Month: September 2025

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 21ST 2025, 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.

A couple of Sundays ago I shared a short version of my salvation story with my church family of the past 2 years. It fit in well with our current message series “This Is My Story”. Here’s what I said:

Well Good Morning church family. As we prepare for Communion – I want to share a short version of my story in Christ. My story began 19 years and 2½ weeks ago during the week of August 20TH 2006 in Homestead Florida. My salvation had a unique start to it.

I once was – lost, miserable, angry, and depressed. And then I met Jesus. You see – God used loud rock music on the radio to rescue me and save me from further descent into the darkness of the demons. But this was not your run-of-the-mill rock music on the radio. This was rock music from artists like Skillet, Disciple, Pillar, Jonah33, Relient K, Stellar Kart, Spoken, and even Family Force 5. These are bands that I had never heard of before, but once I listened to their music and paid attention to their lyrics that praised and worshipped God – I began to learn more about God. And the local Miami radio station that was playing all of that unusual music – they also stopped the music several times an hour to read Bible verses. That led me to Yahoo and Google – to look up those very same Bible verses – and to read and study the lyrics of the songs that I was listening to on the radio.

I did that for 5 months – before I ever stepped foot into my first church. It took at least a couple of those 5 months to discover what God had done for me. I learned the word “salvation” at the age of 39. I was a baby Christian into my early-40s.

The start of the 40TH Psalm is my salvation song:

Verse 1 – I waited for the LORD to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. (Yes He did.)
Verse 2 – He lifted me out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. (Yes He did.)
Verse 3 – He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. (Yes He did.) Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.

YEP – He did all of that for me, and my salvation continues into its 20TH year.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Commerce Driving Food Geography History Shopping Travel Weather

McLean & Tysons

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 6 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Sunday July 27TH 2025 – our 4TH and final day of me and my brother’s trip down memory lane from our childhoods. And of course – my brother’s wife and their two daughters were along for the ride – which was seemingly a boring ride at times since they had no roots in the area.

Me and my brother have already discussed a trip back to the Washington D.C. area (maybe as early as late next year) to do a “deep dive” into our childhoods (and include Maryland as well) – without the girls. More on that in Part 7 next #TravelThursday.

#ButFirst – We all checked out of our hotel rooms on that Sunday morning, and we headed over to McLean Family Restaurant for Brunch. It was a Jewish deli in the ’50s and ’60s, and then it became what it is today in 1969. I don’t remember ever eating there during the early-to-mid-’80s when I lived there, but my brother had eaten there a few times. It is essentially your classic diner in a longtime (70-year-old) strip shopping center in downtown McLean.

We drove by the old neighborhood public library and recreation center. They still look the same as they did 40+ years ago.

Next we hit Tysons Corner Center – built in 1968 – and now one of the busiest and largest traditional shopping malls in the U.S.A. Back in the early-to-mid-’80s it was much smaller and more of a neighborhood shopping mall – where you were likely to see your neighbors and classmates and teachers walking around. Nowadays it’s a regional destination where people from all over the Washington D.C. area take the Metro, get off at the station adjacent to the mall, and spend an entire day there. We spent several hours there, and the place was packed and steadily becoming even more packed. My brother pointed out what stores used to be at specific locations. (Very few stores remain from 40+ years ago.)

We ate a late-lunch at The Cheesecake Factory – by request of my brother. I personally think that they are overrated and overpriced, but I won’t turn down an opportunity to eat there about every 7 years or so.

While getting ready to pull out of the mall parking lot – my sister-in-law received the disturbing news that their Southwest flight back to Dallas Texas (#DAL) was cancelled due to weather. My American Airlines flight was very delayed – by several hours – due to the same reason. My brother and sister-in-law then quickly put a plan into motion where they would drive from there to Ohio (450 miles) – where they would have flown to the very next day (from #DFW).

