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Astronomy Blogging Geography Home Travel Weather

Sebring Florida’s Cold Winter Of 2025-2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. We are just a few days away from the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs at precisely 4:24 AM EDT this Sunday June 21ST 2026 when the sun reaches its northernmost extent above the Tropic Of Cancer (currently 23.43586° north latitude).

It’s a perfect time to look-back at this past winter season here in Sebring Florida.

Our coldest months here in the Highlands of South-Central Florida are December, January, and February. Our average afternoon high temperatures are in the low-70s, and our average morning low temperatures are in the mid-50s. A “cold” day is when we don’t reach 70°F / 21°C. A “cold” night is a night in the 40s / below 10°C. We are generally warmer during the day and colder during the night than our neighbors at both coasts some 80 miles away.

This past winter season we had 20 cold days when we did not reach 70°F. 2 occurred in November, 2 in December, 7 in January, 7 in February, and 2 in March. From January 31ST to February 02ND we never got to 60°F, and on February 01ST we never got out of the 40s !

We also had 44 cold nights when we were into the 40s, 30s, and even the mid-20s. 6 occurred in November, 7 in December, 16 in January, 14 in February, and 1 in March. From January 26TH to February 10TH we had 16 nights in a row below 50°F. 3 of those mornings from February 01ST to February 03RD were subfreezing, and they were perhaps the coldest mornings I’ve ever experienced in my 38 years of living here in Florida. Wind chills were actually in the mid-teens on February 01ST, and it destroyed a lot of citrus and vegetation.

It was my 3RD full winter season here in Sebring Florida. (I moved here at the end of the 2022-2023 season.) I previously lived in Homestead Florida for 36 winter seasons. Down there we averaged less than 20 cold days and nights combined per season (compared with 60 to 70 combined days and nights here). This past winter season there were a total of 31 cold days and nights combined in Homestead – the most I’ve ever recorded.

Statistically – I believe that it was our coldest winter season since 2010-2011.

We’re in our 4-month rainy season now. That’s when about 70% of our annual rainfall occurs. We’re also in our 6-month hurricane season. That started on June 01ST and continues until November 30TH with peak season being September and October. Hopefully the rain will fall, as we’re recovering from an extreme drought – our worst in at least 25 years. Hopefully the hurricanes will stay out at sea.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Bluegrass State” – Kentucky. 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 487

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 14TH 2026 – the 487TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 22 Finished
[6TH week @ # 1]		 Caleb & John
2 4 9 Worthy Of It All (Worthy) CeCe Winans
3 3 22 Where Would I Be Peter Burton
4 2 12 Everything Is Better Hopeful.
5 5 6 I’d Do It Again Andrew Ripp
6 8 7 demons Josiah Queen
7 7 7 Somebody’s Praying Bay Turner
8 6 7 Father, Let It Be Sidewalk Prophets
9 9 5 Perfectly Micah Tyler
10 10 3 Gonna Be Alright Matt Maher

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “You Never Gave Up On Me” – The Afters
2024 – “Beautiful Life” – Pat Barrett
2023 – “Cornerstone” – TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
2022 – “Sunday Sermons” – Anne Wilson
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Church (Take Me Back)” – Cochren & Co.
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

CALEB & JOHN – They are 3 for 3. That’s 3 songs on my chart since 2023 – and 3 # 1 hits on my chart for a combined 15 weeks at the top. That places the duo in 6TH place – with only MercyMe (29), Matthew West (26), Casting Crowns (18), Brandon Lake (17), and TobyMac (16) above them in weeks at # 1.

SALVATION ERA – The #CountUp continues. My # 4 hit overall from August 2006 to January 2010 was 1 of 3 hits that spent 10 or more weeks at # 1. (There were 50 # 1 hits during my Salvation Era.) Hawk Nelson – with Jason Dunn as lead singer – spent 10 weeks at the top with their energetic anthem – “Friend Like That”. It was my # 1 smash of all of 2008.

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 14TH 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 16, Edition 416
“Cain & Abel – Part 4”

I’m continuing my update of 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:

Cain got very angry at God. Adam & Eve never got angry, and they corrupted the whole world forever by bringing forth sin into the Creation. So with that sin in existence Cain showed great pride (sin), and then he got very angry (more sin). It was literally the first temper-tantrum in the Creation. Doesn’t Cain sound like a modern-day sassy and rebellious backtalking teenager ?  Yep. Cain was the first of them.

God saw how Cain was acting the way he was, so he sat Cain down, and He gave him some useful advice – that went in one ear and out the other.

God told Cain, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right – then watch out !  Sin is crouching at the door – eager to control you. (It’s waiting to attack and destroy you.) But you must subdue it, and be its master.” (Genesis 4:7)

Cain didn’t listen to God. Satan tempted Cain. He convinced Cain that maybe – just maybe – he misunderstood what God had commanded. (Sound familiar ?) God said that Cain should do what is right. God said that sin is here, and it will control you – if you don’t subdue it and be its master. He said that to keep Cain from sinning. But Cain was manipulated by Satan – just like his parents in the Garden.

The rage within intensified. It soon controlled and consumed Cain.

Remember my sermon last month (September 2018) on being “Humble & Gentle” ?  James warned that if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart – then that is not God’s wisdom at work. That kind of wisdom is earthly, unspiritual, demonic, and even devilish. That kind of wisdom leads to disorder and evil of every kind.

Cain had that kind of demonic devilish wisdom:

One day Cain suggested to his brother – “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field – Cain attacked his brother – Abel – and killed him (with a large stone to the head). (Genesis 4:8)

It was the first act of violence – the first murder scene – in the Creation. Very soon after – the LORD asked Cain where his brother was (even though God already knew what happened). God knows everything. Can’t hide anything from the LORD. Cain responded sarcastically – just like a defiant teenager. He essentially said, “I don’t know where he is. What am I – in charge of my brother now ? !”

The LORD responded, “What have you done ?  Listen !  Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground !” Now you are cursed and banished from the ground – which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you – no matter how hard you work !  From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:10-12)

History repeats itself. Adam & Eve and mankind were banished from the Garden Of Eden forever. Yep. Cain is just like his mom. He is the firstborn.

See we’re in the Old Testament here, so God is harsh, and judgmental, and cruel. That’s different from the God of the New Testament – who is loving, and forgiving, and compassionate. (At least that’s what a lot of people think today. Me – not so much.) Stay tuned. It’s about to get good.

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.

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

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Blogging Travel Home Animals History Nature Geography

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.

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