Don't Stand By My Grave

I attended a Masonic funeral service this week and the following poem was given. I have read it several times since and I have come to enjoy...thought I would share.

Don't stand by my grave
Don't stand by my grave and weep,
For I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint in the snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
In the soft blush of the morning light
I am the swift bird in flight.
Don't stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there,
I did not die.
Mary Frye

Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center

The other "Masonic" place I visited last week in Milwaukee was the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center in downtown Milwaukee. A real gem! The artwork and stained glass windows were just awesome. Apparently classes over the years, would donate a piece of original artwork as their gift to the Scottish Rite Temple. The building has a 350 seat auditorium and a pipe organ (not as big as ours though in Des Moines).

The woodwork in the building is awesome. It reminds you of old England...dark and heavy. The building had a 200 seat chapel with pews and an alter (it looks just like a church). There were two libary rooms (a 12,000 volume library) though it did appear to have need for some catalouging help (Jay and Kurt do you hire out?).

All of the closets where the costumes were hung were solid oak with brass hinges and locks on them. There was one case that housed all of the helmets used in the degrees (you could see them through the glass in the doors). They had two make up rooms with 4 sinks each...I have never seen the Des Moines guys use make up. We must have "natural beauty"!

Anyhow, it was a fun hour visiting with a great brother and a great Temple.

Tripoli Shrine

As I mentioned earlier, I had the pleasure this week of making a quick visit to Tripoli Shrine in Milwaukee. What an awesome place. The architecture and craftsmanship are awesome. Besides the Arabic motif, a good portion of the murals taht you see in these pictures are made of small ceramic tiles (each about the size of my thumbnail).

The nobles at Tripoli had their Shrine Circus this weekend. Hope it all went well for them.

Good Bye to an Icon

America lost another icon yesterday...our good friend Paul Harvey left us. I always enjoyed hearing him on the radio. He just seemed like a good friend and neighbor that was sitting across from us at the kitchen table having a good visit with each of us.

Paul Harvey was a true bit of Americana. President G.W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. That was a well deserved honor for this American patriot.

I wondered if Mr. Harvey had any Masonic connections. The only thing that I could find about him regarding that was that he had been initiated into Delta Chapter of DeMolay in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1936 and was inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame in 1993. Irregardless of rather or not he was a Masonic brother, he did live his life according to our tenents. Rest well my friend. We will miss you.


Here are a few Paul Harvey quotes:

“Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it always will be.”

“Retiring is just practicing up to be dead. That doesn't take any practice.”

“Golf is a game in which you yell "Fore!", shoot six, and write down five”

“In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.”

Milwaukee Visit

I am attending an insuance seminar this week in Milwaukee. This is a great city. I did have the opportunity to visit the Humphrey Masonic Center in downtown Milwaukee. What a gem. The Humphrey Center is home to the Milwaukee Scottish Rite Bodies. There art collection is simply outstanding. Room after room of paintings. And there library...awesome. Though it does need some help in cataloging...Jay and Kurt are you available. There library is actually divided into two rooms. The bookcases were floor to ceiling and how beautiful the bookcases were...solid walnut.

Behind the stage in the main auditorium is another treasure. They have 50 huge paintings on canvas that are used in the degrees. They have an intricate connection system of ropes and pulleys that lower and raise the paintings as they are needed. The building also have some beautiful stained glass windows.

The Humphrey Center is home to the Scottish Rite, a commandery, four blue lodges, a language learning center, and also two churches. It was a real treat to visit.

I also visited the Tripoli Shrine Temple...that was another treat. It has an arabian motif. Every I looked was hand laid colored tiles. Tripoli Shrine is having their annual Shrine Circus this weekend, so everybody was "busy".

Well, off to another day of classes, then a test tomorrow. I'll be ready to come home. Have a good day friends.

Apollo 8

This evening as I was watching the evening news, one of the spots was on the Christmas Eve orbit of Apollo 8 around the moon. This was the first time that a spacecraft from planet Earth had come into lunar orbit. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders closed their broadcast that evening with each of them reading a passage from the book of Genesis. One of those men on that flight was Bro. Frank Borman. What beauty was shown to humanity that evening as we humans here on earth actually saw for the first time the handiwork of God in creating Mother Earth.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

William Anders:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."


Jim Lovell:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."


Frank Borman:

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."


Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

Thanksgiving Blessings

Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day

October 3, 1863



The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln


I read this proclamation from President Lincoln and see so so many similarities with our country today as it was 145 years ago. Although we do not have armed conflict within our borders between one another, we have another conflict which may be even more damaging than that which our great Republic endured so many years ago.

We have the conflict among ourselves of one segment of society against another. The past few months have shown the foolishness of our excessive greed and I unfortunately fear that it will get worse before it gets better. Our society has consumed way more than it could produce...we have all tried our best to have it all. Instead, we should have been concentrating on helping one another. That it was one of the real joys of the holiday season to me, is helping those who are less fortunate than myself. If only I can bring a small measure of happiness to a family or a small children, then I have accomplished the true meaning of Christmas.

The Great Architect of the Universe has bestowed upon each of us his bountiful abundance and mercy. Look upon yourself and share that abundance and mercy with your fellow brothers and sisters.