I live in Central Florida in a bedroom community serving a major metropolitan area.  I am writing in the morning of Saturday, October 12, 2024. During the nighttime hours on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, and the early morning hours of Thursday, October 10, Hurricane Milton, the strongest storm to make landfall in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Bradenton/Sarasota area since 1921, tore through central Florida like a scythe. The damage was massive.  Flooding, tornados and 100 mph+ winds did their worst. Homes, businesses... Read more

Freemasonry is not a single organization. Freemasonry is not a religion, although it looks a lot like one. In our last article, we explored the world of Freemasonry and its many orders and organizations.  In that article, we concentrated on the Blue Lodge, the basic unit in Freemasonry. In Blue Lodge Masonry, there are three earned degrees. Entered Apprentice Fellowcraft (Fellow of the Craft) Master Mason There is no higher degree in Masonry.  There are, however, higher numbered degrees which,... Read more

Likely, you have heard of Freemasonry or Masonry, as it is often called.  You might have a Mason in your family or seen a Masonic lodge in your town. One question I often hear from non-Masons is that it is not exactly clear  whether or not Freemasonry is a religion. The author has been a Master Mason since 1976 and a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason for twenty plus years. Author’s note:  Freemasonry has evolved in different ways in different... Read more

If you read the Bible daily, or weekly, or once a year or twice in your lifetime…someone taught you the skills you needed to do that. That someone was most likely a teacher. Someone taught you how to read. In a few cases, it will  be a parent or some other person but in almost every case, you were taught to read by a teacher, a professionally trained, intuitive, caring, unselfish, and generous teacher. As I have stated many times,... Read more