By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – Donald Bryan has a unique position.

Besides serving as a pastor for 25 years for the United Pentecostal Church in Slidell, Bryan has also been an active member of the Slidell Rotary Club for many years as well.

However, Bryan sees the two positions as very similar.

“Rotary is a service organization, and my real job is certainly something where I want to serve,” he said.

On this day, Bryan was the guest speaker for the LaPlace Rotary Club, and brought home the point of serving, and making the most of every day as he gave an inspiring speech to the club.

“We all easily forget the value of today,” he said. “Most people who are successful made the right decisions early in their lives, and then managed them well.”

“Your attitude will determine so much about your life, from an early age,” he added. “I can’t control what faces or comes to me, but I can control my attitude. That will ultimately determine what I will be, and man will always act on what he believes.”

Bryan grew up in Bogalusa, but then had a connection to the River Parishes as he worked for eight years at DuPont before he went into full time ministry.

Since then, he has made it his practice to try and encourage people to serve their community, and view each day in a positive manner.

“Today we live better than 99.4 percent of all the people who have ever lived,” he said. “But so

many of us have lost our significance in life, since we’re so caught up in the day to day problems.”

“It is in a person’s best interest to share in their life, and Rotary is a club that symbolizes that,” he said. “Most people don’t realize that by helping others, you are actually helping yourself.”

Bryan said he heard one speaker who had been very successful in life say that the difference in success or failure in life was only five minutes. He said that was the time it took for someone to stick with a task long enough to succeed in it rather than fail, or to make a difference in a project rather than stop short.

“If you change things just a little bit each day, it will make a large difference in your lifetime,” he explained.

Bryan closed his day by reminding Rotary members that “it is too late to worry about yesterday, and you can’t count on tomorrow. So today is the only day that matters.”