Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible

Pastors get some of the most interesting questions from people they meet and people in their congregations. Here are a few questions that I’ve gotten during my years of ministry and via email for this column.

Just before I do something stupid, I hear a little voice in my head warning me about the impending danger. Some call the voice a conscience. Others call it the voice of reason. And still others call it a voice from above. Me? I just call the voice in my head Fred.

Most people who write to the column are looking for their ancestors who died long ago. But this week we're looking for living descendants so we can have a proper tombstone dedication.

Edgar K. Browning, professor of economics at Texas A&M University, has a new book aptly titled “Stealing from Each Other.” Its subtitle, “How the Welfare State Robs Americans of Money and Spirit,” goes to the heart of what the book is about.

by Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson

Thrift used to be a virtue in America. In Asia, thrift remains a way of life — for example, it is estimated that the average Chinese family’s thrift rate is 30 to 40 percent — which helps explain the rapid growth rates there.

In our fast-paced, fast-food society we are used to getting what we want, conveniently, quickly, and at a reasonable price. The trade-off for this convenience has often been a loss of customer service. We have become accustomed to encountering people at the drive-thru windows who are surly, barely intelligible, and frequently unknowledgeable.

Come on. Give an old man half a chance.

I speak for myself as well as for John McCain.

No more sneering talk of the sort we’ve heard lately concerning McCain’s ineptitude when it comes to computers — an ineptitude he’s striving to overcome.

LOS ANGELES, CA, AUGUST 4, 2008 — Robert D. Novak announced today that he is retiring from writing his column, Inside Report, distributed by Creators Syndicate, due to the dire prognosis resulting from his recent diagnosis of a brain tumor.

By Sean Wilson

As Georgia continues to grow and thrive, it needs power generation capable of sustaining that growth. But the options seem to be shrinking among the body politic for varying environmental, economic and aesthetic reasons.

In the 2008 legislative session, four years after the passage of HB 237, the “Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Planning Act,” state lawmakers approved the framework for the comprehensive statewide water plan.

If our era could have its own coat of arms, it would be a yak against a background of mush. This must be the golden age of endless and pointless talk.

At the beginning of this long political season — if there ever was a beginning, since campaigns are now nonstop with only the players changing — it appeared this one might, just might, be different.

You have all heard of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. How many have heard of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)?

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 47. By the time of diagnosis, the cancer had usurped his liver, and his doctors thus gave him only months of relatively good health before the disease would begin to take its full effect.

Our recent elections for county commissioners brought to light differences in thinking about providing pensions as an employee benefit for the people who serve us as county employees. That includes the entire Sheriff’s Department, courthouse employees, administrative employees and road crews.

Although my teaching career has covered a scant 18 years, technology has transformed higher education more in that time frame than in the hundreds of years preceding it.

As life stretches on, it is always a blessing to share a history with those who know you well. It is a bond that cannot be fabricated for it is created by the times and stories you mutually share over many years.

It rained last night, and the trees are sparkling as I turn into our friends’ driveway. I take note of the warning sign: “Beware of playing cocker spaniel,” and sure enough, here she comes, bouncing toward the green area in the middle of the turn-around. “Buttercup!” calls her boss, and the little dog turns in mid-bounce.

Sunday, May 4, seemed like a normal day. Pretty good attendance. Great spirit. Two new members. After final comments, I asked our minister of music to lead us in singing our closing song, but, instead, he turned things over to our chairman of deacons.

The generation gap is something I’ve heard about all of my life, but never really believed in. The other day was when I realized that not only does the gap exist, but just how far that gap has widened for me.

I'm going to pick up on a family from last week - James and Mary Herndon Norris, a member of the Norris family of Walton, Gwinnett, Fayette, Campbell, Douglas and Cobb counties. When I mentioned them a couple of weeks ago I had no idea that someone would pick up on this particular couple. I was thrilled. I had very little myself. But Pat Vermeer wrote and gave us a little more information for which I am very grateful. Let me give you a little of what I have, then I'll tell you some of what Pat said.

The lady was upset, anybody could see that. I was standing behind her at the airport in Bloomington, Ill., as she complained and gesticulated angrily. The airline, Airtran Airways, she loudly exclaimed for all to hear, had lost her luggage and she was irate. The young lady behind the counter tried to say how sorry she was. “There’s no excuse!” the luggage-less lady shouted.

There had better be something to this “divinely anointed” business, because if there isn’t, Barack Obama is setting himself up for the biggest political spill in recorded history — all the ways down the slopes of Olympus to whatever gunk lies below.

Random thoughts on the passing scene:

Government bailouts are like potato chips: You can’t stop with just one.

Anyone who is honest with himself and with others knows that there is not a snowball’s chance in hell to have an honest dialogue about race.

There is a reason the psalmist warned, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalm 146:3)

Let’s face it. The average individual American has little or no clout with Congress and can be safely ignored. But it’s a different story with groups such as Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. When they speak, Congress listens.

Allow me to sweep up the crumbs and snippets that seem to collect on my worktable or my hard drive. I try to keep them in tidy stacks, but, sooner or later, they mix in with the only slightly more professional detritus: notes, newspaper clippings, business cards and “_____ for Dummies” books.

Much has been said about the press’ adoring coverage of Obama while they nearly ignore McCain. My friend, Alex Nides, who lives in Tyrone with his wife Fran, told me recently about one way the media ignored McCain, a peek at the bias from an angle you probably won’t hear anywhere else.

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Director Ronald Herberman set off a flurry of excitement last week when he released a memo to the center’s 3,000 employees advising caution over cell phone use.

Economic growth in the United States is sluggish, and there are several reasons to be pessimistic about macroeconomic performance in the balance of 2008, if not beyond.