My first blog entry

This is my very first blog entry.

What I hope to accomplish

I want this blog to be a place where I can put down my thoughts, ideas, and plans while I am in charge of my lodge for the year. I want this to be a journal so my officers can use this as a reference - hopefully it will be a good reference.

I would like you, good reader, to post comments to my entries, telling me I'm wrong, right, give me hints on what I should be doing, and worked for you in your year.

About me

I first learned about Masonry from a dear friend. Richard was a civil engineer by profession and a gentleman from birth. He was thoughtful, calm, rational - most of the things I was not. He was a friend of my father and I knew him from when I was a small child. When I got to be in my mid-twenties, he and I would go surveying and we often had to drive an hour or more to job sites. There was never a dull conversation with him, despite the 40+ year difference in our ages. I quickly learned he was a Master Mason, which intrigued me. At the time I didn't know much about the Masons, but was very interested. I ultimately did not join Masonry at that time - I was still starting out in life, trying to finish grad school, start my career, etc.

By 2002, I was in my chosen career (working for the government), happily married, and felt my life was pretty stable when I reread a favorite book, Born in Blood, by John J. Robinson. The author traces Masonry back to the Knights Templar and really was a great read. I remember thinking, "I think I'll do it, I'll really join a lodge." Problem was, Richard had died by this time - though I didn't know it - I didn't know any Masons, nor did I know where a lodge even was. By serendipity, one day I was getting my car washed. As I climbed in my shiny car, I looked across the street and there was a Masonic Lodge. I felt my fate as I looked at the building.

Screwing up my courage, I called the number listed in the phone book and talked with a very nice man. He invited me to some of the open lodge events, where I quickly made new friends. After about seven or more months, two brothers signed my petition and I was voted in. I was raised a Master Mason in June of 2003 and have never regretted it.

The Present

I am the current master of my lodge. What's scary is that I only have five years in the fraternity, a drop in the bucket compared to the average Mason in my lodge. I have great friends in the fraternity who give me quiet advice, fantastic officers on whom I rely all too much, lodge brothers who help out when and where they can, and a terrific wife who supports me in my year.

I think this will end my first post. I will be making more posts as I get time and I think of something to write about.

David