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The Hoosier State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Indiana. I have lots of neighbors and friends who are either from Indiana, or still live there during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn months as “snowbirds” who return to Sebring each winter season.

My first visit to Indiana was a drive-through way back at the end of October of 1985 as an 18-year-old. I had just graduated from Tech School at Chanute Air Force Base adjacent to Rantoul Illinois, and I was driving back to my teenage home in Fairfax County Virginia to visit my parents, brother, and cat. I entered Indiana via I-74, and I took that to the south leg of I-465. I picked-up I-70 on the east leg of the Indianapolis Beltway, and I took I-70 all the way into Maryland to I-270, I-495, and then home across the Potomac River.

When my brother and his family lived in the Cincinnati area from 2013 to 2019 – we drove through Indiana often whenever I visited. A 3-mile portion of I-275 around Cincinnati is in southeastern Indiana. Whenever my brother picked me up or took me to the airport in Northern Kentucky we went around the west side of I-275 – to include that 3-mile portion of Indiana.

But we also visited Indianapolis in consecutive Novembers. In 2014 me and my brother went to Lucas Oil Stadium to see our Washington Redskins (at the time) take on the Indianapolis Colts. The following year we went to Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now known as Gainbridge Fieldhouse) to see a Tuesday night taping of WWE Smackdown (broadcast on Thursday nights back then).

My last day in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky was the day after Thanksgiving of 2018 when my brother took me to the airport for my flight back home to Miami. (My brother and his family moved back to the Dallas Texas area in 2019.)

Soon I’ll be visiting Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky again as part of my Ohio River cruise. On the second day of the cruise we’ll be docking in Madison Indiana – a historic Ohio River town that was founded in 1809. I’ll be part of a small group taking a guided walking tour of the Madison Historic Landmark District.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Buckeye State” – Ohio. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 489

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 28TH 2026 – the 489TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 24 Finished
[8TH week @ # 1]		 Caleb & John
2 2 14 Everything Is Better Hopeful.
3 7 5 Washed Elevation Rhythm
4 3 11 Worthy Of It All (Worthy) CeCe Winans
5 5 24 Where Would I Be Peter Burton
6 4 8 I’d Do It Again Andrew Ripp
7 6 9 demons Josiah Queen
8 8 9 Somebody’s Praying Bay Turner
9 9 7 Perfectly Micah Tyler
10 10 5 Gonna Be Alright Matt Maher

2025 – “Oh Death” – MercyMe
2024 – “Beautiful Life” – Pat Barrett
2023 – “Cornerstone” – TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
2022 – “Me On Your Mind” – Matthew West
2021 – “Yes He Can” – Cain
2020 – “Keep Me In The Moment” – Jeremy Camp
2019 – “Church (Take Me Back)” – Cochren & Co.
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “Home” – Chris Tomlin

ELEVATION RHYTHM – “Washed” was a surprise re-entry last week, and this week it surges 4 notches into my Top 3. Originally released online 9 months ago – it took a while to make it onto the radio. It’s been a slow climb to the top, but the hum-along sing-along anthem has become a favorite nationwide – now at # 3 in airplay from coast-to-coast.

SALVATION ERA – The #CountUp continues. Last week I revealed my # 5 hit overall from August 2006 to January 2010 – “Word Of Mouth” – from John Reuben. His longtime friend and collaborator – TobyMac – is at # 6 with what many consider to be his signature song – “Made To Love”. It still gets airplay nearly 20 years later. It’s appropriate for it to be my # 6 hit overall since it entered my chart the exact same week as “Word Of Mouth”. The two songs spent the exact same 26 weeks on my chart – both falling off my chart at the same time. When “Made For Love” was spending its 5 weeks at # 1 – “Word Of Mouth” was spending its 5 weeks at # 2. Both songs were one notch apart all 26 weeks !

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 28TH 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 18, Edition 418
“Cain & Abel – Part 6”

I’m up to the penultimate edition of the update of one of my old sermons on Cain & Abel that I preached to my church family in Homestead Florida in 2018. Let’s go:

As the story goes – Cain wandered eastward from Eden. He eventually settled – he dwelt – in the land of Nod. (“Nod” in Hebrew means wanderer, exile, or fugitive.) Cain decided that he would wander no more. He found a woman. He got married. She became pregnant. She gave birth to their firstborn. They named him Enoch. Enoch means to initiate, to create, to dedicate. Cain created a city. He named that city Enoch. It was the first city in the creation.

