CountUp

The End Of The Innocence

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. For this edition I’m not traveling anywhere. I’m standing in my own kitchen and living room. I’m looking out both of my windows here that face the northwest. Over to the right is the northern fenceline of my dream forever neighborhood of the past 3 years and 3 months. On the other side of that fence is what is now recently-annexed land for the City of Avon Park.

That land – as it looks right now – is raw undeveloped Florida scrub. It sits here on the eastern slope of the Lake Wales Ridge at about 140 feet above sea level (same as my adjacent neighborhood), and it’s probably looked like that for thousands of years. It sits on ancient land here on the Ridge. When sea levels were over 100 feet higher than they are now – this land existed as a series of islands – surrounded by sea – much like today’s Florida Keys.

The remnants of these ancient islands are present here with lots of sand – 80 miles away from the sea on each side of it. Low trees and bushes grow in the scrub due mostly to the poor and arid ground conditions. (Rainwater drains quickly into the sand.)

Here in fast-growing Central Florida these undeveloped scrublands are critically endangered. And the one right next to my neighborhood will also soon be gone – changed forever after thousands of years.

The City Of Avon Park has approved developers to begin bulldozing it all very soon to prepare the land for a big multi-phase / multi-year residential neighborhood with 300+ new homes (single-family houses and duplex villas). The densest portion of the new neighborhood would be closest to my neighborhood – with backyards right up against our fenceline. (Earlier reports had suggested up to 800 new homes, but I think the development has been scaled down since.)

Nevertheless – it’s “The End Of The Innocence”. Once destruction and construction begins – manmade noise will be endless. It will never be as peaceful and serene as it has been since my neighborhood was built 40 years ago. All of the birds, rabbits, squirrels, and other wildlife that live over there will have to find a new home. My view will be changed forever.

My neighborhood replaced scrubland 40 years ago, and maybe that angered the residents in the already-established neighborhoods behind the destruction and construction. I’m grateful for my neighborhood, and I’m also hopeful that we can protect surrounding area scrublands to keep – at least this part of Florida along the Lake Wales Ridge – as natural as can be.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll stay home and look back at our weather from this past Winter season. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Arcadia, DeSoto, Florida, Lovebugs

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 486

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date June 8, 2026
No Comments on My Top 10 Hits – Week 486

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back almost 50 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday June 07TH 2026 – the 486TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	21	Finished [5TH week @ # 1]	Caleb & John
2	2	11	Everything Is Better	Hopeful.
3	3	21	Where Would I Be	Peter Burton
4	6	8	Worthy Of It All (Worthy)	CeCe Winans
5	5	5	I’d Do It Again	Andrew Ripp
6	4	6	Father, Let It Be	Sidewalk Prophets
7	7	6	Somebody’s Praying	Bay Turner
8	8	6	demons	Josiah Queen
9	9	4	Perfectly	Micah Tyler
10	10	2	Gonna Be Alright	Matt Maher

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “You Never Gave Up On Me” – The Afters
2024 – “Beautiful Life” – Pat Barrett
2023 – “This Is Our God” – Phil Wickham
2022 – “Sunday Sermons” – Anne Wilson
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Born Again” – Austin French
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

CECE WINANS – Her 4TH hit on my chart is already her biggest and longest-running hit, as “Worthy Of It All (Worthy)” moves up 2 notches to # 4 – where it was early last month. But I don’t think it’s stopping there. This is now my pick to be my next # 1 smash. I sang it as part of our Praise & Worship band at my previous church. The Praise & Worship band at my current church sings it on a regular basis. I’m singing along to CeCe every time it plays on the radio. It’s such a great song for the One who is worthy of it all. I exalt Thee.

SALVATION ERA – I’m enjoying this look-back at my baby Christian years. My # 3 hit overall from August 2006 to January 2010 was 1 of 7 hits during that era from my favorite pop band – Relient K. Their track “Forgiven” spent 23 weeks in a row on my chart – peaking at # 1 for 2 weeks. I actually found out about Relient K in December 2005 when their single “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” went mainstream at Top 40 radio – particularly XM Satellite Radio’s popular “Top 20 On 20” channel. That song (not 1 of the aforementioned 7) peaked at # 3 on my chart in January 2006 – 7 months before my salvation started. It’s one of those songs that I was singing along to on the radio, but I didn’t understand its lyrics at the time. (I didn’t know God at the time.)

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. God used loud music on the radio in South Florida to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends ! May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Tags Blog, Chart, Christian, christianity, faith, God, Jesus, KLOVE, Music, Radio, Spotify, TheJoyFM, WayFM, WGTS, Z883

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 07TH 2026, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Volume 9, Number 15, Edition 415
“Cain & Abel – Part 3”

2 weeks ago I began updating one of my old sermons on Cain & Abel that I preached to my church family in Homestead Florida in 2018. Here’s the next portion of that sermon – updated 8 years later:

Soon after – Cain’s younger brother – Abel – also brought forth a sacrifice. It’s not known whether or not Abel knew that Cain had already brought forth his sacrifice. He may have known. They worked very near each other in Eden. I’m thinking that Abel did not know, and that he was merely doing what he thought was the right thing to do. And I’m thinking that neither Cain nor Abel really knew what exactly the other would bring forth to God until they actually saw it for themselves.

