Robert W. McKewin, D.D., 32°
737 Magnolia Lane, Marble Falls, Texas 78654

A life crisis teaches the need always to express love and give thanks to family and friends.

Photo: Bro. Robert W. McKewin, 32°, with his wife, Pat
Recently I was faced with an emergency I could not handle by myself. I was hemorrhaging and needed to have my wife call 911. From the moment the call was made, I was no longer responsible for myself. I could only wait for professionals to do what needed to be done for me. An ambulance ride to an emergency room in a rural hospital began an adventure I could have done without. A helicopter ride to a larger hospital followed.

I never knew how valuable the safety net of medical professionals was, until I found myself supported by it. Hours in the next emergency room, followed by a day in intensive care, had me stable. Then another day in the hospital, under the watchful care of doctors and nurses, and I was discharged. Home never looked so good. I was told my blood pressure was so low when I came into the first emergency room that I must have been three quarts below normal. Another hour of bleeding would have finished my course on Earth!

The support of family and friends was what amazed me. My wife's prayer group, our church congregation, our children's and grandchildren's congregations—all were concerned and did what they could to assist me and comfort my wife. Even my sister called me from 1,200 miles away and told me I was important to her. (This was something she hasn't admitted since I was eight and she was four!) I felt myself surrounded by and supported by love. If professionals provide the safety net, family provides the cushion on which we can rest.

Since my recovery, I have been involved in a project I dare not postpone. I have written each of my children and grandchildren, and each of my extended family of brothers and sisters in Church, in Masonry, in Scottish Rite, and in Eastern Star. I have told them how much I appreciate them, how much I love them, and how much I know I need them.

They have hugged me, written back to me, joked with me, and a few have even blushed. It seems we seldom get words of that type and power. It is, perhaps, the balm in Gilead that makes us whole. I don't have much temerity, but I think perhaps I have enough to suggest that other Brothers might have a few people to whom they might wish to say, "Thank you for being you. I really love and appreciate you." And why not do it now? Here is a Christmas gift we can all enjoy giving—and receiving!

I even said this to my wife. When she gets over her surprise, I think even she may give me a hug.

Robert W. McKewin
studied at the University of Minnesota, served in World War II, and taught elementary school for nine years before entering the Episcopal ministry. He has served several parishes in Minnesota as well as a church home for the aged in North Carolina and a Christian orphanage in Ramallah on the West Bank 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Since retirement several years ago, he has written many articles, performed a prison ministry in Texas, and written two books, Behold the Man, a fiction about the life of Christ, and Our Generic Family, an autobiography about the foster care in which he and his wife still find much joy. Bro. McKewin was raised in Garnet Lodge No. 166, in White Bear Lake, Minn., and is presently a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Minneapolis, and Henry Thomas Lodge, No. 278, Marble Falls, Texas.