Month: September 2022

Categories
1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

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, 20, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 27TH 1987:

  1. “Let’s Work” – Mick Jagger
  2. “Toy Boy” – Sinitta
  3. “What Have I Done To Deserve This ?” – Pet Shop Boys With Dusty Springfield
  4. “Heart And Soul” – T’Pau
  5. “Some People” – Cliff Richard

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger scored an unexpected # 1 smash on my chart exactly 35 years ago. “Let’s Work” was the lead single from his September 1987 solo album “Primitive Cool”. Written and produced by Mick and David A. Stewart (Eurythmics) – its expectations were quite high. But Mick’s fans didn’t care for it all that much – the single or the album. I liked the song a lot. It spent 4 weeks in a row atop my Top 50 chart.

Early in September 1987 the legendary “Top Of The Pops” on BBC-1 recorded an over-the-top (for the era) LIVE performance of the song featuring a cast of kids and Mick enjoying free reign of the entire studio – catwalk and all. Forget the fact that Mick is lip-synching. His frenetic performance is one for the books. It was vintage Mick dancing (strutting) and clapping the way that only he can do. When the song was struggling just outside the BBC-Gallup Top 40 at # 41 (and threatening to drop from there) #TOTP broke longtime policy and aired the LIVE performance even though it was not in the Top 40. (The following week it climbed 8 notches to # 33, and then it peaked the week after that at # 31.)

Thursday September 24TH 1987, BBC-1, London England

It’s a moment in #TOTP history that – for some reason – I still remember to this day.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 50 years ago to October 01ST 1972. It’s when the late great Mac Davis scored the biggest smash of his career – a song that I still hear almost every day at my desk at my workplace.

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
Blogging Geography Travel

Santiago Chile

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This month I’m virtually visiting 5 continents in 5 weeks. 3 weeks ago I wrote about Luxembourg in Europe. A couple of weeks ago it was Yunnan China in Asia. Last week it was down under to Perth Australia. This week it’s Santiago Chile in South America.

I’m fascinated and intrigued with South America. I’ve never been there before; although, I’ve come very close. In fact – some would say that I have been to South America – since I’ve been to Aruba and Curaçao twice, and Bonaire once. (The #ABCIslands are geographically part of the South American continental shelf.)

But I’d love to tour (mainland) South America. Many people say “oh you need to visit Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro”. Buenos Aires Argentina is another place I’d like to check out. But if given the choice I think I’d want to visit Santiago – the capital and largest city of Chile – “The City Of The Island Hills”.

Between 6 and 8-million residents call Santiago home. That’s almost half of Chile’s entire population. Chile is the 6TH most-populated country in South America behind Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela. Santiago is the 6TH most-populated metro area in South America behind São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and Bogotá.

At TripAdvisor (my favorite travel web site – where I occasionally post reviews) – the # 1 thing to do in Santiago is to visit Cerro San Cristóbal – “this 860-meter hill in the center of Santiago features a zoo and wine museum at the midway point and a gondola ride to the top – where a Virgin Mary statue overlooks the city.” Sounds like a fun day atop Santiago de Chile !

Oh – and just a 3-hour drive northwestward from Santiago – I hear that the playas of Viña del Mar esta bonita. It may not be Copacabana, but it’s definitely “The Vineyard Of The Sea”, “The Garden City”, and “The Pearl Of The Pacific”.

Chile as a country is fascinating to me – even on a map, as it hugs much of the Pacific coast of South America from 17.5° south latitude in the tropics all the way down to 56.0° south latitude near the polar regions. That’s a distance of over 4,300 kilometers. It’s the closest country in the world to the Antarctica continent. It actually claims about 1,250,000 square kilometers of Antarctica.

From South America to North America. Next #TravelThursday I’m back home stateside in the great state of Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 292

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 September 18TH 2022 – the 292ND week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 3 6 Good Morning Mercy
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Jason Crabb
2 4 5 New Creation Mac Powell
3 2 13 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
4 1 14 Hold You Tight Dan Bremnes
5 5 4 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
6 10 2 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
7 8 2 God Is In This Story Katy Nichole Ft. Big Daddy Weave
8 9 2 Perfectly Loved Rachael Lampa Ft. TobyMac
9 7 7 Don’t Lose Heart Steven Curtis Chapman
10 6 10 Good Lord David Leonard

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “Into The Wild” – Josh Baldwin
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

PRAISE & WORSHIP – Yesterday I filled-in for my Pastor, and I preached a sermon to my church family. But before that Praise & Worship consisted of 3 songs / videos listed above. We started with “Nobody (But Jesus)”. I then formally greeted my brothers and sisters, as I do every Sunday after our first song together. Our 2ND song was “Good Morning Mercy” – my new # 1 smash this week, and it sounded great in our sanctuary. Our final song was “Thank God It’s Sunday Morning”, and that was a perfect lead-in to my message.

SUMMER OF 2022 – Next week I’ll take a look back at the 15 weeks of summer that ended earlier this month here in the U.S.A. – that time-period that starts with U.S. Memorial Day Weekend and ends with U.S. Labor Day Weekend. The tradition continues, as I’ll present a special #CountUp of my Top 10 hits of the summer. My regular weekly Top 10 chart returns in 2 weeks on Monday October 03RD 2022.

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 September 18TH 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.

This past Wednesday I got the word that I’ll be preaching God’s Word from the pulpit today. I’ll be preaching my sermon “Good & Evil”. It’s based on 1 Peter 3:8-4:8, and it’s the follow-up to “Honor & Respect”.

Last month I preached – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25. Here on #SundayScripture I’m presenting it in its original written form. Here’s Part 6 of this series:

Our God has placed each and every one of us here on this Earth and in His church so that our lives can have an impact on the people with whom we come into contact with. Some will run away from us, and they won’t look back. Some will ridicule us, or criticize us, or persecute us, or even harm us for living a godly life. Some will receive our message, and they will want to hear more from us about the God we know. They may come to know our God themselves – because of us. That’s another miracle. They will glorify God for our testimony and their salvation.

You have to be there for 100 – in order to reach that 1. In other words – you may testify about the God you know to 100 people, and only 1 of those 100 listens to you, and takes it in, and thinks about it, and wants to hear more from you. If you reach that 1, so that God can reach that 1 – then it’s all worth it. That’s another miracle.

In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while – He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever !  Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)

You see we have to deal with stuff here on this Earth – this temporary place that we call home. These sufferings – they appear endless, but can I tell you ? – they are not. They will be over – just like that, and then we will spend a glorious eternity with our God in Heaven. The Bible says that what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later (Romans 8:18). For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:18b)

You know our God is pleased with us when we do what we know is good and right – even when people treat us unfairly, or disrespect us, or discriminate against us, or hurt us – mentally or physically.

Christ suffered for us. He died for us. This is how Chapter 2 of Peter’s first letter ends (22-25):

He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered.
He left His case in the hands of God – who always judges fairly.
He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.
By His wounds you are healed.

Ah – let me say that again:
By His wounds you are healed.

Once you were like sheep who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd – the Guardian of your souls.

That’s from Peter’s letter to persecuted Christians who live in a hostile world. Sounds like us today. It also sounds very Old Testament-like. That’s because much of it is from the prophet Isaiah – from some 770 years earlier – before Peter.

In fact – let me be more specific. Much of that is based on Isaiah Chapter 53. Peter is not alone in quoting or referring to Scripture from Isaiah Chapter 53. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do so in their respective Gospels. Luke also does so in Acts – which begins where his Gospel ends – with the ascension of Christ into Heaven. And Paul also refers to Isaiah 53 in his letter to the Romans.

(End of Part 6)

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