Author: Chris M. Day

I'm almost 59 years old. I've been online for 33 years - starting with my own dial-up bulletin board system in 1993 - and continuing with AOL, my own dot.com web site, Myspace, WordPress, Twitter / X, Flickr, and Facebook.

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Bible Holidays Military Scripture

Memorial Day

2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S.A. It’s not appropriate to say “Happy Memorial Day”, for this is a truly solemn holiday. It’s the day each year that we honor our fallen heroes – those military personnel who served their country in a time of war – and who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our freedom strong. They gave their life.

This is not a day for those like me who once served in the U.S. Armed Forces, for I am still alive. My day is Veterans Day on November 11TH. It is not a day for those who are currently serving in the military. That day is Armed Forces Day – the 3RD Saturday of May.

On this day – I remember our fallen heroes. I will never forget.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church Computers God Internet Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday May 28TH 2023, 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.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the U.S.A. I’ll present my annual post honoring the day and our heroes.

“My Top 10 Hits” slides to Tuesday this weekend. All of my blog posts are published at 0300 U.S. East Coast time (0700 UTC).

A couple of weekends ago I began work on my next sermon – “Jude & Judgement”. It’s based on Jude’s letter to the Christians. The very next morning – my Pastor at my longtime home church – out of the blue a few moments before the start of the service – asked me to read Jude 1:3 (NLT) once he reached that part of his sermon and called on me to do so. I could not believe his request. How did he know that I’ve started writing a sermon on Jude ? How did he know that I just read the entirety of Jude (25 verses) back in the fellowship hall just before that moment ? How did he know that I’d been praying about the direction of my developing sermon on Jude ? Well – he didn’t know any of that. He and I were both reading, writing, and studying about Jude at the exact same time.

That’s why I love my Pastor of the past 8+ years. He and I are frequently on the same page with scripture and sermons. As long as he continues to preach – I’ll be watching from afar on Facebook. And every so often – I’ll be watching him in action in person.

A month ago here on #SundayScripture I began transcribing my sermon on “Paul & Titus” that I preached to my church family (filling-in for my Pastor) on March 05TH 2023. Here’s Part 5:

[CONTINUATION OF SERMON]

You know the Apostle Paul – he gave advice and instructions to Titus on how to lead the church on Crete, but Paul constantly reminded Titus for who he is – he is one who is saved by Christ – both of them. Paul trusted Titus to continue the good work that had started with the creation of the new church on the island.

Paul reassured Titus:

For the grace of God has been revealed – bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God – while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior – Jesus Christ – will be revealed. He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people – totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14)

That first sentence there – “for the grace of God has been revealed – bringing salvation to all people.” I love that. Because of that – I stand before you here today. And you and I know each other today. If it weren’t for God’s grace and His salvation for me – I wouldn’t be here today !

It reminds me of another one of Paul’s letters – to the Ephesians – when he wrote:

God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Geography Health Home Life Travel Weather

Neighborhood Walks

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Longtime readers of my blog – going back to its debut here on WordPress some 15½ years ago – may remember a series of blog posts under the heading of “The Major’s Walk-A-Thon”. It’s where I revealed and described my various neighborhood walks – mostly at dawn. They were dedicated to the memory of my Dad – who lost the ability to walk on his own in 2007 – and eventually passed away from the devastating effects of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

16 months into my fantastic journey (salvation in Christ) I began neighborhood walks to get healthy – physically, mentally, and spiritually. The walks were mostly over 1 mile in length, and up to 2, 3, and even 4+ miles. They were confined to the dry seasons here in South Florida – generally from October to May. They were “power walks” – with a pace of between 17 and 18 minutes per mile.

Season 1 was 2007-2008, and it was a shock to the system, as I had never done such a thing before in my entire life – walk to get fit. It was well-documented here on my blog. At that time in my life – I was slowly rebounding from the worst physical shape of my life. (I actually quit drinking less than 2 months earlier.)

I’m now approaching the end of Season 16. That’s right – 16 seasons of walking. So far this season I’ve walked around my neighborhood 27 times. That’s the 2ND-most number of walks in a season (surpassed only by Season 8 – 2014-2015). Those 27 walks include 8 in my longtime Homestead neighborhood (or the nearby city park) – and 19 in my new Sebring neighborhood. (My new 55+ neighborhood is near-ideal for such walks, and many of my neighbors are doing it too. I need to keep-up with them.)

So far this season I’ve walked a total of 37.80 miles. That’s the 4TH-highest number of miles (surpassed by 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017).

This season is not yet complete. We’re still getting (weak) cold fronts up in the Florida Heartland, and those cold fronts are still delivering the refreshing 60s into the region at dawn, and low humidity during the day and into the early-evening hours. Eventually it’ll get too consistently wet, warm, humid, and buggy to walk, so I’ll just be resting-up in preparation for an early debut to Season 17 come September !

Next #TravelThursday it’s all about the miles – on my car. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 327

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 nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday May 21ST 2023 – the 327TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 12 This Is Our God
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Phil Wickham
2 1 18 The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) Matt Maher
3 3 8 Fingerprints Dan Bremnes
4 4 25 I See Grace Micah Tyler
5 6 8 Cornerstone TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
6 8 2 Anxious Heart Jeremy Camp
7 9 5 Thank God I Do Lauren Daigle
8 10 3 You Will Be Found Natalie Grant Ft. Cory Asbury
9 – 1 That’s The Thing About Praise Benjamin William Hastings Ft. Blessing Offor
10 – 1 Fear Is Not My Future Maverick City Music Ft. Brandon Lake & Chandler Moore

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Egypt” – Cory Asbury
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Alive” – Big Daddy Weave
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Oh My Soul” – Casting Crowns

VIEW FROM ABOVE – I’ve got a new # 1 smash. After 12 weeks at the top Matt Maher slips a notch to # 2 with what will likely be one of the top songs of the entire year – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”. We actually sing that song as part of Praise & Worship at my home church. No need for me to follow the words on the big screen, as I’ve got it memorized after hearing it on the radio a few hundred times since January. Replacing Matt Maher at # 1 is Phil Wickham, as he reaches the top of my chart for the first time ever – with his 8TH hit and 70TH week overall on my chart.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, a special #MemorialDayMonday, and #Top10Tuesday.

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. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp