Month: January 2026

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography Holidays Home Travel

Homeward Bound

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I returned home from North Texas 54 days ago. This is Part 8 of 8 – the conclusion of my recap of my 10-day experience with my family for Thanksgiving and the week after.

After my gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW) changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours – it changed once again – to D2. That’s right – a completely different terminal !

I got the text message from American Airlines (#AA), and others sitting at the gate obviously got the same text message at the same time, as we all reacted pretty much the same way. We were aggravated, but there was no time for aggravation because boarding would begin in just 38 minutes at a gate far away from there. We all got up, gathered our carry-on bags, and walked briskly to the nearest Skylink (automated people mover) station to reach the new terminal and gate. Of course – Gate D2 was perhaps as far away as possible from the Terminal D (Gates 1-22) Skylink station (and pretty much all other “D” gates). We all made it to the new gate, and we all got good exercise doing so. Strangely – a lot of people were already at that gate, and it looked like they had been there for a while. They obviously knew about Gate D2 long before many of us did.

After a brief respite it was time to board the aircraft to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ). As with the incoming flight 10 days earlier – the outgoing flight was not quite full, but close to it. There was plenty of space available in the overhead bins, and the middle seat next to mine was vacant. I had a window seat 3 rows from the rear, and I stared out at the sky towards the NNE for much of the flight. Once at cruising altitude I ate a couple of Pop-Tarts, and then I enjoyed the Lotus Biscoff cookies that are handed out on most #AA flights. Additionally – the flight attendants gave us a bag of pretzels. Two complimentary snacks at the same time !

I also enjoyed a cup of black coffee to go with my multiple snacks. Their coffee has always been delicious, but now it appears that they are in the process of switching / upgrading to Lavazza‘s premium coffee blends. That should be available on my next flights later this year.

The flight from #DFW to #SRQ took a normal route ESE across Louisiana and the Gulf straight into Florida – landing more than 10 minutes early. It took a while (longer than normal) to retrieve my baggage at the carousel. (Mine was one of the last bags to appear.)

After that I went to the wrong location to pick-up the shuttle bus to the parking area. I went to the area for hotel shuttles. I blame that on a lack of clear and proper signage. I eventually figured it out on my own due to no available help from anyone who worked at the airport – inside or outside. The shuttle bus driver took me to the secluded parking lot over near the control tower off Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). There were two vehicles remaining in that temporary overflow parking lot (which was obviously closed for new parking), and mine was obviously one of the two.

The 78-mile drive back home was uneventful – taking me 1-hour and 49-minutes through Sarasota-Bradenton suburbia and into the countryside and up into the hills. I had to deal with a few slow drivers in front of me and a few tailgaters behind me. I arrived home at 7:26 PM on Saturday December 06TH 2025. My 10-day and 6½-hour Thanksgiving trip to and from Wylie Texas was complete. I enjoyed refreshing my memory and writing about it over the next 2½ weeks following my return. (I completed this post on Christmas Eve.) I hope that you enjoyed reading about it over the past couple of months.

As for my next trip to visit family – that may occur in less than 3 months. As for next Thanksgiving – I’ll likely revert back to tradition and fly out 8 days before the holiday (instead of the night before) – and I’ll return back home on the night after the holiday (#BlackFriday). Or maybe I’ll do something completely different and stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday and instead visit my family during the week leading-up to Christmas. I’ll figure it all out in a few months. #StayTuned

How was my driving in 2025 ? I’ll look back at it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 467

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 January 25TH 2026 – the 467TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 12 World On Fire
[3RD week @ # 1]		 for King + Country Ft. Taylor Hill
2 2 15 How Good It Is Chris Tomlin
3 3 16 Dusty Bibles Josiah Queen
4 4 26 Can’t Steal My Joy Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
5 7 4 Heaven On My Mind TobyMac
6 10 2 Where Would I Be Peter Burton
7 9 2 Finished Caleb & John
8 8 2 Homesick For Heaven Phil Wickham
9 – 1 The Love I Have For You Colton Dixon
10 5 7 God Did ! Sons Of Sunday

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “Running Back To You” – Seph Schlueter
2024 – “I Believe” – Phil Wickham
2023 – “Who I Am” – Ben Fuller
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha C. Leonard

PETER BURTON – For much of the latter portion of last year – I noticed an artist who I had never heard of with his song lingering down near the bottom of the national Christian pop music charts. It had a few hundred airplays each week, but its audience reach was fractional (well below a million). It was essentially being played at many local radio stations, but none of the big stations in big cities on regional or national networks. It took a while, but luckily Peter Burton’s debut song “Where Would I Be” got noticed, gained momentum, and is now one of the hottest new songs on the radio. His song was inspired by his struggles with mental illness and his victorious journey with Christ.

ONE-HIT WONDER – All Creatures are singer Chris Cron and producer Ben Thompson. Their debut song – stylized as “[wonder working]” – was a quick hit on the radio from March to May of 2022. It spent 2 weeks at # 1 as my 73RD chart-topper of this current era, and then the song inexplicably disappeared from the radio. Aside from my Spotify playlists – I don’t think I’ve heard it on the radio since then. It’s such a great overlooked song.

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) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 25TH 2026, 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.

