Month: January 2024

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 21ST 2024, 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 is a very special day for me. It was on this precise date – the 21ST of January – in 2007 (also a Sunday) – that God gave me the courage to attend a Sunday morning church service for the first time in my life as a baby Christian just 5 months into salvation. This is just the 2ND time since 2007 that this date has occurred on a Sunday. (It also occurred in 2018.)

I’ve been part of a church family ever since that glorious Sunday morning exactly 17 years ago. I was with my first church family for a little over 8 years, and I’ve been with my 2ND church family for almost 9 years now. This morning I’m driving to Homestead to be with my longtime church family since 2015. I’m looking forward to singing Praise & Worship songs to God, and learning more about Him from my Pastor and his sermon. I’m also looking forward to fellowship before and after the church service – including a nice big Lunch at a local steakhouse (probably Longhorn).

This past Friday night I was with my 2ND church family here in my new hometown of Sebring Florida (4TH church family overall since 2007). I attended Bible Study again. A small group of us meet at the church building once a week for a word-by-word reading and study of the Bible with our Pastor. We did Genesis 48 and 49. Next Friday night (which I’ll miss) our group will read and study Genesis 50 (the final chapter), and a portion of Exodus 1 (which is like a continuation of Genesis).

Just before his death – Jacob blesses his 12 sons in Genesis 49 in the following order – Reuben (1), Simeon (2), Levi (3), Judah (4), Zebulun (10), Issachar (9), Dan (5), Gad (7), Asher (8), Naphtali (6), Joseph (11), and Benjamin (12). (I listed their order of birth in parenthesis.)

These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message. (Genesis 49:28 NLT)

I think eventually I want to study each of Jacob’s 12 sons in depth, and maybe write some sermons on them – perhaps 2 sons at a time – and how their respective tribes fared. (Levi and Joseph would not become Patriarchs of tribes.)

I briefly introduced the 12 tribes of Israel near the end of a December 2018 sermon that I preached to my church family. I just checked it out for perhaps the first time in 5 years, and it provides a good foundation for a series of future sermons.

Pretty soon in my retirement life I’ll have much more time on my hands for personal Bible studying and sermon writing. I’ve begun writing my sermon on “Sebring & Weigle” – two of our founders here in my new hometown. I spent an unexpected 3 hours last week in our museum – the former house of Charles Frederick Weigle – in fellowship with one of our docents on duty at the time. I mentally gathered more material for my sermon – just being in the presence of such great history around me.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography History Home Travel

DeSoto County Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s my 2,501ST post here on WordPress since 2007. I’ve probably blogged about travel more than any other topic over the past 17 years – and even going back almost 31 years – back to 1993 – when I began my dial-up bulletin board system – an ancestor of my current blog.

Travel is my favorite topic to write and talk about. I’m happy to share my travel adventures with you – past, present, and future – each Thursday here on my blog.

This week I’m writing about a neighboring county to my southwest – the rectangular-in-shape DeSoto County.

I’ve spent very little time in this rural county that’s part of Florida’s Heartland region. I’ve driven through the county a few times along U.S. 17 and Florida State Roads 31, 70, and 72. I’d actually like to explore the historic city of Arcadia – the population center of the county near the geographical center of the county. Over 40% of the 34,000 or so residents of DeSoto County live in either Arcadia or the adjacent unincorporated community of Southeast Arcadia. DeSoto County is among the Top 20 least-populous counties (out of 67) in Florida.

I’d like to start at the Tree Of Knowledge, and take a leisurely stroll along the historic downtown district of Arcadia – with street names like Maple, Cypress, Hickory, Oak, Magnolia, and Pine – maybe enjoy a nice Lunch at one of the local eateries. There’s a soul food restaurant called Red Zone that has piqued my interest. I hear that the food is quite authentic and tasty there. The pictures presented on their Facebook page are indeed mouthwatering.

Arcadia is about 45 miles away from home. I should be able to get there within an hour. As a special bonus I’d have to drive through Zolfo Springs to get to and from Arcadia. I’d like to explore that historic town as well.

Next #TravelThursday – I hear trains. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 361

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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday January 14TH 2024 – the 361ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 22 Hallelujah Feeling
[2ND week @ # 1]		 Caleb & John
2 2 13 I Thank God Housefires Ft. JWLKRS Worship
3 3 10 I Believe Phil Wickham
4 4 6 Strong Anne Wilson
5 8 3 Hallelujah Anyway Rend Collective
6 9 6 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
7 5 23 Praise The Lord Micah Tyler
8 6 20 Parking Lot Cochren & Co.
9 7 7 Grave Robber Crowder
10 10 2 Crazy About You Tauren Wells

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Who I Am” – Ben Fuller
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Holy Water” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Lions” – Skillet

AUGUST – Remember last August when it was hot and humid outside ? (Unless of course you were in Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa – when it was perhaps cold and wet outside.) Seems so long ago. It was 5 months ago. It’s when Terrian had the biggest smash of the summer here in the U.S. – praising and worshipping her “Big God”. That’s also when 3 songs in particular began playing on the radio and catching my attention – “Hallelujah Feeling”, “Praise The Lord”, and “Parking Lot”. They entered my chart at # 8, # 9, and # 10 respectively (on different weeks). Now they are all at 20 or more weeks on my chart. 2 are on their way down and off my chart, and 1 is my # 1 smash again this week.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by heading over to my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

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. God used loud music on the radio to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 14TH 2024, 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 Friday night I attended my first Bible Study with a small group of my new church family. I had the date circled on my calendar for a few months as the date to begin weekly attendance every Friday night.

It was a good hour-and-a half of fellowship, Scripture, and prayer – led by our Lead Pastor Tim. We read most of Genesis 46 and 47. (It sounds like the group started Genesis about 22 or so weeks ago, so they cover about 2 chapters per week.)

Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph – to guide him to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as he appeared to him – Joseph threw himself on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. (Genesis 46:28-29 NASB)

A few points here:

My Pastor appears to be a mostly North American Standard Bible Pastor, so I’ll be utilizing that translation more often here on #SundayScripture and in my own personal Bible study.

Jacob (Israel) finally saw his eldest (and favorite) son Joseph again, and they were full of joy for each other. It had been 22 years since they last saw each other. Jacob thought that Joseph was dead for all of those years (eaten alive by a wild animal), and he mourned during that time. He thought that he would mourn until his own death.

I made bold Goshen in the Scripture above. Geographically it was a region in the far northeast corner of Lower Egypt – between the Nile River and the Red Sea – far away from the rest of Egypt. (Lower Egypt was the fertile delta region right up against the Mediterranean Sea.) It’s where the Israelites settled during that time-period (around 1700 B.C.). It’s the best land of Egypt. It’s mentioned in both Genesis and a couple of times in Exodus.

I’m looking forward to this upcoming Friday night when we read and study Genesis 48 and 49, and maybe 50.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp