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.
I was rescued and saved by my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ 15 years ago this week. I’ve observed and celebrated this week in August as my “Salvation Week” every year since 2007. It’s the anniversary of when my life unexpectedly changed forever.
I love this word cloud meme that I recently found on social media. It’s based on the first chapter of the first letter of Peter. There are a lot of good words listed. I can stare at it and look at each one of those words over and over again. It’s the story of my salvation – which continues to this day.
1 Peter 1 ends with these 5 verses:
Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. As the Scriptures say:
“People are like grass. Their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).
It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 18TH 1991:
If you read my blog post yesterday then you’ll know that exactly 30 years ago this weekend I was at sea in the Caribbean for the first time ever with my family. This is the chart that I produced just before my family arrived here in Miami.
Amy Grant is currently at # 1 on my chart as a featured artist with her husband Vince Gill on Ryan Stevenson’s tribute song to his mom – “When We Fall Apart”. Back in the early-1990s Amy was one of the hottest stars on the pop chart with 5 big hits in a row from her quintuple-platinum album “Heart In Motion” – including her 2ND hit “Every Heartbeat” – which would eventually ascend to # 1 on my chart.
Here’s the official music video for “Every Heartbeat”:
Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to August 1986.
It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the Western Caribbean via cruise ship. Exactly 30 years ago this morning – August 19TH 1991 – I awoke on a cruise ship at sea for the first time ever.
My Mom and Dad asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise with them and my little brother earlier in 1991, and (not knowing much about cruise ships at the time) – I said “YES !”.
They all flew down to Miami from the Washington D.C. area, and I drove up from 30 miles away. (I live in South Florida.) We embarked on the Norwegian Seaward – a fairly-new 3-year-old ship at the time. I believe there were 4 ports-of-call on the itinerary in the Bahamas, Grand Cayman Island, Ocho Rios Jamaica, and Cozumel Mexico (don’t remember the exact order). It was a 7-day cruise, and I pretty much fell in love with cruising during that week.
Ocho Rios stands out the most from that cruise. I remember doing a shore excursion with my family on a boat or a raft from the top of a hill, and we sailed slowly down a lazy river back to sea level as our host / guide sang to us. I always thought that it was Dunn’s River Falls, but you can only walk up and down those steeper falls – you can’t be on a boat or a raft on it. That trip down a river was likely part of a larger full-day coach tour of the island. Of course this was 30 years ago, so I don’t remember everything about it.
Ocho Rios also stands out in that I haven’t been back since on any other cruise or otherwise. I’ve been to the Bahamas, Grand Cayman Island, and Cozumel Mexico many times since that first cruise. I’ve been to Cozumel more than any other cruise ship port (by far).
I wrote about my 10TH Anniversary Carnival Imagination cruise in September 2009. Read it here.
I’ve got my 15TH Carnival cruise booked, and it’ll be my 23RD cruise overall. I’ll be visiting the “ABC Islands” – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.
I had two back-to-back poor cruising experiences on Norwegian in January 2013 and Carnival in May 2014. After those two cruises – I kind of decided that it would be the end of the cruising era of my life. They were my 19TH and 20TH cruises, and I thought that perhaps I’d “retire” after 20 and rediscover Florida and America rather than the Caribbean.
I actually lost my desire to cruise for a few years after that. But that didn’t last long. My brother and sister-in-law invited me to be a part of a short 4-day family cruise on Disney out of Miami, and I said “YES !”.
It was my first cruise in nearly 4 years, and my 21ST cruise overall. It was also a fantastic cruise that greatly exceeded my expectations for a Disney cruise. The food was outstanding, and the entertainment was a lot of fun. I also relived my youth (OK – 30s) out on the dancefloor on that cruise !
9 months later – I was on my 22ND cruise – back on Carnival. I booked it 2½ weeks after I returned home from that Disney cruise. Unlike my previous Carnival cruise nearly 5 years earlier this one was a fantastic one.
So now I have my 23RD cruise booked – also on Carnival. I actually booked it 11 months in advance about a month before COVID swept the world, and it was ultimately canceled, so I rebooked it. I’m so looking forward to visiting the “ABC Islands”. I’ve been to Aruba and Curaçao before (on a Carnival cruise in October 2012), but I’ve never been to Bonaire.
I still plan to continue to rediscover Florida and America in the years to come – particularly post-retirement, but I won’t rule-out cruising. I’d like to take another TransAtlantic cruise in the future. My cruise from Rome Italy to Miami Florida in 2007 (on Carnival) remains as the greatest of all of the cruises I’ve experienced.
Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.
They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.(Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
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 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:
NEW # 1 – Ryan Stevenson’s 6TH of 7 hits since 2017 is now his 2ND # 1 smash on my chart, as “When We Fall Apart” completes its slow 3-month climb from # 5 to # 1. He originally released this single solo in October 2019 on the 10TH anniversary of the passing of his mom from bone cancer. The words of the song are the last words his mom spoke to him. Over a year later in March 2021 the single was redone and reissued – this time with country music legend Vince Gill and mainstream and Christian pop music star Amy Grant (Vince’s wife of the past 21 years). Here’s the official music video:
TOMLIN @ # 7 – Chris Tomlin is back with his 7TH hit since 2017, and he brings back Thomas Rhett with him. He also introduces Florida Georgia Line to my chart for the first time ever. Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley are #FGL, and they’ve enjoyed a long string of hits at country music radio over the past 10 years. Some of them have even crossed-over onto the mainstream pop charts. This is their first appearance at Christian music radio.
This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.
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 the 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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
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