Now about that city – named and dedicated to his firstborn Enoch. Cain founded the city to protect him. He was in fear of his life. It was a city founded in fear of death. It was the anti-Eden. Sin ran rampant. You could’ve called it “Sin City”. Sin separates man from God.

It was the first manmade civilization. It was outside of the presence of the LORD – by design. So Cain was away from God for the rest of his life – by choice. The city and all of its residents – were just like Cain. All of his descendants – were just like Cain. They didn’t know the LORD. Cain had built his own kingdom. A lot of good things were initiated and created in that kingdom, but sin surrounded it all. Sounds like every modern city today.

God gave Adam & Eve grace. God gave Cain & Abel grace. God has given each and every one of us His gift of grace. It’s the greatest gift that He has given us. And nobody has been excluded from God’s grace. Nobody. It’s the same grace then. It’s the same grace now. Grace for our sinful past. Grace for the here and now. Grace for what lies ahead of us – out there – on our respective journeys.

You know some of us are still waiting – waiting patiently – or otherwise – for a gift from God to come down and enter our heart and soul, but God wants you to know that you already have the greatest gift of them all – His gift of grace. Don’t miss His gift of grace because you’re so focused on some other gift that you want from God. Maybe some other gift that someone else has that you don’t have.

BOILERPLATE

#SundayScripture is published online every Sunday at 0300 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.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography Nature Shopping Travel

The Bluegrass State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Kentucky. My first visit to Kentucky occurred a few days before the 4TH Of July in 2005. My brother was living in Dublin Ohio (just outside of Columbus). I flew to Columbus, and then we embarked on a fun road-trip together that took us up to Windsor Ontario Canada (via Detroit). We then took I-75 all the way southward through Cincinnati and into Northern Kentucky. We spent the night at a hotel right next to the Ohio River off (and below) the Interstate. We drove around Covington and Newport and discovered the Newport On The Levee shopping, dining, and entertainment complex overlooking the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline. That was a fun first visit into Kentucky – 21 years ago.

My brother had no idea whatsoever that he would eventually live in the Cincinnati area, but that’s exactly what happened 8 years later in 2013. He moved from the Dallas Texas area to West Chester Township – a northern suburb of Cincinnati. My first trip to his new house was actually part of a 15-day / 13-state / 3,666-mile road-trip from November 16TH to 30TH of 2013. On the 6TH day I drove from the Wichita Falls Texas area to the Saint Louis Missouri area. The next day I drove I-270, I-255, I-55, I-70, I-465, I-74, I-275, and I-75 to my brother’s house. On the day after Thanksgiving (returning southward) I drove through the heart of Kentucky along I-75.

Fun Fact: My Saturn Ion 3 Sedan (my longest-running car ever) had a little over 100,000 miles on it when I started the road-trip. At the end of the road trip – a little over 104,000 miles.

I did one more road-trip to and from Southwestern Ohio through Kentucky while my brother lived there. That was in November 2017, and on my return trip southward I got to explore the Creation Museum along I-275, and Sanders Cafe & Museum – where Kentucky Fried Chicken started in Corbin.

Most of my trips to and from the Cincinnati area were through Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (#CVG). I loved that airport.

My brother and his family moved back to the Dallas Texas area in 2019, and I must say that I miss visiting Ohio and Kentucky. I was actually planning my next road-trip to and from the Cincinnati area where I would explore more of Kentucky either on the way up or on the way down. I really wanted to check out Mammoth Cave National Park off I-65. I’m not ruling out a future trip to Kentucky to explore it as well as other areas in the state.

Soon I’ll be flying in to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (#SDF) for my Ohio River cruise. I’ll get to see a small portion of Louisville – the 7 miles from the airport to the hotel to the ship on the banks of the Ohio River. And then I’ll get to see Northern Kentucky for the first 4 days of the cruise on the starboard side of the ship.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Hoosier State” – Indiana. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp