Month: October 2022

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 295

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 October 09TH 2022 – the 295TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 9 Good Morning Mercy
[4TH week @ # 1]		 Jason Crabb
2 2 8 New Creation Mac Powell
3 3 16 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
4 4 7 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
5 6 5 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
6 10 2 Ain’t Nobody Cody Carnes
7 5 17 Hold You Tight Dan Bremnes
8 9 2 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
9 7 5 God Is In This Story Katy Nichole Ft. Big Daddy Weave
10 8 5 Perfectly Loved Rachael Lampa Ft. TobyMac

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “The Gospel” – Ryan Stevenson

JASON, MAC, & MICHAEL – As in Crabb, Powell, & Cochren. (Sounds like a law firm.) The trio hold firm at # 1, # 2, and # 3 this week for the 4TH week in a row. All 3 tracks sound great on the radio, and they deserve to have their volume cranked-up when they play. A casual observer to my chart may wonder when country music took over. There is definitely a country music influence to my chart nowadays, but then country and gospel music have been influencing each other for almost 70 years – since the modern rock-and-roll era began. See #Elvis.

CHARTBUSTING – Sitting just outside of my Top 10 this week (and getting ready to jump in) is the # 1 smash nationwide at U.S. Christian radio – Ben Fuller’s “Who I Am”. It’s a former # 1 smash at small-market stations, and it’s likely the next # 1 smash at large-market stations. It’s been playing since May, and it’s been available since March. And YES – it sounds like a country song. Ben Fuller actually moved to Nashville to pursue a country music career. But then Christ rescued and saved Him, and he pursued His Lord & Savior instead. He sings about it in “Who I Am”:

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 October 09TH 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 night I was advised to be ready for Sundays October 16TH and 23RD. Those are the days that I’m filling-in for my Pastor by leading my church family and preaching full sermons. It was also on that night that I immediately began the process of finishing the final third of my next sermon – “Blessings & Benedictions”. I’m looking forward to sharing it with my brothers and sisters next Sunday morning. I’m not sure which direction I’ll go for my next sermon after that (in 2 weeks). I need to think about it and pray for God’s guidance.

And so as promised here on #SundayScripture I’ll be presenting the last sermon that I preached – “Good & Evil” – in its original written form. It’s based on 1 Peter 3:8-4:8, and it effectively wraps-up my First Peter message series which I began 13 months ago. This appears to be another 8-part series on here (with each part less than a 5-minute read), so it should continue through the end of November.

Let’s get started with Part 1 of “Good & Evil”:

Today – I’m gonna speak of our Lord for the next 35 to 45 minutes. I’ll speak on His Good News – from Peter’s first letter. This is the continuation of my last sermon from 6 weeks ago.

So – from First Peter Chapter 3 – picking-up with Verse 8, and as the Bible says:

All of you (I say) all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tender-hearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead – pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it. (3:8-9)

This is from the man formerly known as Simon – just an ordinary fisherman in Capernaum (kuh-PERR-nay-uhm) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Simon was unsure and fearful at times. He was occasionally reckless, and he had quite the temper – sometimes even a foul mouth. Nevertheless – Jesus chose Peter to be one of His disciples – and an Apostle. He was 1 of the 12. Jesus asked Peter to help Him build His church.

So Peter wrote his letter some 1,960 years ago in Rome – during the early-‘60s – the first early-60s – A.D. His letter sounds so relevant today in 2022. If you believe – if you follow – if you truly love our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ as the King of Kings – then you must love everyone – believers and unbelievers. You see God loved you when you didn’t believe in Him. God loved you when you ignored Him. God loved you when you made derogatory remarks about Him – or His followers – or His creations. You gotta love everyone. And be humble. Don’t be arrogant. Be good. Don’t be evil. Bless others. Don’t insult others. Bless – to be blessed.

Paul to the Romans in Chapter 12 (14-16):

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all !

Sounds just like Christ’s own teachings to His disciples up on the mountainside – you know – the Sermon On The Mount.