As the second-born I think that Abel was more independent than his older brother Cain. I think that Abel thought of himself as an afterthought. I mean “Abel” in Hebrew means vain, empty, nothingness. Adam & Eve thought for a long time what to name their firstborn. He will produce things. He will be a go-getter. He will bring forth great goods. He will be named – Cain. They didn’t really think that much at all about what to name their second born. It was really random. Abel may have seen Cain get all of the attention growing up – since he was the firstborn. But it didn’t seem to phase Abel. Abel just did his own thing. He was the independent thinker. He was the quiet one. He was the shy guy.

Abel didn’t seem to have a relationship with his mom. I think that Cain did. I think that Cain wanted to impress his mom more so than God. I think that Abel had a closer relationship to God. I think he knew what would impress God. So Abel brought forth the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. So Abel – the second-born – brought forth the best portions of the firstborn. Abel got it right. The LORD was impressed with Abel. He had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

Abel was “Humble & Gentle” – just as he was when he presented God with his first blood offering. Cain ? Not so much. Cain was “Kicking & Screaming”.

(“Humble & Gentle” and “Kicking & Screaming” were the titles of two previous sermons that I had preached back then. I sometimes did callbacks – or references – of previous sermons that I preached.)

Cain was shocked – completely stunned – that God appreciated Abel’s sacrifice over his own. How dare his younger brother steal his thunder ! Abel didn’t do it intentionally. Abel didn’t say, “I am going to bring God something so much better than what Cain will bring God.” He didn’t say that. He didn’t think that. Abel merely did what came natural to him – without even thinking about it too much. Cain probably thought a lot about what he was going to bring God, and he wanted to do it first. He wanted to “one-up” his brother. That’s what someone full of pride does. Cain figured that since he’s the first – by default – he’s the best – and everything he brings is the best.

Cain was dejected. He felt rejected. (Now God didn’t necessarily reject Cain’s sacrifice. God just didn’t accept it at the time.) See God never rejects us, but everything must be done in His time. God was essentially giving Cain a “do-over”, but Cain didn’t quite get it. He was too stubborn. He was too full of pride.

BOILERPLATE

#SundayScripture is published online every Sunday at 3 AM U.S. East Coast time. It was created in its current form in February 2018. I share my testimony here each week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord – and get closer to Him with each new day. If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned, for the best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and I pray that the LORD will bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you, and may He be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you, and may He give you peace. I pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN and AMEN.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Blogging Bugs Driving Geography History Nature Travel

Arcadia Or Bugs

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Yeah you read that title above right. It’s a play on words from my last 3 editions – “Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust”. Let me explain:

5 weeks ago on May Day I drove north on U.S. 27, west on Florida State Road 64, south on U.S. 17, and west into the historic city of Arcadia Florida for my 3RD visit in a little over a year.

The occasion – the grand reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the John Morgan Ingraham House Museum of the DeSoto County Historical Society at the corner of North Monroe Avenue and Whidden Street.

I had previously visited the museum for the first time 14 months earlier on March 06TH 2025. I wrote about it here.

But let me get to the “… Or Bugs” portion of my post here. So here in Florida we have what is known as “Lovebug Season”. I suppose that parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and maybe even South Carolina also experience it. There are actually two distinct seasons a year – each averaging about 2 to 4 weeks in length based on local weather conditions. They are in late-April / early-May, and late-August / early-September. I may be wrong about this, but I don’t recall lovebugs being a problem at all here in South Central Florida for the past 2 or 3 or more years. I don’t know where they went, but I don’t think that they were here. In fact I actually remember news reports over the past few years suggesting that lovebugs were declining, disappearing, and maybe even going extinct.

Well they’re back with a vengeance this year. As I drove those 43 miles / 55 minutes over to Arcadia – my car was swarmed and inundated by thousands of lovebugs – two at a time of course. (Every so often I saw a lonely lovebug all by itself – not getting loved. And then I also saw the rare three together, so that was weird.) It was essentially “raining” lovebugs virtually the entire way to and from Arcadia. And of course they went splat and died together on the grill, bumper, and windshield of my car. (The average lovebug only lives for about 2 to 4 days.)

So me and my scattered, smothered, and covered with lovebugs car arrived at the historic house museum in Arcadia, and there were surprisingly a lot of people there (maybe 50 or so). Everyone seemed like they knew each other (except for me), so it was overwhelmingly locals. I may have been the only one from outside of DeSoto County. I represented the Sebring Historical Society there, as I felt that it was a good idea to be there to support our neighboring county’s Historical Society museum which is just like ours – a restored historic house.

Their house is much older than our house. It was built about 140 years ago. (Ours dates back almost 105 years.) Their house was donated to them (the DeSoto County Historical Society) in 2002 after over 110 years of private family ownership. It is a very nice museum inside – all about the history of Arcadia and DeSoto County.

The program itself for the grand reopening of the museum was very nice for the attendees. It included hot and cold refreshments, LIVE musical entertainment, an Invocation, a Pledge Of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, a welcome message from the President of the Historical Society, a special message from the Mayor of Arcadia, a brief history of the house, the formal ribbon-cutting on the front porch, and a Benediction to conclude. The house was then open for self-tours.

Incidentally the lovebugs were swarming all around us during the program. I guess it could’ve been much worse – like mosquitoes. (They were not yet out.)

After lunch downtown – I headed back home for Round 2 of the 43-mile / 55-minute lovebug splat-a-thon. Later that same day – I got my car washed at my favorite place to do so. On the other side of that – perhaps 90% of the dead lovebugs were wiped clean.

Next #TravelThursday – it’s the “End Of The Innocence” – and I’m not talking about Don Henley’s classic album from 37 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.