Month: September 2023

Categories
Blogging Career Driving Geography History Military Nature Travel

Retirement 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A couple of Mondays ago I finally did it. I revealed to my closest coworkers and friends my official retirement date. It will be “Leap Day” – 29 February 2024 – a great day to remember for the rest of my life. I’ll actually be reducing my 40-hour-per-week work schedule down to 16 hours per week with the start of the new year. I plan to take (“burn-off”) my remaining annual leave on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and that will give me 4-day weekends in January and February to end my nearly 39-year USAF military and civilian career.

This December will essentially be my final month of full-time work, as I gradually transition into long-awaited retirement. I’ve been dreaming of December 2023 for many years now, and it’s almost here. It’s when I reach my MRA (“minimum retirement age”).

Starting on April 01ST 2024 – the day after Easter Sunday – I’ll begin my 3,000+ mile post-retirement road-trip to and from North Texas. I’ll be visiting family over there – and friends along the way. I’ll also be visiting roadside attractions and historical museums between here and there. I know when the trip starts – but the end of the trip is open. I’ll be retired, so I can spend as much time as I feel like on the road and away from home. It will be my vacation of a lifetime.

Fun Fact: I will be in the Dallas Texas area for the 100% total solar eclipse on April 08TH 2024 at 1:40 PM CDT. Daytime becomes nighttime for 4 minutes !

I’ve often stated that planning a vacation is a lot of fun for me, but once it’s all planned out – now I have to actually do it. I’ve planned many vacations that I never went on. Normally I meticulously plan out a vacation weeks and even months in advance – to the hour – for each day of the trip. That won’t happen for this trip. I probably won’t even know where I’ll be stopping for each night (at a hotel) until it actually happens. It’ll be dependent on the people and the places that I visit during each day. I may drive 50 miles in a single day – or 100 – or 250 – or 500. OK – probably not 500. There’s no rush during this trip. I don’t want to miss cool people or interesting places along the way.

Next #TravelThursday – it won’t happen in September for the first time since January. I’ll explain. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 345

Every Monday (this week on Tuesday) 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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday September 24TH 2023 – the 345TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 10 Praise You Anywhere
[5TH week @ # 1]		 Brandon Lake
2 2 6 Hallelujah Feeling Caleb & John
3 4 7 Praise The Lord Micah Tyler
4 3 11 The King Is Alive Jordan Feliz
5 7 8 Heaven Changes Everything Big Daddy Weave
6 6 4 Parking Lot Cochren & Co.
7 5 12 To Not Worship You MercyMe
8 9 15 Every Hour David Leonard Ft. Josh Baldwin
9 10 2 What Are We Waiting For ? for King + Country
10 8 7 Jesus Does We The Kingdom

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Good Morning Mercy” – Jason Crabb
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

CALEB & JOHN – I’m still waiting on that extra radio push for “Hallelujah Feeling” so that it can climb to # 1 on my chart. I love the song. I love the feeling of the song. I can’t sit or stand still when I hear the song !

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 X 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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Yom Kippur

The Day of Atonement

Then the LORD said to Moses – “Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month – nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly – a day to deny yourselves, and present special gifts to the LORD. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement – when offerings of purification are made for you – making you right with the LORD your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all ! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.” (Leviticus 23:26-32 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Home Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 24TH 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.

I’m back in Homestead for the first of 2 Sundays in a row at my longtime home church of the past 8½ years. I’m looking forward to service and fellowship with my closest brothers and sisters of my church family and this fantastic journey.

Back home in Sebring I’ve been working on my next sermon on “Jude & Judgment” (based on Jude’s letter near the end of the New Testament). I hope to preach it to my Homestead church family at the end of November.

And now here on #SundayScripture it’s the continuation of the refresh, renew, and reboot of my sermon on “Pray & Believe” – originally preached on Sunday June 16TH 2019. Here’s Part 9:

[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]

There was an excellent movie in the theatres in early-2019. It did pretty good at the box office too. It made over 40 million dollars here in North America. That’s a lot of people seeing a faith-based movie at the theatres. It was called “Breakthrough”. It’s available at many stores – on DVD and Blu-Ray – and you can also stream it. It’s about a suburban mom who loved Christ and her family. She was a prayer warrior. She prayed often. She prayed intentionally.

Her 14-year-old son was playing with two friends on a frozen lake in mid-January during a milder-than-normal winter day. The kids were warned to get off the unsafe ice, but like typical teenagers – they brushed aside those warnings. They all fell through the ice. Two recovered safely back to the surface. One did not. He was underwater for 15 minutes before he was eventually rescued by a first-responder who refused to give up. Was the first responder led by an angel ?

After 15 minutes underwater the kid was lifeless. He was rushed to the hospital in a coma.

The movie was based on the real-life events that occurred in January of 2015 just outside of St. Louis Missouri. It made national headlines. The mom got an entire small town to pray for her son. Guess what she got ? She got miracles ! God hears our prayers. God responds with miracles.

It was a great movie. I shed tears several times, and I nearly wept out loud once or twice. And that’s OK to do – even for a guy in his 50s. I was also overwhelmed with joy. Watch this movie on DVD or online or on TV if you get the chance. Hollywood doesn’t make too many movies like this.

But that’s the power of prayer. Think about this. Who do you pray for ? Who do you pray for ? If all of your prayers today were answered by God tomorrow – then how many people – other than yourself – would experience life-changing miracles ? How ‘bout this. Would any of those people be complete strangers ?

But Pastor Chris – why would I pray for complete strangers ? I want God to answer the prayers for my loved ones – my family and my friends.

Yeah – same here. But God commanded us to love your neighbor as yourself, and everyone is your neighbor. If you see or hear another person – no matter where you are – then he or she is your neighbor. Love them. Pray for them.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp