Month: April 2024

Florida’s Nature Coast

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 11, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. On Day 1 of my ongoing retirement road-trip to and from North Texas I departed my home in the Heartland of Florida at dawn. I proceeded northward on U.S. 27 / U.S. 98, and I continued up U.S. 27 to Lake Wales, and then westward along State Road 60. I picked-up U.S. 98 again through Bartow, Lakeland, and points north and west.

My first stop on this road-trip was Weeki Wachee Springs State Park – the legendary roadside attraction that has brought millions of people through its front gates off U.S. 19 for the past 77 years. During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s it was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florida (along with Silver Springs and Cypress Gardens). Everyone wanted to not just catch a glimpse of the mermaids, but also see them in action, and meet them in person, and have their picture taken with them before and after the shows. I saw the mermaids perform Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” for their regularly-scheduled 11 AM show in the Underwater Theater.

Weeki Wachi Springs became a Florida State Park on November 01ST 2008. (The state now owns and operates it.) It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places in January 2020. It appears to be doing great business, and on some days – they reach capacity and can no longer let additional people into the park. On this particular day (a Monday) the park was thriving with hundreds of kids and their parents. Buccaneer Bay – the on-site water park – is also a main attraction. Personally – I thought that the park was underwhelming. I don’t do water parks, and aside from the 30-minute mermaid show (which was fun for all ages) – there was not much else to see or do at the park. Remnants of the park (from when it was independently owned – including by ABC-TV) still exist, and it’s a sad reminder of what the park once was all of those years ago.

I visited two other Florida State Parks on that Monday – Crystal River Archeological State Park and Forest Capital Museum State Park (near Perry). Both were pleasant surprises and much nicer than I anticipated. The former – with its traditional museum inside and its collection of Native American mounds outside – was nothing short of spectacular – especially the scenery from atop one of the mounds.

Crystal River (flowing from left to right towards the Gulf Of Mexico)

Fun Facts: All 3 of these Florida State Parks are located along the Nature Coast – a region of 8 mostly rural counties located directly on the Gulf Coast from the Big Bend region southward to north of the Tampa Bay region.

I love Florida’s Nature Coast. I love driving along scenic U.S. 19 / U.S. 98 and seeing historic motor inns and restaurants along the way – some of which are still in business with modern amenities. (Others are long dormant and rotting in place.) There’s so much to see and do in this area, and I’m just getting started.

Next #TravelThursday – It’s on to Mobile Alabama to explore more history by land and by sea. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, History, Museum

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 373

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 8, 2024

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 April 07TH 2024 – the 373RD week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	2	7	He Does [1ST week @ # 1]	Brandon Heath
2	1	18	Lead On Good Shepherd	Patrick Mayberry
3	3	7	You’ve Already Won	Shane & Shane
4	7	15	Hallelujah Anyway	Rend Collective
5	4	3	Walk With Jesus	Consumed By Fire
6	8	5	All Because Of Mercy	Casting Crowns
7	9	3	Counting My Blessings	Seph Schlueter
8	5	3	God Be The Glory	We Are Messengers
9	10	2	Rescue	Jordan St. Cyr
10	–	1	The Prodigal	Josiah Queen

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Brighter Days” – Blessing Offor
2021 – “Say I Won’t” – MercyMe
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Freedom Hymn” – Austin French
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

JOSIAH QUEEN – I love a debut artist, and this week Josiah Queen scores his first hit on my chart with “The Prodigal”. Josiah is just a dude with a guitar and stories on his heart. He’s 21-years-old. He was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. His parents are both Pastors. He started writing music at age 9. He was saved by God at age 12. He’s a worship leader now at his home church in New Port Richey Florida.

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.

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.

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

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 7, 2024

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday April 07TH 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.

Starting with this edition – and continuing for the next several months – I’ll be presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively.

[BEGIN SERMON]

Well Good Morning again church family. It’s always good to be able to preach the Good News of the Lord to you – and to me too. When I preach to you and others – in here and out there and online – I preach to myself as well. And when I preach – I strive to glorify God. You see when we glorify God – we honor Him – for who He is – for what He has done for us – for what He is doing for us – for what He will do for us. The Bible says “glorify God in your body and in your spirit – which are God’s.” Let us glorify God in everything we do – and everywhere we go.

Lord lead me as I deliver Your Word today. Let my brothers and sisters who hear me today get closer to You so that they will be more like You in every way. And bring me closer to You too Lord. In Your powerful name I pray. Amen.

Today I want to talk to you about a slave of Jesus Christ – and a brother of James – the same James – who was a brother of Jesus Himself. That would be Jude. Jude is a brother of James, so He’s a brother of Jesus.

Jude’s letter to the Christians is located near the end of the New Testament – right before the Book of Revelation. His letter is very short. It’s a single chapter of just 25 verses. It’s 461 words. You can read it in about 2 to 3 minutes, but you don’t need to read it that fast. I often say that you should read the Bible slowly, so that you understand it. You should read it slowly, so that you don’t miss anything. You should read it slowly, so that you can absorb God’s Good News. Once you’ve absorbed God’s Good News – then you can go and tell it to others. We should all be preachers of God’s Word.

As you can tell – I’m not a fan of skimming or speedreading the Bible. I also don’t recommend reading the next verse until you’ve understood what God is trying to tell you in the current verse. And if you don’t understand the current verse – then read the previous verse. That’s a great way to read and understand the Bible.

So starting at the top of Jude’s letter:

Jude is writing to all – who have been called by God the Father – who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. (Jude 1b-2)

So – Jude introduces himself to his readers then and now, and he prays for them. May God give you more and more mercy. YES – I need that. We need that. We need God’s mercy. We can’t live without God’s mercy. It comes with His grace. God the Father showed mercy on us when He sent His one and only Son to the Cross to die for our sins. Jesus paid the price for our sins – past, present, and future – so that we may live in God’s Glory. And when we do that – when we live in God’s glory – we experience His abundant peace and love and joy. We want that. We need that – more and more with each new day. We can get that – when we focus on Him – more today than we did yesterday.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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.

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

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Travel

Bartow Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 8 days ago I spent some quality time in historic downtown Bartow Florida. It’s a part of Bartow that’s often overlooked by those just passing through along U.S. 17 and U.S. 98 (north-south) and Florida State Road 60 (west-east). I was with 9 of my Sebring Historical Society friends last Wednesday on a fun fact-finding mission to explore how other museums operate.

We started our fun at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway Avenue which serves as the “zero-point” of the city’s grid. All addresses – north-south and west-east – begin at that intersection.

We enjoyed Lunch at Palace Pizza at 105 East Main Street. I had 2 hot and delicious slices of pepperoni pizza and 3 soft and juicy garlic rolls. #Yum

After Lunch we walked across the street and entered the historic Polk County History Center. It’s located in the former courthouse building at 100 East Main Street. It’s their county museum, and it’s quite extensive on 2 out of 3 floors. The 1ST floor houses all of the exhibits – permanent and temporary – while the 2ND floor houses their archival library. (The 3RD floor is generally not open to the public; although, our group got a nice private tour of it – mostly utilized for storage and more archives.)

The museum is open 5 days a week from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Admission is free.

Fun Facts: The Polk County Courthouse building was built in 1908 and 1909. It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places on August 07TH 1989. The current courthouse is located a couple of blocks away at 225 North Broadway Avenue. Bartow is the County Seat of Polk County. Over 800,000 residents call Polk County home.

We also visited the Historic L.B. Brown House museum less than a mile away along South L.B. Brown Avenue. (It too is on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places.) We were warmly greeted by 2 friendly docents, and they treated us to an extensive tour of the exterior grounds as well as the interior of the house. They shared lots of stories along with historical photos and documents. They were enthusiastic to tell the stories of the man, his family, and the house.