from. You can\u2019t change where you came from or what happened, but you can change the perspective of the here and now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEATING THE ODDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n While they endured a rocky childhood, the brothers worked diligently to support each other and their sister. They have been there to help each other beat the odds and make successful strides in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Daniel works for the Coffee County Sheriff\u2019s Department and supervises the county\u2019s school resource officers. He was named Officer of the Year by the Tennessee Training Officers Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen works in Information Technology for the Coffee County School System and is a local minister. He is a semi-retired professional cyclist, something he took up after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Stephen is also a motivational speaker. He speaks to students about his struggles and battle with MS and how he overcame them thanks to faith and support from his siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each holds immense pride for the other, most of which cannot be expressed without tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe lean on each other equally. We have tremendous respect for each other,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COMING FULL CIRCLE <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the perks of both Stephen and Daniel\u2019s jobs is that they can work alongside each other through the school system. They can also see how the support from teachers helped them get through those times as children. Both are now working to be that support system given to them as children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of Daniel\u2019s former teachers hired me,\u201d Stephen explained. \u201cHe was well aware of our family situation growing up and took a chance on me. You still come across teachers that were your teachers, and it\u2019s hard because they even hold back tears. The odds were against us, and for them to tell us how proud they are of us, it does feel like we\u2019ve come full circle. We were just kids going through Hillsboro Elementary, and now we\u2019re walking in there, and we\u2019re no longer the kids with the uncertain future. We made it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now with their own families, the siblings work hard to stay as close as they have always been. They hope their children share the same bond as they do as siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen said at the end of the day, love is about action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s more than just opening your mouth and saying words,\u201d he said. \u201cTalk is cheap, and you\u2019ve got to stand up and prove your love. When dealing with family, it isn\u2019t about proving your love once but every day. Love is being dependable and something certain. Being a preacher, I turn to scripture. Paul told the Corinthians: In the end, there are three things, and love is what will abide forever. No matter how mad we are at each other, our love is still there, along with our care and compassion.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ray brothers know the key to a strong bond: \u201cWe lean on each other equally. We have tremendous respect for each other,\u201d says Daniel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-10308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-january"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC_3916-2-683x1024.jpg\")
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