Author: Chris M. Day

I'm 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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Blogging Health

My Deep-Cleaned Teeth

♫ All I want for Christmas is my deep-cleaned teeth.
My deep-cleaned teeth. See my deep-cleaned teeth.
Gee if I could only have my deep-cleaned teeth.
Then I could wish you Merry Christmas ! ♫

Happy Thursday December 17TH 2020 my friends. Christmas Day is just 8 days away. Next Thursday here on my blog I’m bringing back a Christmas classic – “The Legend Of Fluffy The Manx Cat”. Meanwhile on this Thursday let me share with you my experience with a deep-cleaning of my teeth. It’s my unintentional Christmas gift to myself. (I’m glad I have dental insurance.)

A couple of weeks ago I went in to my longtime Dentist’s office for my annual exam (with x-rays). I also hoped to get my chipped bottom tooth filled-in during that same appointment. (I had chipped-it while eating popcorn about 3 months earlier.) The x-rays were done all around, and then the Lead Dentist entered the room for the visual exam. After a minute or two she declared that my teeth were too dirty for a proper exam, and then she sort of scolded her team of hygienists for scheduling the exam without first doing a cleaning. (My last cleaning was 2 months earlier.)

So we scheduled 2 follow-up appointments for 2 weeks later (which was this week). 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Monday, and the other 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Tuesday. My chipped tooth would be filled-in following the first deep-cleaning.

I couldn’t remember, and they really had no records of me ever getting a deep-cleaning of my teeth. (It may have been sometime in the 1990s. LOL)

I’ve been going in for regular cleanings every 3, 4, or 6 months over the past 25 years or so. Apparently there’s a big difference between regular cleanings and deep-cleanings (formally known as “periodontal scaling and root planing with gingival irrigation”), and I now know that – having gone through the complete experience. My favorite part was the anesthesia which was injected with a needle-like instrument directly into the inner-cheek of my mouth to numb it. It numbed very quickly, and I felt little to no pain while my dental hygienist went to work deep-cleaning my teeth by quadrant.

The numbness lasted for about 2½ to 3 hours after injection, so that was a weird feeling around my mouth until it wore off. I had to wait for that to happen before I could eat, drink, or shave. I was almost talking like a ventriloquist as well – barely moving my lips. LOL.

I think the deep-cleaning was really more for my gums rather than my teeth. Hopefully any developing gum disease is curtailed, and it starts retreating. I’d like to keep my full set of 32 teeth for another 25 or 30 years.

Oh yeah – I forgot this part. My Dentist asked me if I knew that I still had my wisdom teeth intact. YES – I knew. I never had them removed because they have never bothered me before, and they still don’t bother me. She recommended that I consider removing them in the future. That was before she discovered that I am 53-years-old. That astonished her. She thought I was in my 20s or 30s. Really ? Teenagers get their wisdom teeth removed – not near senior citizens !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio Scripture

My Top 20 Hits – 200 Weeks

200 weekly hit music charts and 190 positive and encouraging hits have created this cumulative hit music chart of my Top 20 hits of this current era of my chart ever since it was resurrected on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017 here in the U.S. after a 7-year hiatus. It’s based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay.

RK PK WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 25 Nobody (But Jesus) Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2 1 24 Almost Home MercyMe
3 1 22 Do It Again Elevation Worship
4 1 27 Even Then Micah Tyler
5 1 26 I Will Fear No More The Afters
6 1 24 Grace Got You MercyMe
7 2 25 Alive & Breathing Matt Maher
8 1 21 Church (Take Me Back) Cochren & Co.
9 2 30 Known Tauren Wells
10 1 22 Broken Things Matthew West
11 1 19 Even If MercyMe
12 1 17 Fear No More Building 429
13 1 25 Dead Man Walking Jeremy Camp
14 1 19 Nobody Loves Me Like You Chris Tomlin
15 1 25 The God Who Stays Matthew West
16 1 26 Different Micah Tyler
17 1 20 Home Chris Tomlin
18 1 20 Gracefully Broken Matt Redman Ft. Tasha C. Leonard
19 1 20 No Impossible With You I AM THEY
20 1 20 Forgiven Crowder

What a great chart of glorious music that gives thanks to our God. Matthew West, MercyMe, Micah Tyler, and Chris Tomlin have been quite active over the past 200 weeks placing multiple songs on my cumulative Top 20 chart. They represent 4 out of my Top 6 artists during this era with 10 # 1 hits, 44 weeks at # 1, and 18 hits overall.