So what you’re trying to tell me – God – is that – when – let me put this in layman’s terms – (mostly for me) – when someone is mean to me – I should be nice to them. I should not tell them what I think. I should not put them in their place. I should not give them what they deserve. Instead – I should give them – oh – something that You God taught me about – mercy. (Everyone say “mercy”.)

(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
2000s Blogging Christian God Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2007

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 1ST Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 07TH 2007:

  1. “Love In Your Arms” – Eleventyseven
  2. “F-Stop” – Sullivan
  3. “Staring At The Light” – The Wedding
  4. “I Need You” – Relient K
  5. “Let’s Go Back” – Everyday Sunday

Good music from my 2ND year of my salvation in Christ – with a heavy dose of Christian pop-punk.

“F-Stop” was such an amazing song. It spent 11 consecutive weeks at # 2. Sullivan were the lone “one-hit-wonder” of the Top 5 bunch. The band released their 10-track album “Cover Your Eyes” on my 40TH birthday in 2007, and the lead-off track (and only known radio single) was “F-Stop”.

The Wedding were HUGE in 2007 with 3 hit singles in a row on my favorite radio station back then – #TheCall. “Morning Air” peaked at # 2 for a single week. “Say Your Prayers” peaked at # 2 for 2 weeks. And then came along “Staring At The Light”. It climbed to # 1 the week after it was at # 3, and it stayed there for 5 weeks in a row. It was my # 6 hit of 2007.

There is no music video for “Staring At The Light”, but Curb Records provided this to YouTube several years ago, and I still love to hear this song 15 years later, so I’ve included it here for my own listening enjoyment. Maybe you’ll like it too ?

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 20 years ago to October 2002. It’s when a Spanish DJ who we all knew on a first-name basis as “Sammy” scored a worldwide #EDM smash that crossed-over onto the mainstream pop charts, and it was a cover version of a Bryan Adams smash from 1985.

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 Driving Food Geography History Travel

Henrietta Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I revealed that I spent quality time with family in and around Wichita Falls Texas. It’s an annual tradition for me every late-September to visit for a few days, and celebrate the wedding anniversary of my Aunt (by blood) and Uncle. This year was their 66TH !

Following an early Lunch at a local Mexican restaurant (another tradition) we went on a short road-trip (another tradition). This time we headed 20 miles ESE along U.S. 287 into Clay County and the small city of Henrietta (the county seat and population center). A little over 3,000 residents call Henrietta home, and it’s one of the oldest settled areas in the region – going back to the mid-19TH Century.

We visited the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum & Heritage Center – presented by the Clay County Historical Society. For those of you who have been following my #TravelThursday posts for awhile – you’ll know that not only am I a big fan of local historical societies and museums that they run, but I also plan to be a member and volunteer at a few upstate here in Florida once I retire and relocate.

Me, my cousin, and her husband were treated to an excellent docent early on a Friday afternoon. The museum is only open for 8 hours per week (4 each on Thursday and Friday), and we exclusively occupied 2 of those 8 hours. The docent showed us everything in the museum. (There’s a lot to see inside downstairs and upstairs.) I was studying our docent intently. I hope to be as good as her when I resume being a museum docent. She definitely enjoyed her museum, and she absolutely loved to talk about it. That’s the type of docent that I like !

On this visit to the Wichita Falls area we also drove over to Archer City – the county seat of Archer County (south of Wichita County). We visited a church lot where they were selling pumpkins and gourds.

We also drove all around Downtown Wichita Falls – the county seat of Wichita County. There’s a lot of history downtown – much of it mere memories with the original buildings left behind vacated. There are plans to continue to revitalize it with new cafes, bars, restaurants, events, and opportunities.

This was my 11TH visit to the Wichita Falls area to visit family over the past 9 years (since 2013). Each visit brings family love, good food, and pleasant surprises. I always look fondly back – and forward to – my next visit.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll present a tribute to a place that I visited 9 times and spent 17 nights from 2011 to 2020. It’s an island that will never be the same again due to the catastrophic destruction of Hurricane Ian. I’ll look back at those fun times on #FortMyersBeach on the Southwest Florida coast. Let’s keep traveling together.

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