This past year

Looking back over the past year is very interesting for me. It was a month ago that I received my EA degree. During the past 12 months I have learned a ton about masonry and have grown much as a man. My wife has even noticed a big difference in me over this last year and our relationship is better than ever. It was said to me that you get out of masonry what you put into it. That is certainly true. Is freemasonry perfect? I believe that it is. It is the humans that get in the way.

I have enjoyed serving this past year as steward and have gained much from that experience. I was appointed tonight as Senior Deacon for the next year. What a great honor and humbling experience. That is a great honor to me and I only hope I can serve my lodge well. Attending the Grand Lodge session as a proxy was one of the highlights of the year for me. I was able to understand more of how freemasonry worked by doing so. It was also voted on tonight for the lodge to send me to Wilkerson College which is a school for deacons to prepare them for their year in the east.

This coming week we have the Scottish Rite meeting where we have a ring ceremony and elections. I have turned in my petition to the Knight of St Andrews which is a service unit within the Scottish Rite. I should be receiving that sometime this month as well. I have completed the Master Craftsman I program and would recommend it to anyone that goes through the Scottish Rite degrees. It brings a perspective and understanding to the degrees that you do not get at the reunions. I have also been fortunate to participate in a degree day during the early summer for a club doing the 17th and 18th degrees. During the fall reunion I was able to help with the 17th, 18th, 24th, and 26th degrees.

What a great experience this past year has been. I hope to stay active and learn as much during the upcoming years as I have this one. I am very honored to have been able to join such a fraternity of great men. I only hope that I can give back just a fraction of what the craft has already given to me. Thank you all for making this a great year. I look forward to many more.

In the Chairs

I just got back from lodge where I was installed as the Junior Steward. I am taking the place of a brother that needed to resign his position. He is away at college and graduating this Saturday. He is getting a teaching degree but is unable to find a job. He is going to be joining the US Army instead. Our WM wanted me to take his place so I stepped up for the remainder of the year. This should be a fun position.  I have been filling in since being raised anyway. 

Basically the duties of the stewards in the lodge is to provide for the comfort of the brethren. That means they are the cooks and such. We do not do meals before each meeting and do light snacks afterwords. The only time we do meals is before a third degree and that is usually provided by one of the brothers. In that case it is the stewards responsibility to set up and clean up afterwards. Most brothers in the lodge help each other out with this.

I am hoping that this summer we can do a BBQ where we do a few shoulders or hams for the brothers. I love to cook pig. It would be good to do some things like this outside of lodge meetings just to hang out and socialize.

I am looking forward to the coming years in my journey east. It is a big commitment to take a chair if you go all the way through. It is also a great honor that I do not take lightly.