Every song on here sounds as fresh today as it did when I first heard it on the radio. You know this era has been extra special for me. It’s lasted 200 weeks, and it’s still going strong. God used Christian music to rescue and save me almost 14½ years ago at the age of 39. In the beginning I solely listened to Christian music on the radio. I did that for about 3½ years. The “Salvation Era” of my chart lasted about 180 weeks, and then I completely stopped producing a weekly hit music chart after 24 years. I was actually turned-off by Christian music on the radio, but my journey with Christ continued moving forward. (I actually went in to church leadership after that.)

After a “revival” of sorts during Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017 in Tallahassee Florida and on-the-road between there and home – this weekly hit music chart was resurrected after a 7-year hiatus into this current era.

If you’re not familiar with one or any of these songs then use Google, Bing, or YouTube to check them out. Enjoy the music, but especially listen to the words. The words of these songs represent God’s Word. Any one of these songs can change your life forever.

He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done, and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:3 NLT)

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) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio Scripture

My Top 10 Hits – Week 200

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 13TH 2020:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 3 Every Step Of The Way Cade Thompson
2 3 5 Image Of God We Are Messengers
3 2 11 Jericho Andrew Ripp
4 4 16 Rise Up (Lazarus) Cain
5 7 5 Out Of My Hands Jeremy Camp
6 8 10 Truth Be Told Matthew West
7 – 4 Famous For (I Believe) Tauren Wells
8 – 1 Man Of Your Word Maverick City Music
9 9 3 Wake Up Sleeper Austin French
10 10 3 Sparrows Cory Asbury

# 1 This Week In:
2019 – “Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp 
2018 – “Well Done” – The Afters
2017 – “Control (Somehow You Want Me)” – Tenth Avenue North

Cade Thompson holds at # 1 for a 2ND week in a row with his debut smash “Every Step Of The Way”. It’s my 14TH # 1 smash of 2020, but will it be my final # 1 smash of the year ?

Cade is originally from Sioux Falls South Dakota, but now he calls Franklin Tennessee home. It’s a fast-growing southern suburb of Nashville. Cade is a big fan of TobyMac, and he would love to tour with him in the future. Their musical styles appear to be similar.

We Are Messengers are in familiar territory. Their 6TH hit in less than 4 years is now their 4TH Top 3 hit. “Image Of God” is based on the 27TH verse of the Bible from Genesis 1:

So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them. Male and female He created them.

This is not the end of the weekend here at #CountUp. I’ll have a special Tuesday blog post tomorrow, as I present my Top 20 hits of the past 200 weeks. None of my Top 10 hits above are on my cumulative Top 20 chart, but one is coming close. Cain’s “Rise Up (Lazarus)” is a couple of weeks away from becoming one of my Top 20 hits of this current era. 

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends ! This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us continue to praise, to worship, and to learn more about our God who loves us.

It is Sunday December 13TH 2020 – the 3RD Sunday of Advent with just 2 more Sundays remaining in 2020. I’m not preaching this morning. I get to watch my Lead Pastor preach for the first time since 4 Sundays ago. I love his preaching style. He is never boring, and I always walk away from his sermons educated, enlightened, informed, and (most importantly) – closer to God. I usually walk away with new ideas for future sermons. He gets me into the Bible to take-in more of God’s wisdom.

I love to preach, and I will never turn down an opportunity to do so. It is an honor and a privilege to share God’s Good News with my brothers and sisters of my church family, as well as anyone else who will listen to me. But an important part of my ministry is hearing, listening, and absorbing God’s Word as told by others – my Lead Pastor, my Praise & Worship Pastor, the Christ-led musicians who I feature on here every Monday, and a few select TV preachers who I enjoy watching every week.

This past Wednesday night a bunch of us gathered together at our church building to decorate the sanctuary for Christmas. We got it all done in just about an hour, and now it looks a lot like Christmas. We did a good job, but the most important part of that hour was the fellowship of our church family.

On the home front I’ve begun writing my next (untitled) sermon which will cover the second-half of John Chapter 16. It’ll be the follow-up to “Spirit & Truth” – my sermon of 2 weeks ago which covered John 16:5-15. I’d also like to simultaneously write my next Malachi sermon. (I preached on Malachi during the final Sunday of August. There’s more to reveal there.)

You see as Jesus hung on the cross the world thought it had won. The world rejoiced over what it saw. The world thought it had conquered the light. Meanwhile His disciples wept and mourned over what they saw, but Christ had revealed and promised that their grief would be short-lived. Their grief would become joy over what would soon happen.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries