I lost my Uncle Bill recently, and seeing him pass is like watching a pole star fade from my sky. Bill was one of several fixed points — people of excellent character — that helped me to navigate my early years and chart the course of my life.

With the election of Barack Obama as President and increased Democratic majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, we are entering an era of Democratic rule we have not seen in 30 years.

We can’t watch television these days without being bombarded with political ads in the U.S. Senate run-off race between Saxby Chambliss, the incumbent Republican, and Democrat Jim Martin.

Karen is always full of advice. Even that which I don’t desire or necessarily need. Like the other day.

“I have a good piece of advice for you,” she began in one of our daily conversations that includes vital information like how many pieces of fried chicken Dixie Dew ate at Mama’s or how her kids are not practicing piano. She called me up, I answered the phone and it all began with those words.

Nina loved to sing. She was solidly into her 80s and her health was still pretty good and she loved to come to the Northside Shepherd’s Center, a senior day center for lower-income older adults, where I was the associate director.

The administration of George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America, is nearing the end of its run.

President Bush came under intense fire during the last two years on a number of issues, including Iraq, the economy, and immigration. History will have limitless time to sort out whether he will be remembered as a good president or something less. It is too soon to make that judgment now.

Advice for conservatives in the Age of Obama.

1. What is, is. Don’t waste valuable time with rehashes of how wonderful things used to be, or would be right now, if only ...!

The tattered coat was crumpled on the park bench with an old man wrapped inside. His hatless head was matted by dirty, disheveled hair streaked silver and gray. Gnarly fingers pulled the brown coat tighter in a vain attempt to ward off the bite of the November wind.

Remember when Democrats lamented the growing budget deficit and spoke of the burden our children and grandchildren would face if we didn’t put our fiscal house in order? That was when Republicans ran the federal government and Democrats opposed tax cuts.

Despite the fact that President-elect Barack Obama’s vision for our nation leaves a lot to be desired, the fact that he was elected represents a remarkable national achievement.

It’s been an interesting week, hasn’t it? I was looking for a way to describe it in last week’s Citizen and settled for “interesting.” Now “momentous” seems better.

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, he will do so in the 30th anniversary year of the founding of the so-called Religious Right.

Here is a quick election recap. For some reason, 12,041 registered Fayette County voters decided not to show up to vote, but an 83.16 percent turnout is quite good.

One year ago, Clayton State University opened its new satellite location at 1200 Commerce Drive in Peachtree City. As County Commission Chairman Jack Smith said, it was a “dream come true” for many people who had worked through the years to bring higher educational opportunities to the county.

A while back, Mama, Louise, Rodney and I visited with some good friends of ours up in the mountains.

Their standard of living is simpler than you’re liable to find in places far south of their mountains, and that river that ambles lazily through the couple of hundred acres that is home to a family compound of sorts. That means that as the kids grew up, they didn’t move away. They simply walked across the hill, the holler, the river or the pasture and set up housekeeping. Some are within hollering distance while a couple can be back at the family homestead in less than two minutes.

A man stopped into my office a couple weeks ago. He said a profound thing. “It may not be a good time to talk about money right now ... but it’s the proper time.” I couldn’t agree more.

“Does Obama’s victory, as a black man, make you feel that you can do anything?” Someone asked me that on election night.

This article was written two weeks prior to the 2008 presidential elections, so unless there is a “hanging chad” issue or problems with voter fraud, or an intensely close vote count, we have a President-elect and a Vice-President-elect. Whether your man won or lost, whether President-elect McCain and Vice-President-elect Palin are preparing to assume office or it’s President-elect Obama and Vice-President-elect Biden preparing to lead the country, the election is over, done, fini.

If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had John McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year.

Oh, all right. The Republican party didn’t manage to sell Americans on the need to elect John McCain as their maximum leader. Forget the small stuff: Republicans are happier people than Democrats. We have it on reliable authority, that of the non-partisan Pew Research Center. I invite fellow McCain voters to put aside their melancholia of the moment to wallow in the good news.

They’re here; they’re everywhere. We’ve all had the sheer enjoyment of working either with them or for them. Some of us are even unfortunate enough to have them as family members.

Once upon a time, the thought of Barack Obama becoming president was downright audacious.

In the early days of his campaign, Obama had to persuade people that casting a vote for him was not a waste of time, a sad joke or a hopeless cause.

Ants. Ants everywhere. Teeny, tiny little ants that don’t bite, but nonetheless ants.

We first noticed them on the galley sink and the stove, down in one of the food bins, across the top edge of the fridge.

Global stock markets have been plummeting. Where the bottom is, nobody knows. There will be gut-wrenching zigs and hopeful zags along the way; they will be of larger magnitude and — in our digital age of instant response — will occur with greater rapidity than ever before.

Near the conclusion of the second presidential “town-hall” style debate, a questioner from the audience asked each candidate what he would do if Iran attacked Israel.

This past summer, NPR polled its listeners of “All Things Considered,” asking how their daily lives had changed since the economic downturn. Many responded by saying they were using their public libraries more — and true to form, public libraries across the country are reporting a recent surge in circulation.

A fracas erupted during the McCain-Obama competition. The battle was not political, but religious.

In September, around 30 pastors across the country, including one in Georgia, mailed copies of their sermons to the IRS denouncing Barack Obama and supporting John McCain. The pastors’ actions were a direct challenge to a federal law enacted in 1954 stating that nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations cannot participate in political campaigns for or against candidates for public office.

More than the economy has melted down. What remains of big media credibility has also liquefied and won’t recover anytime soon, if it ever does.

It has taken me all the years – proving that you can always learn important new things – to realize how sensitive men can be.

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.