CountUp

Ag Tour

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last year a couple of my friends at the Sebring Historical Society told me all about an “ag tour” that they went on. It sounded very interesting. They boarded a bus early in the morning, and they went on a guided tour of various agricultural sites around the region. In the middle of it all – a big steak lunch. I was intrigued. Travel & Food together. Two of my favorite pastimes.

The tours are limited to the winter season – January, February, and March – on the last Thursday of each month. They start at 8 AM and end at 5 PM. They are hosted by UF IFAS Extension – which stands for University Of Florida Institute Of Food And Agricultural Sciences. They have Extension offices in all 67 of Florida’s counties. (I’m in Highlands County.)

I didn’t get a chance to sign-up for any of the remaining tours last season (2025), and then I pretty much forgot about them during the “off-season”.

Last month at our Sebring Historical Society board meeting we were discussing an upcoming event when one of our board members pointed out that the date of that event conflicts with an “ag tour”.

Once he said that – bells started ringing in my mind. I went home that night and began looking up the ag tours to get more information on them. One was coming up on the last Thursday of February. I read the itinerary. I was determined to be on it. Less than a week later I actually drove to the Extension Office (for the first time ever) – 10 miles away from home – to sign-up for it and pay for it ($100).

Thursday February 26TH 2026 was the date of the tour, and I arrived back at the Extension office (formally it’s the Bert J. Harris, Jr. Agricultural Center Highlands County). I arrived about 40 minutes before the start of the tour. Apparently – that wasn’t early enough, as there were already several dozen people there before me. I checked-in, I retrieved my big bag of goodies / freebies from the various sponsors of the tour, and I got on the 56-passenger luxury coach.

We departed promptly at 8 AM on a mostly cloudy and chilly morning. We took an unusual route to our first of six stops – perhaps by design. We headed south briefly along U.S. 27 before turning west into Hardee County, and then north into Polk County. It was all two-lane backroads (after U.S. 27) – through the countryside – with farmlands on both sides. Many of the farms didn’t look too good after numerous frosts and freezes. Our UF IFAS hostess narrated and answered questions along the way. She was very knowledgeable and informative.

Our first stop was a few miles east of Fort Meade along U.S. 98. We visited the Dundee Citrus Growers Association (CGA) Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) farm. I’ve actually driven by it several times over the past few years while heading to and from Tampa, Bartow, and Lakeland. It’s easy to spot along the old highway. It’s about 500 acres of screened farms with citrus growing inside – protected by the deadly psyllid insect. All of the sun gets in. All of the rain gets in. But the psyllids stay out. The screens were installed in 2022 and 2023, and the first trees were planted during the Fall of 2023. They grow red grapefruit under the Florida Rubies brand name.

Their grapefruits are available in many grocery stores and also online. They ship to anywhere in the U.S.A. and Canada.

Fun Facts: Their farm is at a high elevation for Central Florida – 215 feet above sea level. You can see it from aircraft flying above at cruising altitude. (Look for white landscape instead of tan.)

Next #TravelThursday – The Ag Tour returns to Highlands County to another citrus grove. I’ll introduce biochar to you. And then we’ll head into historic downtown Avon Park to enjoy a hot and delicious steak lunch. Travel & Food together. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Avon Park, Citrus, Florida, Fort Meade, Sebring

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 473

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 9, 2026
No Comments on My Top 10 Hits – Week 473

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 March 08TH 2026 – the 473RD week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	8	Where Would I Be [6TH week @ # 1]	Peter Burton
2	3	8	Homesick For Heaven	Phil Wickham
3	4	10	Heaven On My Mind	TobyMac X Forrest Frank
4	2	8	Finished	Caleb & John
5	10	2	I’ve Got A Fire	Pat Barrett
6	6	21	How Good It Is	Chris Tomlin
7	5	7	The Love I Have For You	Colton Dixon
8	9	2	Keep Holding On	Jeremy Rosado
9	7	6	Make It Well	MercyMe
10	8	5	Good	Matthew West

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “Goodbye Yesterday” – Elevation Rhythm
2024 – “Hallelujah Anyway” – Rend Collective
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Jesus Is Coming Back” – Jordan Feliz Ft. Mandisa
2021 – “Say I Won’t” – MercyMe
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Red Letters” – Crowder
2018 – “No One Like Our God” – Lincoln Brewster
2017 – “Love Broke Thru” – TobyMac

OPERATION DESERT STORM – 35 years ago today – on March 09TH 1991 – I returned home stateside from the first Gulf War. I was stationed at Al Kharj Air Base Saudi Arabia (about 50 miles from Riyadh). I listened to a lot of great music in Tent City. One particular album (cassette) that I bought on base and listened to extensively was Don Henley’s “The End Of The Innocence”. It was hit-rich. Including its title track there was “How Bad Do You Want It ?”, “The Last Worthless Evening”, “New York Minute”, and “The Heart Of The Matter”. All great songs that were recorded from 1987 to 1989. The album was released during the Summer of 1989. My chart existed back then as a Mainstream Top 40 chart. “The End Of The Innocence” was my # 1 smash exactly 35 years ago, and it was its 2ND run at # 1. (It was previously at # 1 a year earlier in February and March of 1990.)

