• Social Media

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    Don’t be a One Tweet Wonder!

    Don’t be a One Tweet Wonder!

    20+ years ago, fresh out of college, I, like everyone else in Nashville, wanted to be a songwriter. I had one published cut and just knew I was destined for fame and fortune. During that time I got to write with some very gifted songwriters who taught me much about the craft. I took away two things from that experience that have served me well through the years; 1) the importance of re-writing and 2) distill, distill, distill.

  • Productivity

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    How I Get Things Done

    How I Get Things Done

    I’ve been a practitioner of “Getting Things Done”, or GTD, for several years now. Friend and GTD guru Michael Hyatt first introduced me. By the way, Michael has some great posts on GTD on his site, www.michaelhyatt.com. The basic principal of GTD is get it out of your mind and into a trusted system. I can say without a doubt “Getting Things Done” has had the single greatest impact on my overall productivity and organization. In fact, it’s been required reading for people on my team for sometime now.

  • Faith

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    The Unique Intersection

    The Unique Intersection

    I’m struck by life—how precious it is, how rich and how fleeting. Today I have a friend fighting leukemia, a young Mom facing a heart transplant and a friend remembering the anniversary of his teenage son’s death. Each of these are sobering reminders that life is precious and far too often I take that life for granted.

    There are those who say that death is a natural part of life, but I disagree. Death is not natural, it is the result of the fall. Death is the enemy but death has been defeated.

  • Tech

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    Patty Prius

    Patty Prius

    In July of 2004 we took possession of a brand new Toyota Prius. We had researched, shopped and patiently waited for our Prius to be delivered. At the time gas prices were very high and we wanted to be environmentally conscience, so we took the plunge. Immediately the car was fully embraced by our family. In fact, the kids named her, Patty Prius. To this day they can see a Prius, especially a tan one and will shout out, “look, there’s Patty”. But alas, our love affair with Patty Prius was short-lived. So why did we eventually give up Patty? For us, there were 3 main reasons.

  • Family

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    Something I Couldn’t Give Myself

    Something I Couldn’t Give Myself

    I just returned from the Howard family reunion where some 100 family members gathered on a rainy Saturday afternoon in South Alabama. This family has gathered every year since 1940 to remember and to celebrate their shared heritage.

    My grandmother, on my father’s side, was a Howard. Mary Lois Howard Smith was born August 14, 1915 and was one of 9 surviving children. I didn’t know her, she died of breast cancer when I was 6 months old, but I am a product of the choices she made.

  • Life

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    45 Years and Counting

    45 Years and Counting

    Today I turned 45. According to the 2009 CIA World Factbook the average life expectancy of a US male at birth is 75.65 years. This means that if the stats are right, I’m more than 1/2 way done with my life. In fact, I crossed the 1/2 way mark 8 years ago.

  • Photos

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    A Photo Tour of Copperfield

    A Photo Tour of Copperfield

    It’s been a while since I’ve broken out the camera and decided Saturday was the time.  So this morning early, my daughter and I went out in the neighborhood to snap a few pictures.  Katie used her little Kodak point & shoot camera and I used my Canon 5D with a 28mm – 135mm IS [...]

  • Faith

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    Sacrificing our Children to God

    Sacrificing our Children to God

    Ten years ago now, I read what has become one of my favorite books, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. In it, they tell the story of Millard Fuller who had spoken on the Duke campus where they taught. Mr. Fuller told how his family sold everything they had, left a successful law practice and moved to a poor neighborhood in Americus, Georgia to “wait for God to tell them what to do next”. What was next, turned out to be Habitat for Humanity.

  • Faith, Family

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    His Hands

    His Hands

    On Sunday, April 22nd, 2000 we celebrated the baptism of our first child, Wesley Daniel Smith. It was an emotional time for us not only because Wesley was our first child but also because he was a gift from God. After the service we invited friends and family to celebrate with us. At that Sunday afternoon lunch, I shared these thoughts.

  • Family

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    Three Kinds of Sex

    Three Kinds of Sex

    We have a 9 year old son and a 8 year old daughter. We’ve always been selective about what they watch and had hoped to put off the “birds and bees” conversation until they were a little older. But after that day, we knew the time was rapidly approaching with the speed of a runaway freight train.

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