Monday, Monday

OK, I stole this sign from Timothy's Blog. He made it and I stole it. I am unrepentant. I like it. I am excited about next Monday Night.

It is Masonic History. I have never seen a Lodge Instituted nor have I ever helped to form a Lodge. I am really thrilled to be a part of this.

Now for the rest of the Post. I went to Des Moines today. I went down to have coffee with my friend Matt who has grown a goatee. I think it makes him look extinguished - oops I mean distinguished. He said that some people think it makes him look mean. I don't but then when you have a friend you can't imagine them looking like anything bad. I seem to have read that somewhere.













Now some impressions of Des Moines that I took


The Court House that gives Court Avenue its name. I have never been inside this building but I love the way it dominates the street. This area used to be a pit with old crummy bars and adult bookstores. The city has done a beautiful job of making it a family friendly area where you can go for a good meal and entertainment.








Then I went to the Temple For The Performing Arts. This is where Matt and I usually meet for Coffee. I used to go here to Masonic Meetings and am really glad that they saved the building. Here are some pictures from here. By the way you can embiggen these pictures by clicking on them. But then you knew that.































I love Starbucks! I cheated and had a lemonade.



And a slice of lemon pound cake. My bad!



But oh, it was good. And I hadn't had lunch.









Then a picture of the library again followed by some general pics around the area. Des Moines really has some good photo opps.





































After coffee with Matt (and yes, I did also have coffee) I went to Costco to get some Zero and some candlesticks I had heard about. Then I went to Acanthus because I thought they were going to have a Third Degree tonight but it got canceled so I got to have a nice visit with Charlie and Sam and then John asked me to help out with a practice upstairs. So I did and it was a lot of fun..

I really need to learn the K.S. part for the second section of the Third degree but I am working on relearning the Captain of the Host for the Royal Arch Degree next. I generally do Jeshua but I did the Captain of the Host one time when I was Grand Captain of the Host (a long, long time ago) and I told David I would do it this Fall. So now I am committed (or rather should I be committed - Am I to old to relearn something from 25 years ago?) It was good to see folks there again. You know the hell with gas prices. I am going to make more of an effort to get down there at least a couple of times a month. I do belong to that Lodge also so I need to support them.

I seem to have most of my issues resolved. My post yesterday did some good. Sometimes God works through me and I don't know it until after it happens. I remember one time when I was First Reader at the Christian Science Church and I put together a lesson for a Wednesday Night Service and when it was done I wasn't happy with it. But it was to late to change it. So I used it. That night there was a young man in the congregation who had never been there before. I used the idea of renewal and newness as the theme for the evening.

When I was done and we got to the Testimony part of the service this young man got up and gave a testimony about "my" lesson. He spoke about how much it meant to him and how it had been prepared just for him You see he had been a drug addict and in a really low point in his life when he found Christian Science. And he was healed. So I went away feeling that I had been "used" by God. It is an incredibly humbling feeling. That is the way I felt when I heard back from a couple of people about my blog post yesterday. I was "used" again and besides Ginny liked it. ARTYAL, Hugs. j-bear (Who really likes those hugs - even if they are only spiritual hugs.)