We drove back to the Avis rental agency near Reagan National Airport (#DCA), and I got in line for their airport shuttle. My brother and sister-in-law headed inside to see if they could drive their existing rental SUV (Ford Explorer) from there to Ohio and then turn it in the next day at the Avis rental agency at the Columbus airport (#CMH). (They could, and they did. They arrived at their destination right around 12:30 AM.)

As I was waiting for their airport shuttle to arrive – I got the text message notification that I dreaded – my American Airlines flight to Tampa (#TPA) was also cancelled. And so I headed to the airport not really knowing what I would do once I got there. I’ll explain what I did – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 448

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 almost 50 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday September 14TH 2025 – the 448TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 14 Breakdown
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Andrew Ripp
2 2 13 What An Awesome God Phil Wickham
3 3 6 Preach Ryan Stevenson Ft. Matt Hammitt
4 7 2 I’ve Just Seen Too Much Big Daddy Weave
5 4 17 God Did It Micah Tyler
6 5 19 The King Is In The Room Phil Wickham
7 6 24 Jesus Loves Zach Williams
8 10 2 Still Crowder
9 9 7 Can’t Steal My Joy Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
10 – 5 Let The Church Sing Tauren Wells

# 1 This Week In:
2024 – “Up + Up” – Colton Dixon
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
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

CROWDER – His 11TH hit since 2017 – “Still” – climbs 2 notches this week to # 8. It’s a song that seems to be growing on me with each new listen. It’s approaching the Top 10 nationally. Crowder sings that “He’s working on me – still. Changing me piece by piece – still. Making me better. Gonna do His thing.”

ONE-HIT WONDER – She’s Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, but we know her as Plumb. She spent 14 weeks on my chart from September to December 2017 with “God Help Me”. It was the title track of her EP at the time. Sadly that’s the first and only time she appeared on my chart.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing 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 in South Florida 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 14TH 2025, 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.

A couple of weeks ago I observed and celebrated my 2ND anniversary at my 4TH church over the past 18½ years. I entered Highlands Community Church here in Sebring Florida for the very first time on Sunday September 03RD 2023. Within the first 15 minutes I already had two new friends – from Homestead Florida – who knew some of my friends and my Pastor and his wife – in Homestead Florida.

I had recently been watching YouTube videos of services of my new church, so I knew what to expect with the music and the message. The only formality was to meet my new Pastor in person before the service started, and so I did on that first Sunday. It’s been a great two years, and the best is yet to come !

Officially I spent a little over 8 years at my first church in Homestead, and 9 years at my second church in Homestead. I enjoyed great experiences at both churches. They each had advantages and disadvantages. I experienced mountain highs and valley lows at both churches. But I look back fondly at both eras with a lot of lessons learned to move forth with. Perhaps I should’ve left my first church after 6½ years so that I could’ve gotten an 18-month head start at my second church. Perhaps I could’ve had the courage to say “no” a few more times at my first church. Perhaps I could’ve preached a few more sermons out of the Old Testament at my second church. Perhaps I could’ve reached out and ministered to a few more of our brothers and sisters at my second church.

My 3RD church here in Sebring entirely overlapped my 2ND church in Homestead, so I was only there once or twice a month. It only lasted about 5½ months. It started strong on my first Sunday there (Palm Sunday 2023), and it slowly diminished from there. I realized that there wasn’t much for me to do there to actively engage in ministry to improve and enhance the experience. It was a gathering of all ages (mostly a bit younger than me), but it really wasn’t alive. There was very little fellowship, and there were obvious cliques that weren’t particularly accepting of new faces. There wasn’t much leadership either, and each service was particularly unorganized and borderline chaotic. The Pastor (half my age) had no personality.

I needed to find a church where I could thrive now and for the rest of my life. When I select a new church – I select one where I expect to stay and thrive indefinitely – not just for a few months or a few years. Had I not moved away from Homestead – my second church would’ve probably been my forever church. But now I’m in Sebring, and I believe that my fourth church is really my forever church. I’m looking forward to what the future holds at Highlands Community Church.

For where two or three gather together as My followers – I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20 NLT)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp