CountUp

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 11TH 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 33, Edition 433
“Home Sweet Home”

If you follow my #TravelThursday series (every Thursday of course) then you’ll know that I’ve returned home from vacation. It was a fun vacation on a small cruise ship on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. I’ll begin writing about my experiences on and off the ship during those 9 days and 8 nights starting this upcoming Thursday here on my blog.

About halfway into my cruise I started thinking about home, and what a wonderful life I currently have here in Sebring Florida – because of God. He has blessed me abundantly with a beautiful life and beautiful people in it – from my neighbors – to my museum friends – to my church brothers and sisters. I had no idea what retirement life would be like beforehand, but I knew that all I had to do was to trust in God, and He would provide, and He has !

From Paul’s letter (written while in prison) to the Philippians – Chapter 4 – Verses 19 and 20 – and as the Bible says:

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches – which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever ! Amen.

Last #SundayScripture I wrote about Benediction. Paul ends his letter to the Philippians with a short one in Verse 23:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Paul invokes God’s grace on those to whom he writes to in his letters. His letters are for us in these current times. We depend on God’s grace to bless us and keep us. The Holy Spirit lives in us – if we believe in Him.

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

Blogging Geography History Music Nature Photography Travel

Music City U.S.A.

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about Paducah Kentucky, Grand Rivers Kentucky (the actual port-of-call), Kentucky Lake (part of the lower Tennessee River), Kentucky Dam (which creates the artificial lake), Land Between The Lakes, Barkley Canal (which connects the two lakes / rivers), and Lake Barkley (part of the lower Cumberland River).

Continuing upstream for 158 miles on the Cumberland river on my upcoming American Cruise Lines paddlewheeler ship cruise – it’s the final port-of-call – Nashville AKA “Music City U.S.A.” AKA “NashVegas” !

I’ve been to Nashville once before in my life, and that was back in August 1992 for a few hours. (I wrote about that in a recent #TravelThursday). It took me 34 years to get back there.

Actually – for the record – I should mention an incident that occurred on Saturday November 18TH 2017. I took I-65 northward from Montgomery Alabama to south of Louisville Kentucky (Brooks) on that day. In Nashville I was in the wrong lane, and I was forced to exit off of I-65. I ended up driving right through downtown Nashville in what appeared to be an entertainment district with lots of restaurants, bars, and rowdy college kids. (It was a college football day.) I eventually found I-65 further up the road, and I continued my trek northward.

We’ll actually be docked on the downtown riverfront for the final two nights of the cruise. On our full day (after the first night) in Nashville I’ll be on a shore excursion exploring the historic Ryman Auditorium. It was built from 1885 to 1892, and it opened in 1892. It was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, and from 1963 to 1974 it was officially known as the Grand Ole Opry House. I’m looking forward to touring “The Mother Church Of Country Music”. (It was built as a tabernacle by Riverboat Captain Tom Ryman. Its original name – the “Union Gospel Tabernacle”.)

Finally – here’s some Breaking News for you on this publish date of Thursday October 08TH 2026. Yesterday evening I returned home from Nashville (where I was since we arrived on Monday afternoon). My inaugural American Cruise Lines paddlewheeler ship cruise is now in the books. I’m looking forward to sharing as much as I can remember about my 9-day / 8-night experience. I took lots of notes in real-time. I’ll probably be reenacting this cruise in writing through the end of the year, so get ready for that. I’ll get started from the very beginning – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Barkley Canal, Catfish, Cruise, Cumberland River, Grand Rivers, Kentucky, Kentucky Dam, Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, Nashville, Ohio River, Paducah, Savannah, Tennessee, Tennessee River

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 5 Artists – 500 Weeks

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 5, 2026
No Comments on My Top 5 Artists – 500 Weeks

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. Today it’s a special chart of my Top 5 artists of the first 500 weeks of this current era of my chart:

2025 – “Can’t Steal My Joy” – Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
2024 – “Up + Up” – Colton Dixon
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Good Morning Mercy” – Jason Crabb
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

4 MALE SOLO ARTISTS & MERCYME – Matthew West, MercyMe, Phil Wickham, Micah Tyler, and Chris Tomlin are my Top 5 artists over the first 500 weeks of my chart (since February 2017). They account for 57 total hits, 25 # 1 hits and 93 weeks at # 1. Matthew West leads the pack with 7 # 1 hits. He also has more total weeks on my chart (197) than any other artist. But MercyMe actually leads all artists for total weeks at # 1 (29). The “HTS” column is the total number of hits for each artist, and none of them are shaded in green. That’s because TobyMac – my # 6 artist – leads that category with a total of 17 hits since 2017. There’s a good chance that TobyMac will replace Chris Tomlin at # 5 in the coming months as long as “Lord It Feels Good” continues its forward momentum.

MY TOP 10 HITS – My regular weekly chart resumes next Monday October 12TH 2026 with Week 504.

My # 19 hit during my first 3½ years of salvation in Christ from August 2006 to January 2010 is a hard-rocker from Disciple. They hit my chart with 7 different songs during my Salvation Era. Back at # 8 was their anthemic power ballad “After The World”, and at # 19 it’s their high-octane sports anthem “Game On” – a # 1 smash from December 2007. WWE actually used “Game On” in its big event marketing back then, and the NFL used team-customized versions of “Game On” at football games.

Next week it’s my # 20 hit that you can easily get addicted to once you see its music video.

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 October 04TH 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 32, Edition 432
“Benediction”

For the better part of 15 years at my first two churches in Homestead (Florida) I closed out our Sunday morning services with a few words about the Pastor’s message / sermon, some closing comments of my own, and then the Benediction where I recited specific intentional verses of Scripture.

Most churches – no matter their respective denomination – or no denomination – close their services with a Benediction. At some churches (like my first one) the Pastor or Preacher or other church leader will have everyone stand up and recite it with him or her. At other churches (like my second one) we didn’t do that. I’m not really a big fan of having everyone stand up and recite or repeat something over and over again. I’d rather you hear the Benediction rather than say it. You tend to absorb or take-in speech (or words) more so when you are listening rather than talking. You know – 2 ears – 1 mouth – twice as much listening than speaking.

My old-school Webster’s Dictionary from many years ago defines “benediction” as follows: “a blessing”; “an invocation of divine blessing – usually at the end of a church service”.

The term “benediction” can also be used in a secular (or non-Christian) manner to represent “something that promotes goodness or well-being”; “an expression of good wishes”.

I like to think of the Benediction as a short prayer for God’s blessings upon His people. (That’s us – His believers and followers.) When I delivered the Benediction at the end of the service – I gave or passed on to my church family God’s blessings from Scripture – from His Good News.

I didn’t look at the Benediction as closing out a church service. Yes – it was at the end of the service, but service for Christ – serving God and others – continued out there – on the other side of the doors and the walls of the physical church building.

We are the church. And we bring the church into the church building. So since we bring the church, and we are the church – we take it outside of the church building to share. So the Benediction is a blessing from God to share with our neighbor. When I led the Benediction – I sent my brothers and sisters out into the world – to share God’s blessings.

Every edition of #SundayScripture (and #MusicMonday) ends with a Benediction. My Boilerplate below contains the Benediction in the second paragraph.