ONE-HIT WONDER – Christian Paul was briefly part of a secular boy band. And then he was about to go solo at 19. But God. He was rescued, saved, and became “born again – resurrected sinner – been forgiven”. His Christian pop track “Yes I Am” tells his story of redemption. It was a Summer Of 2023 hit for me – my # 10 hit of the summer.

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 March 08TH 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 2, Edition 402
“Hypocrites In Church”

“I don’t go to church because of all of the hypocrites there.”

And of course my response to that would be – “Yes, and we have room for one more.”

There are hypocrites in and out of the church, and we are all hypocrites in various ways.

Yes – every church has those congregants / members / attendees who appear to be perfect in every way. They may even tell you that they are perfect – if they are pompous enough. If they don’t tell you then they will try to show you perfection – at least for those 90 minutes inside the church. Before and after that – you can’t tell them from the world. They are going to church, and they are leaving from church. They are leaving the church behind. They are not being the church. They are not bringing the church in everything they do and everywhere they go.

Hypocrites are in great abundance. It is not a church problem. It is a human problem – in and out of the church. We are all flawed. We are all sinners. We are all hypocrites. We are all in need of God. We are all in desperate need of His grace and mercy. True believers and followers of our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ know that. A true believer and follower is one 24/7 – even when nobody else is around.

I like seeing and hearing the same version of my brothers and sisters of my church family during the week away from our church building as I do on Sunday mornings, Tuesday evenings, and Friday evenings inside our church building. I like honesty. I like humility. I like being yourself – while getting closer to God – His Way and His Word.

There is no perfect church. There are no perfect people in the church. If you believe that you may have finally found that perfect church – then don’t go there. You’ll ruin it for everyone there.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, or just me writing about the events of the past 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 to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

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

Blogging Commerce Driving Food Geography Home Shopping Travel

Publix

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last month (February) was Homecoming Month. I wrote about driving around Florida and walking around my neighborhood (Feb. 05TH), the Avon Park Depot Museum (Feb. 12TH), the Sebring Historical Society (Feb. 19TH), and the Charles F. Weigle House Museum & Gift Shop (Feb. 26TH). This week I write about a place that is quintessential Florida, and that is – Publix – where shopping is a pleasure.

Publix is my playground. It’s my favorite store in the entire world. I’ve spent more money at Publix over the past 33 years than any other store, and it’s not even close. And this month – March – does indeed mark 33 years as a Publix customer. I first started shopping at Publix in Melbourne Florida when I moved there in March 1993. I shopped at Publix # 704 on South Babcock (built in 1959). I lived a half-mile away from there.

When I moved back to partially rebuilt (post Hurricane Andrew) Homestead a year later in 1994 the Publix (# 510) on U.S. 1 eventually became my new go-to store. And then a 2ND Publix (# 1029) opened in Homestead in 2005. And then a 3RD Publix (# 1136) opened in Homestead in 2007. I shopped at all 3 almost equally. # 510 was my “Original Publix”. # 1029 was my “Work Publix”. # 1136 was my “New Publix”. They were each located just a few miles away from each other. They each had their own unique character. And then a 4TH Publix (# 1229) opened in Homestead just a mile down the road from my longtime neighborhood – a year after I had moved away to Sebring.

And now my Publix (# 1347) – opened in 2008 – is my home away from home – just a couple of miles away from home. I would not have moved to Sebring if there was no Publix. We have 3 Publix stores here in Highlands County, and I’ve never been to the other 2. (No need to.)

Nowadays I average about 40 Publix visits per year, and that’s actually down from my 2015 to 2023 average of 60 visits per year. (I often went to my “Work Publix” for lunch when I was working in Homestead.)

“But Chris – Publix is so expensive. How can you afford it there ?”

I probably don’t pay what you pay at Publix. I meticulously create my shopping list on their digital app based on weekly sales, BOGOs, and coupons. (Wednesday is a great day, as that’s the day they reveal their new weekly ad online.) I typically save anywhere from $10 to $30 or more on my average Publix receipt. Most of the items on my receipt are on sale. And everything I buy is actually less expensive than Walmart. (Believe it or not – I only go to Walmart about 8 to 10 times a year – more so now than I did when I lived in Homestead. Both of our Walmart stores are nicer here.)

So when I enter a Publix store I become noticeably happier. I belong there. If you see me singing in the aisles it could be because of the awesome music that’s playing on the sound system. Long live the ’80s and ’90s !

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll begin a multiple part series on a unique agriculture and natural resources tour of the local area. Go Gators ! Let’s keep traveling together.