CountUp

Sawgrass Mills Mall

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is Part 3 of my look back at my recent trip back to South Florida – my former home of 35+ years. It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

Last week I wrote about my Tuesday – starting in Homestead and ending in West Broward. This week – it’s my Wednesday – Day 4 of my trip.

We went to Sawgrass Mills Mall – one of the top tourist attractions in Broward County (after the beaches). The mall attracts locals and visitors regionally, nationally, and globally – perhaps up to 25 million annually. We got there before they opened, so we entered through Target on the northeast end. The mall was fairly quiet after its 10 AM opening time, but it gradually got busier as the morning progressed. By the time we left about 3 hours later it was busy – even congested in areas.

Fun Facts: Back in 1984 groundbreaking began on the MASSIVE Potomac Mills Mall in Prince William County Virginia – about 30 miles away from home. It opened for business in September 1985 – 3 months after I had left home for the USAF. I think we may have visited the mall as a family 2 months later in-between my tech school in Illinois and my first duty assignment overseas in the U.K. And we visited on a fairly regular basis over the next 11 years every time I visited my family in Northern Virginia. (They moved to Jacksonville Florida in 1996.) Shortly after I arrived at my next duty assignment in Homestead Florida – groundbreaking began on Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise – about 55 miles away from home. It opened in October 1990. I’ve been visiting the mall ever since then – less frequently over the past couple of decades. You can easily spend the entire day there, and some visitors do.

After the mall we ventured southward along scary I-75 to Pembroke Pines and Fuddruckers. I enjoyed eating at Fuddruckers down in the Kendall area of Miami-Dade County for over 20 years, and it was a favorite of my brother as well in Florida, Texas, and Ohio. He doesn’t have Fuddy’s (as we affectionately call it) where he lives now, as the nearest ones are down in South Texas and over in West Texas. Our lunch at Fuddy’s was wonderful – just as we remembered it.

From Fuddy’s we drove lots of various roads through the heart of West Broward – venturing in and out of many of its suburbs. We ended up at Tate’s Comics + Toys + More along North University Drive in Lauderhill. It’s a huge 10,000-square-foot store of (literally) comics, toys, and more. I’ve been to a lot of comic book and sports card stores with my brother (that’s his hobby), and generally after about 5 minutes – I’m bored. It was hard to get bored at that megastore, as there was so much to see there. My brother was recording short videos in the store (with permission I believe) for his popular YouTube site.

So – it looks like there will be a Part 4 of this current series. Next #TravelThursday – I’ll head out of South Florida and onto “The Road To Clewiston”. I’ll check out their historic museum along U.S. 27. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Broward, Florida, Fuddruckers, Lauderhill, Pembroke Pines, Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, Tamarac

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 478

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 13, 2026
No Comments on My Top 10 Hits – Week 478

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 April 12TH 2026 – the 478TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	13	Where Would I Be [11TH week @ # 1]	Peter Burton
2	3	7	I’ve Got A Fire	Pat Barrett
3	2	15	Heaven On My Mind	TobyMac X Forrest Frank
4	4	13	Finished	Caleb & John
5	7	3	Everything Is Better	Hopeful.
6	8	10	Good	Matthew West
7	5	26	How Good It Is	Chris Tomlin
8	6	13	Homesick For Heaven	Phil Wickham
9	9	12	The Love I Have For You	Colton Dixon
10	10	2	Rescue Me	We The Kingdom

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “Money Can’t Buy” – Cochren & Co.
2024 – “He Does” – Brandon Heath
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Brighter Days” – Blessing Offor
2021 – “Good God Almighty” – Crowder
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Freedom Hymn” – Austin French
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

CHARTBEAT – Peter Burton is still at the top of my chart for the 11TH week in a row. It’s turned out to be the hottest song on Christian radio in 2026, and it appears to be headed to # 1 nationally. Not bad for a song that languished with minimal regional airplay for the greater part of 2025. (It was actually released exactly one year ago this weekend.) … Pat Barrett’s anthemic “I’ve Got A Fire” is the next contender for # 1. It’s another good energetic (150 BPM) track from Pat. It’s his follow-up to the huge “Beautiful Life” which spent 4 weeks at the top of my chart in June 2024 … And finally I was hoping for another new entry this week for the 3RD week in a row, but the competition is tough down at the bottom of my chart. Maybe next week ?

