Month: October 2021

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 17, 2021

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 17TH 2021, 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.

I’m coming up on my 15TH anniversary of being part of a church body. For a little over 8 years I was a member of a small church body that quickly grew into a large church body – one of the largest if not the largest here in my hometown. And then it lost perhaps 75% (or more) of its weekly attendance as quickly as it grew it – only to slowly grow it all back (and then some) over the subsequent years. It was quite the rollercoaster ride !

Fellowship and friendships formed and fizzled over those 8 years. It was quite heartbreaking to form bonds with my fellow Christ believers and followers only to have them leave the church for various reasons (mostly unknown). Some were friendships for a season. Some were friendships merely for a Sunday morning reason. A few were genuine friendships with strong foundations that are still active to this day.

I eventually left my first church body behind, and I’ve now been with my current church body for a little over 6½ years. It was a small church body when I arrived, and it’s a small church body to this day. In fact we’re very close to zero net growth over the past 6½ years, and that’s fine with me. Some churches relish in the numbers and focus on quantity over quality and programs over prophecy. My church does not do that. We have a very strong church body of believers and followers of Christ, and we come together corporately in our small traditional church building every Sunday morning to celebrate God. Everybody knows everybody in our church body, and we genuinely love each other. There are no quarrels, and there are no cliques among us. Sermons are based on Scripture.

I’ll eventually move on from my current church body when I retire from my professional career and move away from here about 3 hours away. My next church body will also be a small church body. God has convinced me that it is where I truly belong on this fantastic journey. He will determine what my place will be with my next church body. Will I be a regular attender, or a member, or part of church leadership ? Lead me God to where You want me to be. I will follow You.

“For I know the plans I have for you” – says the LORD. “They are plans for good, and not for disaster – to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray – I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly – you will find Me. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT)

I hope that you’re connected to a Bible-believing church body if you are a believer and follower of Christ.

And let us not neglect our meeting together – as some people do, but encourage one another – especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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, Sermon, Sunday

1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 15, 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 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 20TH 1991:

“Do Anything” – Natural Selection
“Wind Of Change” – The Scorpions
“I’ll Be There” – The Escape Club
“It Hit Me Like A Hammer” – Huey Lewis And The News
“Hole Hearted” – Extreme

Natural Selection were a band out of Minneapolis Minnesota who sounded very much like Prince – at least they did on “Do Anything” – which they carried to the top of the pop charts late in 1991. They scored a follow-up hit early in 1992, and that was the end of their Top 40 success.

My middle 3 hits 30 years ago were also on my Top 5 a month earlier.

Extreme were a hard rock band out of Boston who enjoyed their greatest mainstream pop success when they slowed things down a bit. They scored a # 1 smash with “More Than Words”, and they quickly followed it up with “Hole Hearted” – a # 4 hit from coast-to-coast.

Here’s the official music video for “Hole Hearted” – filmed on downtown Boston’s Tremont Street in 1991:

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to October 1986.

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 1991, Music, Radio

Blogging Photography Scripture Travel

Carnival Miracle

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 14, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the Western Caribbean Sea aboard the Carnival Miracle – exactly 15 years ago this week.

The Carnival Miracle was a fairly-new cruise ship at the time – 2½-years-old. Nowadays she sails short 3, 4, and 5-day cruises between Los Angeles (Long Beach) California and Baja Mexico.

I was on the Miracle from 08 to 15 October 2006 out of the Port Of Tampa. It was my 10TH cruise overall and 5TH on Carnival. It was also my only cruise out of Tampa; although, that will likely change in the future as I move closer to Tampa than Miami in the next few years (post-retirement).

Our ports-of-call were Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize (first-time ever), and Costa Maya (first-time ever).

Costa Maya is located on the south coast of the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico – less than a 2-hour drive to the northern border of Belize. It’s a popular cruise ship port that was fairly-new back in 2006. I remember getting off the ship, walking around the small beach and pool area right at the debarkation point of the pier, and then within the hour getting back on the ship. (There’s likely much more to do there nowadays than there was 15 years ago.)

10 months after my visit to Costa Maya Hurricane Dean destroyed much of the cruise ship port (and region including Belize). It was one of the most intense hurricanes to make landfall anywhere along the Atlantic basin during the modern tracking era. It was a Category-5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 MPH and gusts over 200 MPH at landfall !

I have not been back to Costa Maya since 15 years ago (October 13TH 2006). I’m interested to see what it looks like today via a future cruise.

Here’s a rare picture of me posing along the rocky coastline of our first port-of-call – Grand Cayman.

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)

Tags Belize, Carnival Cruise, Carnival Miracle, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Mexico, Travel

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 243

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 11, 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 OCTOBER 10TH 2021	WEEK 243

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	13	What If [2ND week @ # 1]	Matthew West
2	3	2	Promised Land	TobyMac
3	4	7	Promises	Maverick City Music
4	2	9	Thank You Lord	Chris Tomlin Ft. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line
5	6	11	House Of The Lord	Phil Wickham
6	7	23	Yes He Can	Cain
7	8	27	Gospel Song	Rhett Walker
8	9	3	Relate	for King & Country
9	10	2	Stand In Faith	Danny Gokey
10	–	1	Come What May	We Are Messengers

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Fear No More” – Building 429
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “The Gospel” – Ryan Stevenson

PRAISE & WORSHIP @ # 5 – Yesterday morning at my church service we kicked-off Praise & Worship at 11 AM with Phil Wickham’s “House Of The Lord” for the very first time. I was hoping we would eventually add this “jam” to our rotation, as it seems to be the perfect “pick-up” song to kick-off our weekly celebration in our house of the Lord. I thought we sounded pretty good considering it was our first time singing it. We’ll be even better next time when we sing it to our Lord again.

#WAM @ # 10 – It took awhile (much longer than expected), but one of my former #CHARTBUSTERS (from 9 weeks ago !) has finally entered my Top 10. It’s the latest from We Are Messengers, and it’s their 7TH hit on my chart over the past 4½ years. It’s from their forthcoming album “Wholehearted” – which drops this upcoming Friday. They are fun to see LIVE in concert. I’ve seen them twice (2019 and 2021) – both times as an opener for TobyMac.

This blog is # 37 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.