Month: July 2023

AMTRAK

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 13, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. My new hometown of Sebring Florida has its very own AMTRAK station (#SBG) downtown. Located at 601 East Center Avenue (less than a half-mile from The Circle) – the Sebring Train Station is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built 99 years ago in 1924. I imagine that some type of celebration may be observed next year for its centennial. It’s been in near-continuous operation ever since.

Many trains have stopped in Sebring to pick-up and drop-off passengers to and from the Florida Heartland. But the trains of the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star continue to do so to this day. Both routes run between Miami and New York. The Silver Meteor has been running since 1939. The Silver Star – 1947.

Headed southbound to Miami the two trains depart from Sebring at 1448 and 1514. They arrive in Miami about 3 hours and 45 minutes later. (They remain there overnight.)

Headed northbound to Washington D.C. the two trains depart from Sebring at 1123 and 1445. The 1123 train arrives in D.C. at 0725 the next morning. The 1445 train arrives in D.C. over 24 hours later at 1504. (It takes a slightly longer route.)

It’s a busy half-hour each afternoon from 1443 to 1514 at the Sebring Train Station with 2 southbound trains and 1 northbound train pulling-in for no more than 2 to 3 minutes each.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think that I have ever ridden on an AMTRAK train in my life. I’d like to change that and eventually take a trip sometime during my retirement years. I checked-out a trip from Sebring to Dallas Texas (where my family lives). It would take almost exactly 72 hours to get there with transfers in Washington D.C. and Chicago. Layovers would be 8 hours and 40 minutes and 5 hours and 10 minutes respectively. I’ll hold-off for now on checking the cost of that trip.

One of these days I’ll just go to the train station to take pictures of it.

Next #TravelThursday – I’m headed back to the Fort Myers campus of Florida SouthWestern State College. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags AMTRAK, Florida, Sebring, Train

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 334

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 10, 2023

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 July 09TH 2023 – the 334TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	3	Holy Forever [2ND week @ # 1]	Chris Tomlin
2	2	15	Cornerstone	TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
3	3	19	This Is Our God	Phil Wickham
4	5	7	Big God	Terrian
5	4	6	Yes I Am	Christian Paul
6	6	15	Fingerprints	Dan Bremnes
7	–	1	To Not Worship You	MercyMe
8	7	4	Every Hour	David Leonard Ft. Josh Baldwin
9	8	4	Wholehearted	We Are Messengers
10	9	10	You Will Be Found	Natalie Grant Ft. Cory Asbury

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Getting Started” – Jeremy Camp
2021 – “Be Alright” – Evan Craft X Danny Gokey X Redimi2
2020 – “Keep Me In The Moment” – Jeremy Camp
2019 – “Church (Take Me Back)” – Cochren & Co.
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “The Comeback” – Danny Gokey

PHIL WICKHAM – “This Is Our God” remains at # 3 this week in its 19TH week on my chart. It’s his 8TH and biggest hit, and now it’s a Top 40 hit on my all-time chart for this current era that began almost 6½ years ago. His new album – “I Believe” – drops on Friday August 18TH 2023.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 3 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, and #MusicMonday.

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.

Tags Blog, Chart, Christian, God, Jesus, KLOVE, Music, Radio, TheJoyFM, WayFM, WGTS, Z883

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 9, 2023

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 09TH 2023, 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.

You know one of the advantages of being a long-time blogger on the same platform is that I can go back in history, and read what I wrote way back when, and analyze it, and determine if it stood the test of time and still makes sense today.

15 years ago I was not yet a minster, a preacher, a Pastor. I was still a baby Christian – just under 2 years saved by Christ. I was training for the future – a future that I was not aware of at the time. Look what I wrote right here on this blog exactly 15 years ago this weekend on Sunday July 06TH 2008:

“Temptation is a fact of Life. Recognizing temptation to sin is a gift from God. It is the absolute power of the Holy Spirit in our Life. If we stray from what is right and then blow it then we must acknowledge it and move on. Even when nobody else is looking we must always act like a true follower of Jesus Christ if we claim so. We must not be a follower for a mere 90 minutes on any given Sunday morning, or just when our fellow believers are all around us. It must be always and forever. Our walk with God must match our talk about Him. It’s OK to be angry at one another temporarily. It’s never OK to be sinful. To be sinful is to be tragic.”

I took some good notes from that Sunday morning message on Temptation. I’m not sure what I was thinking near the end there when I wrote that “It’s OK to be angry at one another temporarily.” That sentence seems out-of-place to me today. Maybe I was angry at someone at that time. I don’t remember. I still get angry at people and systems today, but it doesn’t last very long. Anger leads to forgiveness, and all of us need continuous training on forgiveness.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember – the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13 NLT)

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.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Blogging Driving Food Geography Movies Music Sports Television Travel

Footloose

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 6, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Saturday I went on my first day-trip with some of my friends at the Sebring Historical Society. We gathered on our chartered bus at around 9 AM, and 30 minutes later we left the parking lot of our downtown Sebring museum for Fort Myers – 2 hours away.

We arrived at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre just in time for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet – or – as I like to pronounce it – boo/FAY. The salad bar, the main course bar, and the dessert bar – it was all wonderful. Lots of choices, and everything tasted great. Service was pretty good too. You get your own food, and the wait staff brings you your unlimited drinks (water, iced tea, soda, coffee, etc.).

As a large group of over 20 we had 4 tables assigned to us up near the front of the 400-seat dinner theatre. We all had an excellent view of the stage for the after-lunch show.

And that show was #Footloose. I saw the original movie with my family as a 16-year-old in Fairfax County Virginia. I also saw the late-2011 remake. Good story. Good music. The Broadway-style show held true to its origins. I forgot about the whole minister / church part of the plot. It was interesting watching that this past Saturday afternoon as a minister.

I actually want to see the original 1984 movie again. Next time I see it on my TV listings I’ll have to DVR it. (Oh wait a minute – I forgot – it’s 2023, and I mostly stream. I have MAX, and I can watch it anytime on there.)

Well our next trip with the Sebring Historical Society is next month to a Tampa Bay Rays / New York Yankees Major League Baseball game in St. Petersburg Florida. I won’t be blogging about that, as I won’t be going on that trip. I just don’t like baseball. But I’m sure that the trip will be popular with a lot of the guys in our organization.

I hear that our next trip after that is in December to a Christmas show at a theatre in Winter Haven – or is it Winter Garden ? I get those two cities mixed-up. (And then there’s nearby Winter Park and Winter Springs.)

Next #TravelThursday – ALL ABOARD ! Let’s keep traveling together.