ONE-HIT WONDER – Last April – Bodie – was in my Top 5 with “Whisper And The Wind”. A little over 2 years earlier he was the runner-up of the 22ND season of “The Voice” here in the U.S.A. on NBC. He was coached by Blake Shelton.

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 Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday April 12TH 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 7, Edition 407
“Persecution”

From The Beatitudes in The Gospel According To Matthew:

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you, and persecute you, and lie about you, and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are My followers. (5:10-11)

That’s happened to all of us – no matter how long we’ve been believing and following our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. But no worries:

Be happy about it ! Be very glad ! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember – the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. (5:12)

It’s easy and convenient to keep all of this a secret from the world – just to avoid mockery, harassment, and yes – even discrimination. There are people out there who hate us – I mean really hate us – because of what we believe – because of who we follow. But that’s not what God wants for us. God’s Kingdom won’t get bigger if His believers and followers don’t share it with the world. We can’t lay low and stay hidden and keep quiet just because the world wants us to. We don’t answer to the world anymore. We answer to our God Almighty – our Lord of Glory. The world does not hold back on its beliefs. We must not hold back on our beliefs.

Christ said: “Everyone who acknowledges Me publicly here on earth – I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But everyone who denies Me here on earth – I will also deny before My Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

A single acknowledgement or denial does not determine your eternity. It must be a lifetime commitment to Christ. Do you believe His promises ? Will you follow Him forever ? Seek Him.

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, Easter, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Resurrection, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

1970s Animals Blogging Driving Food Geography History Home Life Nature Photography Sports Travel

Flamingo Gardens

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is Part 2 of my look back at my recent trip back to South Florida – my former home of 35+ years. It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

I wrote about my Sunday and Monday in and near Homestead and Florida City in last week’s edition. This week – it’s Tuesday in West Broward (the western portion of Broward County).

But before we leave Homestead – it’s a milestone in my car. I hit 9,000 miles driving to Breakfast. It took 95 days to drive the next 1,000 miles from 8,000 to 9,000. That’s an average of about 10½ miles per day since the middle of December. My trek to 10,000 on the odometer will clearly come sooner than 95 days due simply to this road-trip alone.

It was a good 48 hours in Homestead and Florida City. After Breakfast at the local family-owned Flagler Restaurant in Homestead I hit Krome Avenue (State Road 997), and then onto U.S. 27 just shy of the Miami-Dade / Broward County line.

I made it to Flamingo Gardens along historic Flamingo Road in Davie. It was my 6TH visit since 2012 – and my 1ST visit in just over 4 years. It’s my favorite place in Broward County. If I had decided to leave Homestead and move up to Broward in retirement (very hypothetical) – then I’d very likely be volunteering or working there today. It’s part botanical gardens, part wildlife sanctuary, and part historic house museum. It covers about 60 acres, and it was established 99 years ago as a family homestead and citrus grove at the edge of the Everglades (back then).

Fun Facts: As an 8, 9, and 10-year-old in suburban Lanham Maryland (just outside of Washington D.C.) me and my friends would bring rakes into the woods on a fairly regular basis. We did so to rake the leaves on the ground, clear a path, and create trails and rest stops along the way – essentially creating our very own neighboring nature parks. On the left side of the creek that ran through the woods – I created “Chris Day Valley” (named after myself). On the right side of the creek – two of my friends (brothers) created “Wolf Pack State” (possibly named after misheard lyrics of a popular Gordon Lightfoot song at the time). After my friends on the right side of the creek lost interest in their unique park – I went over to the next street over and joined other friends who had already started working on their park. They gladly welcomed me. We even had a flag handmade of our park. (One of the moms did that for us.) It was so much fun while it lasted.

So why did I bring all of that up ? It’s because Flamingo Gardens looks like a grown-up version of those childhood parks that we created in the woods. It reminds me of those fun days outside 50 years ago.

After a fun 3 hours and 15 minutes at Flamingo Gardens – I headed north to Tamarac where I met my brother (visiting from Texas) at a hotel. (His 3 days of work was done at the Broward County Convention Center.)

We went to a noisy Yard House at The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills Mall for dinner, and then we walked across Panther Parkway over to the Amerant Bank Arena to see our Florida Panthers take on the Seattle Kraken. (The Panthers won 5-4 in overtime after a shootout.)

Next #TravelThursday – we’ll head back to Sawgrass Mills Mall for extensive shopping, and we’ll take an impromptu tour of West Broward County and many of its suburbs. Let’s keep traveling together.