Acoustically Christmas LINKS 

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The Christmas Season is coming on fast. Gifts are already being bought, Holiday movies are playing, and Christmas Music is already playing! It’s humbling to see my Acoustically Christmas album continue to be a perennial best-seller. It was certainly one of my favorite projects and the guest artists who helped me out, helped give me some of my most precious memories in the studio.

Of course AC is available at hundreds of places, around the planet…but here are a few…

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Mama Is Always Right 

Fitzpatrick Family Vacation 2014 

I must admit, I did not want to go on a vacation this year. I mean, I wanted a vacation, but I absolutely did not want to go anywhere. For one, I don’t enjoy going somewhere and having to watch every dollar, which is where we are currently. And secondly, I just didn’t want the hassle of packing, driving, planning, itinerary-ing…I just wanted to stay at home for a week and chill. Period. 

So being the man of the house, the paderfamilias, as it were, I made it clear to the…

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Songwriting With the DAWG Pound Kids 

I am SO proud of the brand-new song I got to write with Jude and his classmates at the Homer Baptist DAWG Pound program today, “I Want To Dance Dance Dance”. We wrote it, on the spot, in like 10 minutes. They were incredible. Blew me away.

There should be A LOT of very proud parents out there…your kids DID this!

http://youtu.be/GlhVOoAGWuw

Grief, Loss and Hope 

 

As today unfolds, what began as a typical Wednesday has turned dark and confusing and heavy. The passing of a friend is always a sobering thing. But when one takes their own life, it comes with an explosion of emotion. What ifs run rampant. Hind sight consumes me. Guilt, regret, sorrow. And the resurfacing of my own family's experiences as my grandparents took their lives. It never goes away. We worry about the spouse left behind. The parents who see a child untimely taken. And the kids who will now… Read more

Old Time Religion Excerpt 

Thyatira (Thyatira-Olney) Presbyterian Church
 
Just up the road from our house in Apple Valley, lies the Thyatira community. In spite of being another equally rural and tiny establishment, Thyatira has offered a great deal of history to the North GA and Jackson County areas. One piece of that being the Thyatira Olney Presbyterian Church.
 
As you top the hill, passing the Harrisburg VFD, then go back down, bottom out and pass Roger and Ruth Moore’s home on the left, you’ll see a timeless looking, plain, white…

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A Merry Christmas Wish 

 

I don't post nearly as often as I should here. But I couldn't let this Christmas go by, without wishing everyone a merry and blessed one. It has been a remarkable year!

I could not have imagined the wonderful things that would happen this year. And hand-in-hand with God's kindness and grace, it's very much so, because of the love and support of my friends, near and far, old and new. I am truly blessed! Thank you all for an amazing 2012, and here's looking ahead to great and wonderful things in 2013…

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Fifty Shades of GRAY: The Sin Rationale 

Lately, I keep hearing about this book series Fifty Shades of… whatever. There are three titles in the “Fifty” series.

I know there has been some controversy over the content. I’ve heard that it’s everything from “adult in nature” to outright “softcore porn” (is there really such a thing?). Regardless, I get the idea that it’s quite graphic and quite mature in nature and it’s definitely not appropriate reading for minors, in particular.

Well…for any of us, for that matter.

But despite the hoopla, the…

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The Indirect Effect of Joel Osteen 

A few weeks ago, Cretia and I recorded the Oprah Next Chapter interview with Pastor Joel Osteen. Something we really wanted to see, but with the kids and all, sometimes we have to “watch it later”. :-) So we recorded the show and tonight, a good three weeks later, I sat down to watch it, finally.

It was wonderful.

You know how you gravitate to a certain person and how they act, how they are, their demeanor and persona? I guess we all have someone or “someones” we admire. Well, Joel has long-been one of…

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Think, Think, Think 

 

Oh, bother.

It’s hard to put my finger on the exact reason for it…but in a nutshell, I know that I...well, let’s say…I think slow on my feet.

I'm not the smartest bear in the woods, I admit it. I’m a salesman’s dream. I can be talked into all kinds of things, and of course when I am, I later regret my decision. It’s not that I’m dumb or careless or foolish. I just need a minute to process my thoughts, before acting. I’m a little slow on the draw, as they say. But when I have time to think, I can come…

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Me, Myself and my iPhone 

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Until a few months ago, I was languishing in the miry clay of outdated technology…still using my old flip phone…wasting away in a sea of disconnectedness…chained like a prisoner to my limitations of communication that only included (sigh) voice calls and text messaging.

But lo, one glorious day the clouds departed and my social quotient was restored, when my cellular contract allowed me to upgrade from my old inexcusable, dinosaur of a phone, for just pennies on the…

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