Month: May 2022

Categories
1970s 1980s Blogging Driving Movies Radio Travel

Kings Dominion

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Kings Dominion is a fun seasonal amusement park located between Washington D.C. and Richmond Virginia (much closer to Richmond) right along I-95. The 280-acre park opened on May 03RD 1975 – the same exact date that my little brother was born. Starting in the late-1970s and continuing into the mid-1980s me and my family would visit the park every few summers. We would actually alternate between Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens near Williamsburg Virginia (opened 13 days after Kings Dominion), and Hershey Park in Pennsylvania (opened 116 years ago this weekend).

Kings Dominion is generally open starting in mid-March – weekends only at first, and then daily from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend. The park returns to weekends only during the Autumn months. It’s also open during Christmas and New Year’s Week for festive displays and events known as #WinterFest.

Me and my brother always had a lot of fun roaming around the park and riding all of the rides. My parents were there for the shows, shops, and restaurants.

There are still some original rides from the 1975 opening including what used to be the “Rebel Yell” rollercoaster – now known as the “Racer 75”. It rises to a height of 85 feet, and it drops 81 of those 85 feet at a top speed of 56 MPH. That was perhaps the first rollercoaster I ever rode on. It was scary back then, and I wouldn’t ride it today because – well – it’s still scary. (And nowadays I get motion sickness very easily on those types of rides.)

That’s me as a teenager in the early-1980s atop the Eiffel Tower – a one-third replica of the real thing – standing tall at 314 feet. (The observation decks are 40 feet below the top.)

So 26 years ago this week (leading-up to Memorial Day Weekend) was my final visit with my brother to Kings Dominion. My brother won a radio contest on Washington rock station #DC101 – two free tickets to Kings Dominion – where you got to go there as VIPs before the park opened to participate in a “Mission: Impossible” scavenger hunt all throughout the park. (The Tom Cruise movie premiered at the box office that week.) Me and my brother drove down to the park on an unseasonably chilly and drizzly day, and we had lots of fun with the scavenger hunt and the rides on that day.

A lot of fun family memories at Kings Dominion. It’s good to see it still thriving with new generations of families 47 years later.

Next #TravelThursday we’ll visit Chicopee Massachusetts. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio Television

My Top 10 Hits – Week 275

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 nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday May 22ND 2022 – the 275TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 11 Egypt
[2ND week @ # 1]		 Cory Asbury
2 4 15 Sunday Sermons Anne Wilson
3 5 9 Fill My Cup Andrew Ripp
4 3 17 See Me Through It Brandon Heath
5 2 9 Wonder Working All Creatures
6 6 3 Honey In The Rock Brooke Ligertwood Ft. Brandon Lake
7 7 3 Me On Your Mind Matthew West
8 8 17 Brighter Days Blessing Offor
9 9 2 For God Is With Us for King + Country
10 – 1 I Will Carry You Ellie Holcomb

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Alive” – Big Daddy Weave
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Oh My Soul” – Casting Crowns

MATTHEW WEST – My favorite singer over the past 275 weeks is on my chart with his 7TH single – “Me On Your Mind”. It’s a non-album single that may be on Matthew’s next album. (His previous album – “Brand New” – yielded 3 hit singles – “The God Who Stays” (# 1), “Truth Be Told” (# 2 for 5 weeks), and “What If” (# 1).

K-LOVE FAN AWARDS – I’ve voted, and I’m ready for another fun awards show from my favorite radio station on my favorite cable network. It occurs during this Memorial Day Weekend in Nashville – hosted by Matthew West. You can watch the 2-hour broadcast the following weekend on TBN. It’ll air twice in a row at 8 PM and 10 PM EDT on Friday June 03RD 2022. During the 8 PM broadcast I’ll be live-tweeting at my Twitter account @ChrisMDay. I’ll use the hashtag #KLOVEFanAwards so that you can follow along via your favorite Twitter app. You can also follow along at the bottom of this blog, and just keep refreshing every minute or so to see the latest tweets.

SUMMER OF 2022 – Summer begins with next weekend’s chart, and it continues for the next 14 weeks after that. On Tuesday September 06TH I’ll present a special chart featuring my Top 10 hits of the Summer (from U.S. Memorial Day Weekend to U.S. Labor Day Weekend). Maybe my # 1 song of the Summer is on this week’s chart ?

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 5 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, a special #MemorialDay, and #Top10Monday on Tuesday May 31ST.

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday May 22ND 2022, 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.