Last Sunday morning at my home church we began our (probable) year-long message series from the Book of Acts. We covered Acts 1:1-11 which documents the promise of the Holy Spirit and the Ascension of Jesus. The Book of Acts is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke – written by Luke the Physician. It begins where the Gospel of Luke ends. The Gospel of Luke and The Book of Acts are essentially a two-part chronicle from the birth of Jesus to the spread of Christianity led by the Apostle Paul. He wrote it between 60 and 62 A.D.

We’ll also be discussing The Book of Acts each week at Friday Night Bible Study at my church. It will essentially be a “look back” at the previous Sunday’s message.

Here in my neighborhood a friend of mine leads Thursday Night Bible Study at our clubhouse. We just started studying Peter’s first letter. Back in 2021 and 2022 I preached 5 sermons from 1 Peter – “Salvation & Hope” (1:3-12), “Holy & Redeemed” (1:13-23), “Stones & Stumbles” (1:23-2:9), “Honor & Respect” (2:10-25), and “Good & Evil” (3:8-4:8).

I’ve been asked if I prefer preaching and studying with a traditional Bible or an electronic Bible.

I love traditional Bibles. I keep 2 in my car at all times. I have my very first Bible that I bought 19 years ago in my car, and I have a very worn and weathered New Testament / Proverbs / Psalms Bible that I usually bring into church on Sunday mornings and Friday evenings. I usually bring in my original first Bible to Thursday Night Bible Study. I also have a large-print Study Bible that I keep next to my desktop computer that I utilize frequently during the week – especially when I’m writing new sermons.

But I also love YouVersion. It’s the most downloaded and used Bible app worldwide with over 1 billion installs on smart phones and tablets since 2008. I’ve been using it on my own devices for most of that time. So – if I’m ever more than a few feet away from any of my traditional Bibles – then I’ve always got my electronic Bible in every translation.

Thanks to modern technology – you never have to worry about having the Bible away from you. And since that’s the case – the most important thing to do is to open it, read it, and study it daily. Read God’s Word. I love the quote – “Don’t say God is silent when your Bible is closed”.

As the Bible says in Isaiah 29:11-13 (NLT):

All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read – they will say – “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” When you give it to those who cannot read – they will say – “We don’t know how to read.”

And so the Lord says – “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

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) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography History Holidays Home Movies Travel Weather

My Final Morning In The DFW

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the start of my last full day in North Texas from November 26TH to December 06TH. (It was another movie and another lunch out for me and my brother.) We saw the movie in the longtime movie theatre building that we saw many movies from the Summer of 2007 to the Summer of 2013 – Cinemark Legacy in north Plano along U.S. 75. It’s been there since the late-1990s. My brother used to live in neighboring Allen, and that’s where we enjoyed our West Philly-style cheesesteak lunch after.

Fun Facts: Over 400,000 residents live in Plano and Allen combined. They are located about 25 miles NNE of Downtown Dallas – a straight shot down U.S. 75 (also known as the North Central Expressway). The frequently congested freeway was built in the 1950s and 1960s from south to north. It greatly contributed to suburban sprawl northeastward from Dallas into Collin County. About 1.3 million residents call Collin County home. In 1960 the population was a little over 41,000.

On that Friday December 05TH I spent much of the rest of the day packing and preparing for my return trip back home to Florida the next day.

My last morning was the start of yet another cold, cloudy, and foggy day in the #DFW. Hopefully incoming and outgoing flights wouldn’t be affected by the low ceiling. No need for me to worry about things I can’t control.

My brother went out early in the fog to his favorite local family-owned donut shop. (There are lots of them all around the area – most of them in strip shopping centers. They all seem to have a nondescript sign in front of their space that simply says “DONUT” or “DONUTS”.)

My brother got me a cronut and an apple fritter. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cronut before, and my brother wanted me to try one. Mine was like an extra-thick honey-glazed donut, or two such donuts fried together as one. (It’s essentially a croissant-donut hybrid that’s made with croissant dough and then deep-fried like a donut.) I would eat another one if my brother got me another one on my next visit to Texas. The apple fritter is just a personal favorite pastry of mine.

After short hugs and goodbyes to my best canine friend, my two nieces, and my sister-in-law – me and my brother headed to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW). The fog continued the entire way, but it wasn’t too thick.

I checked-in at Terminal B. My checked suitcase was a few pounds heavier than it was 10 days earlier when I flew into Texas. (I think it was up to 36½ pounds.) TSA PreCheck was a bit weird. It had its own dedicated line, but it ended up at the exact same CT X-ray bag scanner line for everyone else. The TSA agent simply took turns with both lines asking the next person to step forward. So – it was weird, but I only had to wait an extra minute or two to place my carry-on bags in the bins to be scanned. I did receive a card that identified me as TSA PreCheck. I gave that card to the next agent, and I went through a dedicated body scanner.

I had to wait awhile on the other (secure) side, as the bag scanner was “hiccupping” as my bag was being scanned – as well as the bag ahead of mine (belonging to someone else). So – they had to pick-up those bags / bins and rescan them. All was good after that.

I headed to my gate after that, and then when the gate changed to a few gates away – I moved there too. (It actually changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours that morning.)

And then it changed to a completely different terminal (D) just 38 minutes before boarding would begin. That annoyed those of us who were sitting comfortably at Gate B11 – including a pilot. Now we had to walk fast to pick-up the Skylink to reach the new terminal and gate. I’ll let you know how that went – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp