Many of you may still be trying to make sense out of Christmas and have found only frustration with the lie that “more stuff equals a happy Christmas”...

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright ‘round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”

On the day after the presidential election, someone asked me how I felt about the results. I replied, “I am conflicted.”

For two or three years running, it seems, all we’ve heard from the political left in the United States, concerning the war on terror, is: Aren’t we awful?

Living at 110 Flamingo Street with three brothers and sister was truly a magical time. The five of us were one of the largest families in the neighborhood, and we felt like we could go just about anywhere and do most anything. There was safety in numbers.

How about a few civics questions? Name the three branches of government.

If you answered the executive, legislative and judicial, you are more informed than 50 percent of Americans.

When we moved South in 1971 and started the search for the essentials: doctor, church, library, and dentist, we did not imagine that we’d have to go so far afield to find these professions represented.

Time marches on, and Fayette County continues to add to its population of people who reach age 65 and thus become enrolled in Medicare. These words of advice are for them, as they are now in the period of the year, Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, where they have to choose between all their Medicare options.

If you wanted to turn the United States of America into a socialist country, what strategy would you adopt?

Joseph Stalin, the world’s top communist from 1924 to 1953, is reputed to have advocated the following strategy to William Z. Foster, leader of the Communist Party U.S.A.: “Work for more government intervention and control of the business activities of the people. In this way the American people will accept communism without knowing it.”

“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear

You’ve got to be taught from year to year

It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear

By Dr. John A. Sparks

Where will the Obama kids attend school in Washington? That question has been answered as it should be: by the new president and first lady.

As though it was just yesterday, not the too-many-years-to-count that it really was, I can hear my daddy clearly. He’d pull back his shoulders, raise an eyebrow and point his finger at me – always with great meaning – and say, “Little girl, I’m about to learn you a thing or two.”

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 that I’ve gotten during my years of ministry and via email for this column.

It’s the biggest sales day of the year, the one day storeowners hope will send an avalanche of holiday profits their way.

Barack Obama says that we have to “jolt” the economy. That certainly makes sense, if you take the media’s account of the economy seriously — but should the media be taken seriously?

There’s a growing anti-trade sentiment in our country. Much of the dialogue is grossly misinformed. Let’s try to untangle it a bit with a few questions and observations.

Thankful for ... what?!

The question is bound to surface the moment heads incline in reverence at the Thanksgiving table, over pre-dinner drinks, post-dinner drinks, kitchen clean-up, trash take-out.

As anyone who has successfully passed through Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., or San Diego, Calif., knows, there is no such thing as an “ex-Marine.” There is a reason for the phrase, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” The sense of pride in having served as a member of this elite group stays with a person forever.

It still is hard to believe but, if Hillary’s “confidantes” are to be trusted, Obama is about to appoint her secretary of state and she is about to accept.

For most folks, including us, Thanksgiving is a favorite. Nothing is expected of us if we’re invited to be with family or friends, except to gorge on a feast of traditional food and lend a hand with the clean-up.

When considering the Fayetteville Bypass, there is one easy concept that, hopefully, even our current crop of Fayette County Commissioners can understand.

Five of our finest U.S. warships recently pinned a hijacked freighter against the Somali coastline. We had to immobilize some pirates, something the U.S. has been dealing with since 1784.

By Rep. Lynn Westmoreland

We Georgians aren’t accustomed to all this national political attention. Our state’s Dec. 2 U.S. Senate runoff between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin, though, has thrust us into the national spotlight.

For many years now, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. It has always been a day of joyful gathering of family at my house, accented with favorite foods, merry fellowship and a time to reflect on our blessings. I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving.

Five kernels of corn. After a delicious lunch, the speaker at our senior adult luncheon placed five kernels of corn at each place and reminded us of the hardships of those pilgrims in 1621. That cold winter, facing starvation and a depleted food supply, their daily allotment was five kernels of corn.

The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham is 90 years old. I cannot remember a time when there wasn’t a Billy Graham in my life.

When I was a child, my parents would watch the Billy Graham Crusades on our black and white television. As a teen, I would “sneak” and listen to Dr. Graham on the radio.

The placard in the photo of a recent rally favoring gay marriage asks, bluntly, “Family. Isn’t It About Love?”

Well, hmm. You might indeed incline to such a view. Then, again, you might wish to broaden the perspective, in keeping with normative modes for understanding the foundational human structure we call family.

The Boy celebrated his first Thanksgiving in the center of the fire department engine bay.

Still snuggled in the car carry-all I placed on the table, his big blue eyes took in all the festivities of the other firefighters and their families awaiting the Thanksgiving dinner prayer.

In an age when “big business” and “corporate greed” seem to be synonymous in the public mind, some bright lights occasionally emerge from the darkness brought on by AIG big spenders and over-the-top high-livers.

It seems to me that the ungrateful spirit is the meanest, and the person who does not acknowledge a gift the sorriest. Life itself is a gift, perhaps the greatest of all.

Sheriff Randall Johnson retires from his 32-year service as Fayette County Sheriff with a flourish.

The dictionary uses the word “flourish” figuratively as to be in the best time of life or activity.