Month: September 2022

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, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 21ST 1997:

  1. “Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
  2. “(I Just Wanna) Fly” – Sugar Ray Ft. Super Cat
  3. “Semi-Charmed Life” – Third Eye Blind
  4. “Push” – Matchbox 20
  5. “All For You” – Sister Hazel

What a cool rock chart that was a quarter of a century ago – back when I was the BIG 3-0. Not too hard. Not too light. Just right. All 5 artists in my Top 5 were debut artists – on with their very first hit. Those are some big artists from the late-1990s !

Chumbawamba’s raucous pub-crawling anthem “Tubthumping” was at # 1 for the 2ND week in a row 25 years ago this weekend. It would go on to spend the rest of the year (1997) at # 1 and stay there for 18 weeks in a row into January 1998. It’s the longest-running # 1 smash (by far) in the entire history of my chart.

But how about that Sister Hazel song ? It was a hit on my chart, a U.S. hit, a Canadian hit, and strangely – a Top 10 hit in Iceland !

Now if you read the lyrics to the song – you could think that it’s all about God. And that’s the way that I’m looking at it – 25 years later as a born-again Christian. I can sing this song, and every verse to me leads straight to my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – even though the song is essentially about relationships in general.

Sister Hazel are still together – almost entirely intact since 1993 – touring and performing in their 30TH year !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to September 1987. It’s when a Eurythmic and a Rolling Stone wrote and produced what would become a # 1 smash on my chart. There’s also a #TOTP anomaly associated with this song. If you know then you know. I’ll explain next weekend.

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
1990s Blogging Computers Geography Internet Music Radio Television Travel

Perth Australia

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

I’m a big fan of Australia and New Zealand from afar. I’ve never been to either. (I’ve never been south of the Equator.) During my upcoming retirement chapter of my life – I definitely wish to somehow someway visit either or both nations for an organized 2-to-3-week tour. I actually want to see and experience Australia and New Zealand over any other destination in the world.

Every time “House Hunters International” (on HGTV) does an episode from either nation I’m glued intently to it – especially the scenery in the background. I get ecstatic when the house hunters are in Perth Australia.

About 25 years ago when I was discovering the Wild Wild World Wide Web (after I weaned myself off of AOL) I used RealAudio (remember that ?) to listen to pop music radio stations from around the world. I ran a pop music web site at the time that was gaining in popularity in Europe (particularly Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany) and Australia and New Zealand. I couldn’t believe that I was creating an electronic product, placing it on the Internet at my very own web site with its own domain name, and people from thousands of miles away and on the other side of the world were interested in it.

One of the many radio stations that I used to listen to from Australia was 96fm out of Perth. It was fun to hear tomorrow’s zany morning show at night here on the U.S. East Coast. Back then (in the late-1990s) pop music in Australia was like a hybrid of both U.S. and U.K. pop music. I remember hearing Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” for many months, and thinking to myself that it should be played on the radio here stateside. Eventually it made it here, and it was a MASSIVESMASH. (That’s an ode to my old web site.)

I learned a lot about Perth listening to the radio, and I even catered my website somewhat to Perth and other cities in Australia and New Zealand, since my fanbase there outnumbered most everywhere else in the world.

Perth is located on the southwest coast of Australia near the 32ND parallel south. Summers are mostly sunny, warm, and dry. Winters are mostly cloudy, cool, and wet. Spring is on its way Perth, and so are many sunny days !

Perth’s skyline from the sea is beautiful. Its metro area is vast along the coast. Over 2 million residents call Perth home. It’s one of the most isolated major cities in the world !

#VisitPerth

From Australia to South America. Next #TravelThursday I’m visiting Santiago Chile. 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 291

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 11TH 2022 – the 291ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 13 Hold You Tight
[4TH week @ # 1]		 Dan Bremnes
2 2 12 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
3 3 5 Good Morning Mercy Jason Crabb
4 4 4 New Creation Mac Powell
5 7 3 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
6 6 9 Good Lord David Leonard
7 5 6 Don’t Lose Heart Steven Curtis Chapman
8 – 1 God Is In This Story Katy Nichole Ft. Big Daddy Weave
9 – 1 Perfectly Loved Rachael Lampa Ft. TobyMac
10 – 1 Miracle Power We The Kingdom

# 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 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

TOP 5 LOGJAM – It’s very competitive atop my chart this week with 4 strong non-movers occupying my Top 4 spots. Any 1 of those 4 songs could be # 1 next week, or it could be Colton Dixon’s emerging hit “Build A Boat”. I love its chorus:

♫ I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith – I’ll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails – Your love never fails or fades
I’ll build a boat in the desert place
And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah
I’ll ride the storm ’cause I got You by my side
With Your wind in my sails – Your love never fails or fades
I’ll build a boat, so let it rain ♫

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 11TH 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 holiday weekend was very productive for me with Bible studying and sermon writing. I finished writing what will be my next sermon – “Good & Evil” – the continuation of my First Peter message series. It covers much of Chapter 3 into Chapter 4. I also immediately began writing my next sermon after that – “Blessings & Benedictions” – which you may guess is a sermon based on Benedictions. And you would be right with that guess. I’m writing on blessings that while they may be proclaimed at the end of our church services – they are blessings that must be taken into the world for our neighbor to hear and experience.

Last month I preached my sermon – “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 5 of this series:

Ignorant people who make foolish accusations. There’s a lot of them out there:

Speaking of which:  Recently – I was accused of – get this – stealing several bags of groceries – from my own front porch – that I never ordered – and I never saw. I know. Sounds crazy – doesn’t it ?  A few minutes after I got home from work one day someone was frantically banging on my front door. I answered the frantic knock, and that’s when I was blindsided by the foolish accusations. I almost lost it with this guy – an older Walmart delivery guy – who allegedly delivered groceries to my front porch – by accident – 20 minutes earlier – and he had photos on his phone of said groceries – on my front porch – that were no longer there. Either it was some elaborate scam in my neighborhood, or we have porch pirates running loose – following delivery people – and stealing packages from front porches – including bags of groceries.

After I almost put that guy in his place – I showed him grace and mercy, and then I prayed for him later on. (I really did.) I was on the edge of evil for a moment, but then my God – our God – He pulled me back from evil. You know what that is ?  That’s the Holy Spirit at work within.

You know that was just a minor skirmish on a recent afternoon. It made for good material for this sermon. As soon as it happened – I thought to myself – I’m gonna somehow preach about this some Sunday. So there you go.

We Christians are persecuted every minute of every hour of every day in every country all around the world – for being Christian. For wherever The Good News about Jesus Christ was and is preached – there are various levels – there are various forms – there are various forces – of suffering and persecution – seen and unseen – direct and indirect.

You and me – we are free – but that’s not an excuse to do evil against our neighbor – even when we are the recipients of what we perceive as evil done to us. Respect everyone.

You know how easy it is to get distracted by a bad driver on the road here in Homestead – and nearly lose it ?  Don’t do it. Respect everyone. Love your neighbor. I’ve said this countless times before. I do my best praying while driving.

Later in Peter’s letter (5:8-9) he writes:

Stay alert !  Watch out for your great enemy – the devil. (Who’s our great enemy ? – the devil.) He prowls around like a roaring lion – looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

You notice Scripture does not say “Keep quiet, and keep your faith to yourself, so that the devil doesn’t notice you.” No – it does not say that. It says “Stay alert !”. It says “Stand firm against him (the devil)”. It says “be strong in your faith”. We must “Honor & Respect” the Lord our God. We must “Honor & Respect” our neighbor.

(End of Part 5)

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