Month: August 2021

My Top 10 Hits – Week 235

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 16, 2021

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 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:

COUNTUP MINISTRIES	FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY AUGUST 15TH 2021	WEEK 235

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	2	12	When We Fall Apart [1ST week @ # 1]	Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
2	4	3	House Of The Lord	Phil Wickham
3	1	19	Gospel Song	Rhett Walker
4	3	15	Yes He Can	Cain
5	5	5	Into The Wild	Josh Baldwin
6	6	5	What If	Matthew West
7	–	1	Thank You Lord	Chris Tomlin Ft. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line
8	10	3	Brand New	Coby James
9	9	6	My Jesus	Anne Wilson
10	–	1	Joyful	Dante Bowe

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “There Was Jesus” – Zach Williams Ft. Dolly Parton
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Dream Small” – Josh Wilson
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong United

NEW # 1 – Ryan Stevenson’s 6TH of 7 hits since 2017 is now his 2ND # 1 smash on my chart, as “When We Fall Apart” completes its slow 3-month climb from # 5 to # 1. He originally released this single solo in October 2019 on the 10TH anniversary of the passing of his mom from bone cancer. The words of the song are the last words his mom spoke to him. Over a year later in March 2021 the single was redone and reissued – this time with country music legend Vince Gill and mainstream and Christian pop music star Amy Grant (Vince’s wife of the past 21 years). Here’s the official music video:

TOMLIN @ # 7 – Chris Tomlin is back with his 7TH hit since 2017, and he brings back Thomas Rhett with him. He also introduces Florida Georgia Line to my chart for the first time ever. Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley are #FGL, and they’ve enjoyed a long string of hits at country music radio over the past 10 years. Some of them have even crossed-over onto the mainstream pop charts. This is their first appearance at Christian music radio.

This blog is # 74 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites in 2021 chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

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. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends ! May the 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, KLOVE, Music, Radio

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Internet Ministry News Scripture Television

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 15, 2021

There’s an abundance of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news available to us at every minute of every day. You can find it on most of the broadcast and cable TV networks. You can read it in the newspapers (if you still read those). You’re definitely exposed to it here on social media – especially on Facebook and Twitter. Many otherwise intelligent people have been duped and brainwashed by propaganda and conspiracy theories, and they have spread them unknowingly or intentionally online and offline.

This blog existed on Facebook for over 4½ years from 2013 to 2017. I moved it off of there and returned it to its original home on here at the start of 2018. I haven’t posted original material on Facebook since I did that. WordPress seems like an oasis from the clutter and noise of social media. Sure it’s one of the lesser-popular sites, and it’s one of the older sites (almost 16-years-old). But you found my blog, so it’s in a good place.

Any born again Christian who spends any amount of time watching mainstream TV news and talk shows or reading social media knows that we are portrayed as radical extremists. We are those crazy lunatic nutcases on the far-right who believe in a God that nobody has ever seen or heard. We are members of a cult who keep drinking the Kool-Aid. We are hypocrites and bigots who believe that we are better than everyone else.

Radical extremist ? OK I’ll take that one.
Crazy lunatic nutcase ? #Accurate
Far-right ? Hardly. My political views are all over the spectrum on both sides.
A God that nobody has ever seen or heard ? That’s fake news.
Member of a cult ? Not at all. I didn’t discover true freedom until salvation began.
Drinking the Kool-Aid ? No. That’s those who believe everything they see on TV.
Hypocrite ? Sure. All humans are hypocrites.
Bigot ? No. You know what a bigot does ? They accuse others of being bigots.
Better than everyone else ? No. I’m better than nobody.

Jesus replied – “I assure you – no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say – ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
(John 3:5-8 NLT)

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, God, Jesus, Minister, Ministry, Scripture

1990s Blogging Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 13, 2021

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 11TH 1996:

“Jellyhead” – Crush
“Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” – Primitive Radio Gods
“Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” – Gina G
“This Is Your Night” – Amber
“C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs

Good music during the Summer of ’96. Fun season when I was 29.

The “Motiv8 Pumphouse Remix” of “Jellyhead” from British girl duo Crush was a regional pop hit here in South Florida. It spent 8 weeks in a row at # 1 on my chart, and it was the 10TH biggest hit of the entire year. I still hear it almost every day at work, as it’s in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. It’s aged wonderfully over these past 25 years. I still consider it to be one of the greatest ’90s HI-NRG Eurodance tracks ever made.

At the movie theatre I saw “Kingpin” and “A Very Brady Sequel” 25 years ago this month.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to August 1991.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

Tags 1996, Movies, Music, Radio

Blogging Driving Nature Photography Scripture Travel

Skyline Drive + Blue Ridge Parkway

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 12, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit 574 miles of scenic roadway up in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.

Several years ago I planned (via Excel spreadsheet) a road-trip that encompassed both Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a very ambitious itinerary that – looking back upon it – is almost undoable. It had me flying-in to Washington Dulles International Airport and renting a car there. I’d get on the I-66 westbound, and I’d take that to Front Royal where I’d spend the night.

On the morning of Day 2 I’d begin my mountain adventure and embark on Skyline Drive – the 105½-mile slow and curvy road that runs near the top of the entire length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I’d visit Luray Caverns on this day. It’s 11 miles off Skyline Drive. I remember a long time ago – sometime in the mid-1970s – visiting this place as a little kid with my parents. I need to visit it again to enjoy it as an older adult. The area has grown-up a lot since then, and the caverns are surrounded by other museums and attractions.

I’d spend my 2ND night of this road-trip in Fishersville Virginia – located in-between the south-end of Skyline Drive and the north-end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Days 3, 4, and 5 were quite ambitious in that I would drive the entire length of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia into North Carolina (with various attraction and hotel stops along the way). At the end of the 5TH day I’d end-up in Gatlinburg Tennessee on the other side of the Great Smoky Mountains. I suppose I would’ve spent several days and nights in Gatlinburg exploring the area. After that I would’ve turned-in my rental car, and flown back home to sea level in Miami.

So while I extensively planned that road-trip – I never took it. I’ve not lost interest in taking that trip, and I probably will take it in the next several years – early-on in the next chapter of my life – post-retirement. I think I’d eliminate the Gatlinburg Tennessee portion of the future trip, as that’s worthy of its own trip by itself. Me and my little brother visited Gatlinburg for several hours back in August of 1992 – a few weeks after a horrible fire consumed a portion of the downtown attractions district. I remember that it still reeked of smoke some 3 weeks after the fire. I’d really like to spend about 4 days and 3 nights in and around Gatlinburg enjoying all that the area has to offer. I’d really like to visit Gatlinburg with my family (who live in North Texas), but I don’t think that it’s a destination that my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces would find as much fun as me. They are not “mountain people”. They are “beach people”.

Now the Skyline Drive + Blue Ridge Parkway road-trip – that’s definitely a solo trip. Perhaps I’ll do it in reverse – from south to north – over the course of maybe 10 days instead of 5 – adding more stops for sightseeing, photography, attractions, and good mountain dining and lodging. Of course I’d drive my own car for the road-trip. It’s about 830 miles to drive from my current home in South Florida to the south-end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. Once I hit Front Royal Virginia (at the north-end of the 574-mile parkway adventure) I’d take more traditional roads back southward, and the Andy Griffith Museum and the Billy Graham Library would be key stops along the way through the foothills of North Carolina.

I think it’s time to start redoing that itinerary (via Excel spreadsheet) so that it’s ready to implement in about 3 to 5 years. I’ll have over 2,500 miles to cover !

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)