Page 4 The North Carolina Mason November/December 2018
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John R. Beaman III
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Adam Russell Cloninger
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Editor
Beth Grace
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From the editor's desk
Grand Master Dwight M. "Mack" Sigmon .............msigmon@glnc.us
Deputy Grand Master P. Shaun Bradshaw ............ sbradshaw@glnc.us
Senior Grand Warden R. David Wicker .................... dwicker@glnc.us
Junior Grand Warden Larry B. ompson Jr. ........lthompson@glnc.us
Grand Treasurer Lewis R. Ledford (PGM) ............... lledford@glnc.us
Grand Secretary T. Walton Clapp III ...........................wclapp@glnc.us
Senior Grand Deacon Kevan D. Frazier .....................kfrazier@glnc.us
Junior Grand Deacon Donald E. Kehler .....................dkehler@glnc.us
Grand Marshal Robert W. Rideout ............................ rrideout@glnc.us
Grand Steward Steve M. Norris ................................... snorris@glnc.us
Junior Grand Steward Gilbert D. Bailey ......................gbailey@glnc.us
Grand Tyler Guy E. Cline
Grand Chaplain Richard A. "Rick" Williams
Grand Lecturer Dalton W. Mayo (PGM)
Grand Historian Ludwik J. Wodka
NORTH CAROLINA
The Mason
By Beth Grace
Editor
■ see THANKS, page 14
Giving thanks for
Masons' giving nature
N
ot long ago, I had the opportunity to
preach a Sunday sermon to a chapel
filled with squirming first-, second-
and third-graders. e lesson was
about giving, in keeping with the
season.
I told them a story about a king
who was just plain mean. When
his aide rushed in to tell him that
the people of his kingdom were
starving, the king grunted and
looked at his dinner table, groaning
with meat, bread, and other
delights. "I have plenty," he said.
"It's not my problem."
A few days later, the aide came
back, telling the king that his
people had no homes and would
freeze in the cold air overnight. e
king glanced around his mansion
and moved closer to the fire. "I'm warm
enough," he said. "It's not my problem."
Soon, everyone in the kingdom was acting
like the king. Nobody helped, nobody cared.
People were in need and no help was coming.
Until one day, when a fisherman came up
with an idea. He decorated his boat and hired
musicians and cooks to put on a big party. He
invited the king and his court to come and
take a trip out onto the deep lake in the center
of the kingdom.
e king, of course, couldn't resist.
So they all floated away in the
beautiful boat out to the deepest
part of the lake. It was then the
fisherman pulled out a saw and
began to cut a hole in the bottom of
the boat. "What are you DOING?"
e king cried. "We'll sink!"
e fisherman hopped into the
small one-man dinghy he had
brought along and said, "Well, I'm
safe in this boat. So it's not my
problem."
And that, I told the kids, was the
day the king (after he swam back
to shore, presumably) learned his
lesson and he gave his subjects food
and warm shelter and spent the rest of his days
helping others.
If this had been a chapel full of Masons'
kids, I would have added that the Masons
have known this lesson for several hundred
years. Masons spend a lot of time – almost
