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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 12TH 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.

This morning at my home church we’ll be celebrating Pastor Appreciation Day. It’s traditionally celebrated at many churches during the 2ND Sunday of October. We’ll do so with a special breakfast 90 minutes before service starts.

Several years ago I was presented with that coffee mug from my church family for Pastor Appreciation Day. I decided to take it to work and use it as my new coffee mug there since my old coffee mug was – well – old.

I had a “guest chair” at the edge of my workstation that was used by my coworkers and customers to discuss business (or non-business). That mug and warmer (both of which I still use today in my home office) were in clear view of that guest chair. It began getting noticed. I lost a few coworkers who no longer wanted to discuss non-business matters. I even lost coworkers who didn’t want to have any contact with me at all. They liked me as Chris, but they no longer liked me once they discovered that I was Pastor Chris away from the workplace. Maybe they thought that I would use them in a sermon. (And in fact – I did use general work situations in sermons – both positive and negative – without using real names.)

I still wonder if I should have never brought that coffee mug to work.

I’m not one to go around telling people that I’m a Pastor. I let them discover it on their own. Here in Sebring I’ve done that at my home church (both of them since 2023), at the multiple museums that I’m a member of, and even here in my own neighborhood. Once they find out on their own – then I confirm it. Sometimes it leads to a glorious renewed relationship. Sometimes it’s the end of the relationship.

I’m not a fan of braggadocious Pastors who go around telling people how great they are because they are a Pastor for however many years at a church attended by hundreds (or thousands) with multiple services every weekend at multiple campuses in multiple cities (or continents). I’ve served alongside a few Pastors like that. There are plenty of them on TV. They want you and everyone else to know that they are a Pastor. That’s not displaying God’s fruit of self-control. That’s not humbling yourself before the Lord, as written in James 4:10.

On this Pastor Appreciation Day – I thank those Pastors who are humble as they serve the Lord and lead – not their church – but God’s church.

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 Travel

Coffee, Mexican, Whataburger, Texas BBQ

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week it’s Part 2 of my 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. Let’s continue the fun and food !

After one of my family members picked me up at Wichita Falls Regional Airport (#SPS) – we headed into town to Collective Coffee. It sits caddy-corner to Midwestern State University (#MSU). It sits at a former Shell service station. Its parking area amusingly sits in the former lanes of the gas pumps. The cafe has been open for about 4½ years. It’s in an old building that was built in 1964. I wonder if it was a service station for all of those years ?

At Collective I enjoyed a 16-ounce Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte and a large warmed-up Blueberry Muffin. Both were pretty good. I forgot what my cousin got, but she didn’t like it all that much. She exclaimed, “1 out of 10 – do not recommend”. Upon further review I convinced her to bring her rating up to a 4 out of 10, as service was good. (But memo-for-record – it’s not on the list for future visits.)

Later that same afternoon we went to a sprawling family-owned Mexican restaurant – El Mejicano – to partake in their bargain $10.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. It was a Thursday-night-only special during the month of September to celebrate their 42ND anniversary. The wait to get in was long (about a half-hour). The last time I was in Wichita Falls – 13 months prior for a single day visit with my brother – we also enjoyed the buffet there.

Fun Facts: About 150,000 residents call the Wichita Falls area home. That’s 130,000 in Wichita County, 11,000 in Clay County (to the east), and 9,000 in Archer County (to the south). Wichita Falls itself claims over 100,000 residents. None of my family live within the city limits. (They live in Clay and Archer Counties.) My Aunt and Uncle used to live in Wichita County, but to the west of the city limits.

Late the next morning I got to choose the fast-food restaurant to go pick-up lunch at and take to my Aunt and Uncle’s soon-to-be former house of 40 years. As we approached one of those blue restaurant signs alongside the freeway – I saw Whataburger. If you read my multi-part #TravelThursday series from earlier this year – then you may remember my previous disappointment with the Whataburger drive-thru experience where everyone got a burger except for me. That would not happen again.

Later that same afternoon we headed down to Archer County (Lakeside City) to my first-cousin’s house. My Uncle lives there too. And also my favorite cat Gracie. And also my new canine friend Lacey. My first-cousin picked-up Texas Best BBQ (pulled pork, smoked turkey, and sides), and we enjoyed it all.

Next #TravelThursday starts with a donkey and a buffalo. 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 451

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 October 05TH 2025 – the 451ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 5 10 Can’t Steal My Joy
[1ST week @ # 1]
Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
2 2 16 What An Awesome God Phil Wickham
3 1 17 Breakdown Andrew Ripp
4 3 5 I’ve Just Seen Too Much Big Daddy Weave
5 4 9 Preach Ryan Stevenson Ft. Matt Hammitt
6 6 20 God Did It Micah Tyler
7 7 22 The King Is In The Room Phil Wickham
8 8 5 Still Crowder
9 10 3 Get Behind Me Emerson Day
10 1 Mighty Name Of Jesus Hope Darst

# 1 This Week In:
2024 – “Up + Up” – Colton Dixon
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Good Morning Mercy” – Jason Crabb
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “The Gospel” – Ryan Stevenson

GOD DID IT – Micah Tyler’s former # 1 smash reaches my Top 40 of this era. It’s 1 of my 40 biggest songs over the past 451 weeks. In fact it’s # 35. It’s also – spoiler alert – my current # 1 smash of the entire year thus far !

ONE-HIT WONDERLincoln Brewster had one hit on my chart from January to April of 2018, and it was a big one. It spent 16 weeks in my Top 10, 9 weeks in my Top 3, and 4 weeks at # 1. It was my # 8 hit of 2018. Lincoln proclaims that there is “No One Like Our God”.

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 October 05TH 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.

This is the 380TH edition of #SundayScripture since its debut on the final Sunday of February of 2018. Once I start something online, and it’s fun to do, and it’s successful – I keep it going. I always look forward to writing each new edition, and usually (when I’m not presenting a portion of a sermon) I have no idea what I plan to write until I actually write it. I allow The Holy Spirit to guide and direct me.

This weekly blog post is an integral part of my fantastic journey in my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. It’s my way of evangelizing to the masses worldwide – to anyone who cares to read. I pray that it changes lives for the better.

It was a rare Sunday last week, as I missed church in-person. But I got to watch our Sunday morning service LIVE on YouTube from Wichita Falls Texas. Our Pastor concluded his “This Is My Story” message series. It was a great series all about sharing our story with our church family, so that we can go and tell our story outside of the church – to our family and friends who do not yet know the God that we believe, follow, trust, and love.

This morning I’m back with my church family in-person. Our Senior Pastor begins a new message series on the letter of James. I’m definitely looking forward to that, as it was my longest-running message series. I preached 10 sermons from James scattered over a 13-month period from February 2018 to March 2019. It was also the very first book of the Bible that I studied with a weekly small group during my first year as part of a church family in 2007.

Next Sunday morning we’ll celebrate Pastor Appreciation Day with a special potluck breakfast. I’ll also be leading Communion with a theme of worship. I’m looking forward to sharing it !

So that’s what’s going on here locally. I appreciate each and every one of you who read this blog globally.

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