Month: August 2022

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 287

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 August 14TH 2022 – the 287TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 12 Love Is Everything We Need
[2ND week @ # 1]		 Unspoken
2 2 9 Hold You Tight Dan Bremnes
3 4 8 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
4 3 9 Getting Started Jeremy Camp
5 8 2 Don’t Lose Heart Steven Curtis Chapman
6 – 1 Good Morning Mercy Jason Crabb
7 5 6 The Goodness TobyMac Ft. Blessing Offor
8 – 1 All My Praise Ryan Ellis
9 9 5 Good Lord David Leonard
10 10 4 We All Need Jesus Danny Gokey Ft. Koryn Hawthorne

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “When We Fall Apart” – Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
2020 – “There Was Jesus” – Zach Williams Ft. Dolly Parton
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Dream Small” – Josh Wilson
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong UNITED

DAN BREMNES – He’s on the verge of a # 1 smash on my chart. It’s his 3RD hit on my chart over the past 4 years. “Wherever I Go” spent 15 weeks on my chart in 2018 – peaking at # 5 for a week. “Up Again” spent 10 weeks on my chart in 2019 – peaking at # 4. “Hold You Tight” was released as a single at the start of February 2022, and radio picked-up on it in June to coincide with the release of Dan’s new album “Into The Wild”.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

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 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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 14TH 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. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Last Sunday I preached my sermon – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25. I estimated it to be about a 45-minute sermon beforehand. I did quite a bit of ad-libbing within the sermon. It turned out to be closer to a full hour sermon – which – in our church – is the technical definition of being “long-winded”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I take it as a badge of honor to deliver a long-winded sermon every so often. (I won’t make it a habit.)

So as promised – now that I’ve preached the sermon – I’m presenting it in its original written form (without the ad-libs) starting with this #SundayScripture and continuing for the next 5 weeks after today.

All of my blog posts can be read in less than 5 minutes, so I’ll be breaking at convenient locations within my sermon. I hope that you’ll keep coming back to see what’s next.

Here’s Part 1:

Well Good Morning again. It’s good to be up here – standing here – on a Sunday morning – in the house of our Lord – at the altar – behind the pulpit – preaching God’s Word to you – sharing what I know about our God – Father, Son, and Spirit as One. I don’t know it all – not even close – but I’m learning more about Him and His way – with each new day. Any day that I’m not learning about our God – any day that I’m not being more like Him – that’s a wasted day. I had plenty of wasted days in my teens, 20s, and 30s. I’m not in to wasted days anymore, for tomorrow is never guaranteed. Every day should be the best day of my life.

In a couple of weeks I will observe and celebrate my 16TH anniversary of believing, and following, and trusting, and loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Amen. Our God – He gets all of the glory.

My last 3 sermons in a row – 3 months ago – were all unrehearsed, and spontaneous. I stood down there – in the – orchestra section – of our theatre. I had no idea what I was going to say until I actually said it. You know that can be dangerous. I’m not that good at being spontaneous whether it’s saying or doing. I’m much better – I’m much more content – I’m much more coherent – I’m much more detailed – when I’ve practiced or rehearsed saying or doing something over and over again. (It’s that O-C-D in me.) I’m more comfortable in that way. But it was a good experience that some of you got to see during those 3 weeks in a row – back in May.

This is a more traditional sermon of mine. I’ve got my iPad in front of me. It’s got my message on it. It’s based on my own personal study of the Bible. I know what I’m going to say. And I’m ready to preach God’s Good News.

Today I want to continue to share Peter’s first letter – near the end of the New Testament. It’s the 60TH book of the Bible (out of 66). It’s the 21ST book of the New Testament (out of 27).

Peter wrote his letter from Rome near the end of his life. He lived into his late-60s. He was actually about the same age as Jesus when He was walking this Earth with His apostles during His 3-year ministry. (Peter – being 1 of the 12 apostles.)

He wrote his letter to persecuted Christians in the region – particularly Asia Minor – which is modern-day Turkey. He wrote it to persecuted Christians in the First Century Church, and his letter is still very relevant today – almost 2,000 years later – as Christians are still persecuted today. Hello – fellow persecuted Christians.

(End of Part 1)

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 – 1997

Hello again retro music fans. 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 10TH 1997:

  1. “Where’s The Love ?” – Hanson
  2. “Semi-Charmed Life” – Third Eye Blind
  3. “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” – Backstreet Boys
  4. “How Bizarre” – OMC
  5. “Bitch” – Meredith Brooks

Hanson were huge 25 years ago in 1997. They spent 8 weeks at # 1 on my chart – 4 with “MMMBop” – and 4 with “Where’s The Love ?”. Both overlapping songs were fun to listen to on Y-100 here in South Florida in my shiny green 1997 Saturn SL1. In case you were wondering Hanson are still very active – touring and performing worldwide in support of their new album “RGB”. Isaac is 41, Taylor is 39, and Zac is 36. Feel old now ?

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 30 years ago to August 1992. It’ll be my last “look-back” at 1992, and I’ll explain why next week. Starting in September I’ll be adding 20 years ago to the rotation, so I’ll be remembering 2002 – back when I was heavily into the #EDM realm.

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

Categories
1970s Blogging Nature Travel Weather

Appalachian Trail

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my visit exactly 30 years ago to Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The 2,194-mile Appalachian Trail (#AT) straddles the Tennessee / North Carolina state line for over 200 miles through the park. It reaches its highest point just below the summit of Clingmans Dome at 6,625 feet. (The summit is 18 feet higher.) The summit is the highest point I’ve set foot on land in my lifetime. From south to north the #AT runs from northwestern Georgia to central Maine.

Flashback to the late-1970s when I lived in Lanham Maryland (a suburb of Washington D.C.). I was a Cub Scout, a Webelos Scout, and a Boy Scout. I think I was 10½-years-old when I moved from the Webelos to the Boy Scouts late in 1977. I remember we had Troop meetings every week at the local VFW. I enjoyed it a lot. We had classroom-like training. We made things. We played games. We planned weekend trips up in the nearby Appalachian Mountains of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. This was fellowship before I ever knew what fellowship was. I was with the Boy Scouts for about 3 years until my family moved away late in 1980.

Most of our weekend trips were in the wintertime (weather-permitting) up in the Appalachians. Our leaders mapped-out a portion of the #AT with camping sites along the way, and we commenced our adventure. I think we hiked up to 10 miles per day wearing heavy backpacks, so we’d cover 20 to 30 miles during an average 2 to 3 day hike. I remember that we’d all start each new morning together (as a Troop), but then with all of our different paces of hiking we’d all start to scatter on the #AT almost immediately in groups of no less than 2. We weren’t allowed to hike solo. I had a good buddy at the time. His name was Eddie. He and I were the shy ones of the Troop. Nobody ever suspected us of doing bad things. So we got away with doing bad things. He and I were friends outside of Scouting. 45 years later I often wonder whatever happened to him. He was probably my best childhood friend ever.

The camping sites after a long day of hiking were wonderful. We erected our own tents. We setup our own fires – usually one big one (for warmth) and a whole bunch of little ones (for cooking). As a Troop we talked about our day on the #AT – people we met along the way, wild animals we saw, things we found, etc. It was a time of talking and laughing and even telling scary stories by the campfire.

Fun Fact: One time me and my buddy Eddie accidently burned our tent down !

Wearing heavy backpacks was quite the experience. We always tried to pack lightly, but you surely didn’t want to forget something (like heavy clothing) for those cold days and colder nights up on the #AT. Some of those nights were bitter cold and windy in the single digits and teens.

And then there’s the hiking shoes. No matter how perfect those shoes fit. No matter how “high-quality” those insulated socks were. You always got blisters on your ankles. They were reminders of the 20 to 30 miles of weekend hiking for the next week (or more) to come.

It was a fun 3 years with the Boy Scouts. I probably would’ve stayed with them well into my teen years had we never moved away.

Some day in the future I hope to return to the Appalachian Trail somewhere in Maryland, Virginia, or West Virginia. I want to hike a few miles up there on a nice sunny summertime day – sans backpack and hiking shoes. Maybe start at Harpers Ferry West Virginia – the start of many of our hikes from those fun Boy Scout trips.

From the mountains to the sea – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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