Lead article from the August 2015 bulletin, online now.
I sit here looking at my one week old son Micah thinking “Is this really such a good time to be taking on the role of Grand Knight?” I remember this time last summer when Jim was deciding if he was going to serve a second year. At the time, my wife Shawna, was finishing up her last year of college and I thought to myself: “Please Jim, just one more year and I will have more time to focus on the role.” Three years ago, when I was asked to become Chancellor of this council, I had another new baby at home. I accepted the role thinking “I won’t be Grand Knight for at least a couple more years. Things will settle down by then and I will have more time to focus on it.” It’s now 2015 and I’m a father of 7 children ages: 15,12,9,7,3,2 and 1 week. If you look at those ages you will realize that 3 of those kids have been born since 2012 when I was asked to be Chancellor. I have plenty of reasons to say no at this point in my life. I can continue to fool myself into thinking I will have more free time in the future. But let’s not kid ourselves. Kids get older and they don’t consume less of our time, they just consume our time in different ways. I don’t see how that will ever change. Sure they may move out some day but then they will start having kids of their own and I kind of want to be a big part of their lives too. So tell me when is a good time to do this?
I’ve realized that this isn’t about time at all. I can convince myself that I don’t have time to do this but I can also convince myself to spend a whole evening sitting on the couch in front of the TV. This isn’t about time, this is about commitment and charity. I’m doing this because it’s my way of giving back to my church and my community. The same church that welcomed us via RCIA in 2008 and has made such a wonderful impact on our lives since then. I dedicate time as a baseball coach and swimming official to show my kids that I support them in their activities and want to be involved in their lives. I dedicate time to the KC’s because I want to show my church, my community, and most importantly the Lord that I support them and I appreciate the impact they have on my life.
See where I’m going with this? We never have enough time but we always have some time. Don’t let the fear of a time commitment scare you away from getting involved. If I asked you to commit 2 hours this year to the KC’s would that scare you off? You may think that 2 hours isn’t enough to make a difference so why bother. What if I said that a single 2 hour shift at the tree lot might let that brother knight who has spent the previous 4 hours working the lot go home and eat dinner with his family? It’s unfortunate but it does happen. We have well over 400 members in this council, there is no reason any one of us should have to make sacrifices like that. So yes, your 2 hours a year are important even if it’s not immediately obvious.
I am very proud to be a Knight. We do so many wonderful things for our church and our community. I am in this role because it’s how I was called to serve at this point in my life. How are you being asked to serve? I ask that you think about this and make one commitment to take action this year. No matter how big or small that commitment is. It could be signing up for a shift at the tree lot, attending your first business meeting, or helping us coordinate one of our events. Everything we do as KC’s is important and it makes us who we are. Without each and every one of you we wouldn’t be Council 4174.
God Bless,
Joe VanHoorik
Grand Knight
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