Starting with this #SundayScripture – and running through the end of June – I’ll be transcribing one of my recent sermons that I preached to my church family at the end of February – “Stones & Stumbles”. It’s the follow-up to “Holy & Redeemed” which I presented on here in December and January. “Stones & Stumbles” covers 1 Peter 1:23-2:9.

Here’s Part 1 of my sermon:

Today I want to continue my journey – our journey – since we’re in this together – as a church family – just like we saw in that last song – doing what we can – to expand God’s Kingdom – in our own unique ways – in everything we do, and everywhere we go.

I want to continue our journey through The First Letter Of Peter. This is my 3RD message – out of the past 4 – that I’m preaching from First Peter. I’ve preached on “Salvation & Hope”, and I’ve preached on being “Holy & Redeemed”.

Last time I preached from First Peter I left off with my existence statement. It’s why I exist today. 1 Peter 1:23. And I like to personalize it by changing the pronouns:

For (I) have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. (My) new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God.

That’s why I exist today. Right there. Right there. Born again. New life. Last forever. Living word. Of God.

Read that verse right there often – and personalize it for yourself – to remind you of why you exist today.

So the first chapter of First Peter ends like this:

As the Scriptures say – “People are like grass. Their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the Word of the Lord remains forever.” And that Word is the Good News that was preached to you.

That’s from the Apostle Peter – and it’s also from the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet for more than 50 years in Jerusalem during the times of King Uzziah, and King Jotham. (I preached on those two good kings of Judah in my last message.) Isaiah continued as Prophet under two more kings after Uzziah and Jotham, and that was Ahaz and Hezekiah. Ahaz was a bad king. He was evil – unlike his father and his son. His father was Jotham – good king. His son was Hezekiah – good king. The prophet Isaiah – well he had his hands full dealing with King Ahaz. That’s a message all on its own right there – “Ahaz & Isaiah” – coming later this year.

So God gave the Prophet Isaiah a vision during those times of trouble for the Kingdom of Judah. Isaiah’s message was consistent through the years, and that message to the Kings (good and bad) – and to God’s people – was this – God is dependable. Trust only in God. That was more than 700 years before Christ.

You know The Book Of Isaiah is like a mini-Bible in its own – by itself. In fact – consider this:  There are 66 books in the Bible, and there are 66 chapters in Isaiah. And each chapter of Isaiah correlates in some way (or even in many ways) to the same book of the modern bible in numerical sequence. For example – Isaiah 1 has references to Genesis (the 1ST book of the Bible). Isaiah 2 is to Exodus (the 2ND book of the Bible). Isaiah 3 is to Leviticus (Pastor Bob’s favorite book). Isaiah 19 is to Psalms. Isaiah 40 is to Matthew – the 40TH book of the Bible, and the start of the New Testament. Isaiah 66 is to Revelation – the final book of the Bible.

Now get this:  The first 39 chapters of Isaiah mostly deal with the Jewish people, and the law, and rebellion, and God’s judgement. Sounds like the Old Testament.

The last 27 chapters of Isaiah mostly deal with God’s comfort, and His forgiveness, and the coming of the Messiah. Sounds like the New Testament.

Check it out for yourself. It’s an interesting study of the Bible through one book – Isaiah – the mini-Bible.

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1992

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 May 24TH 1992:

  1. “Jump” – Kris Kross
  2. “Live And Learn” – Joe Public
  3. “Good For Me” – Amy Grant
  4. “To Be With You” – Mr. Big
  5. “Tears In Heaven” – Eric Clapton

Amy Grant was on a hot streak for a couple of years at the start of the 1990s. Her “Heart In Motion” album dropped in March 1991, and it went on to become a quintuple-platinum seller. It spawned 7 singles (out of 11 on the album). 6 of the 7 were hits at U.S. Christian Radio, and 5 of the 7 were hits at U.S. Mainstream Pop Radio.

The one single that failed to make an impact at U.S. Christian Radio was perhaps her hardest-sounding track – “Good For Me”. There were several versions / mixes of “Good For Me” at the time – a slower version for U.S. Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary radio stations, and an edgier and more rock-sounding “Good For You” mix that was perfect for U.S. Top 40 radio stations. There were even dance remixes for weekend radio mix shows after dark and even dance clubs.

“Good For Me” was a bit over the edge for U.S. Christian Radio, but secular radio ran with it with excellent results through much of 1992. It was not a hit anywhere else in the world – just stateside.

On a final note – Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven” continues in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. Every time it plays I sing along – and my eyes get wet.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of May 1987. It’s the week that a U.K. # 1 smash / U.S. Top 10 smash from 1965 – hit # 1 on my chart. How unusual.

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 !

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp