Author: Chris M. Day

I'm 58 years old. I've been online for 32 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.

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 431

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 May 18TH 2025 – the 431ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 8 Unashamed
[2ND week @ # 1]		 Matthew West
2 4 9 You Never Gave Up On Me The Afters
3 3 16 Money Can’t Buy Cochren & Co.
4 2 12 A Lil Church (Nobody’s Too Lost) TobyMac
5 5 8 Oh Death MercyMe
6 10 2 The King Is In The Room Phil Wickham
7 9 5 No Fear Jon Reddick
8 6 7 Jesus Loves Zach Williams
9 8 10 Whisper And The Wind Bodie
10 7 7 Your Way’s Better Forrest Frank

# 1 This Week In:
2024 – “Counting My Blessings” – Seph Schlueter
2023 – “This Is Our God” – Phil Wickham
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

THE AFTERS – Their 4TH hit over the past 6½ years reaches # 2 this week, as “You Never Gave Up On Me” continues to impress. All 4 of their hits have reached my Top 3 – including the # 1 smash hits “Well Done” and “I Will Fear No More” (# 1 exactly 5 years ago during the pandemic). You know – when I hear songs that were playing on the radio during the pandemic – I sometimes get goosebumps. It brings me back to that uncertain time in an eerie homebound world when our lives were disrupted. We had never experienced anything like it in our lifetimes, and hopefully (with lessons learned) we’ll never go through any of that ever again. But even during that dark time – God’s light was still shining bright. The Afters’ song “I Will Fear No More” was the right song at the right time.

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 May 18TH 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.

I recently completed a test online consisting of 45 questions regarding my personal ministry. (There’s a “full version” and an “express version”. I took the full version.)

As you can see – the test determined that I am best as a Teacher in ministry. Evangelist came in a surprising 2ND place, as that’s actually my favorite area of ministry. Pastor was an unexpected 4TH place. I wonder which questions I answered that negatively impacted that score. I’ve been a Teacher in the church (mostly at my first church), and of course I’ve been an Evangelist and a Pastor (mostly at my second church). I actually didn’t think I was a very good Teacher, but perhaps I’m being too self-critical. I do love to evangelize. I love to bring the Good News of God to the public – those in and out of the church – those online and offline. When evangelizing (and preaching) there’s a great deal of teaching involved. I’ve always said that when you proclaim and teach the Gospel – you preach.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church – the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT)

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

Categories
Blogging Books Commerce Driving Food Geography Music Shopping Travel Weather

Texas Concert

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is a continuation of my post from last week when I drove 76 miles from Sebring to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ), and then I flew nonstop direct to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW). Last week I wrote about Jollibee, Starwood Cafe, and Texas Theatre.

This week – the adventure continues. We’re up to the day after Night 2 – Thursday – and this was really the only day that we were forecasted to receive nice weather. In fact – it was supposed to be sunny, clear, and warm on that day with a high in the mid-80s. Yeah – that didn’t happen. It was cloudy (even a bit foggy at times) and chilly with the 60s and the 70s. I think the sun finally emerged for an hour or so during the early-evening hours. North Texas weather can be difficult to forecast during the Spring and Fall months.

Me and my brother went to Barnes & Noble to check out books, magazines, and music. Remember all of the great bookstores that used to exist back in the ’80s and ’90s ? I’m thinking B. Dalton Bookseller, Waldenbooks, Borders, and even Crown Books up in Maryland and Virginia. Those were fun places to hang out at – those and record stores. Most of the bookstores had records, and most of the record stores had books. I’m glad that Barnes & Noble still exists as the last of all of them.

For lunch me and my brother went to Scotty P’s – a local fast-food restaurant. I had the chicken sandwich with fries. (I see a trend developing here.)

For dinner my brother picked-up Whataburger meals for our family. I requested a cheeseburger, fries, and fried apple pie. I got the fries and apple pie, but no cheeseburger. When my sister-in-law handed out all of the burgers – there was none left for me. My brother was either shortchanged, or he ordered incorrectly. (I suspect the former.) I watched everyone else eat their burger as I went without. I kept quiet about it. No need to dwell on it; although, let me just add that Whataburger does make a pretty good fast-food burger. Maybe next time I’ll get to enjoy one. Maybe in November.

OK – here’s the reason for the title of this blog post. Our family attended a circus-themed choral concert performed by a few hundred 5TH, 6TH, 7TH, and 8TH graders from two different schools – inside the auditorium of one of the local high schools. I think it was my first such school concert ever, and it was the first time that I’ve been inside of a high school in 40 years – since I was a graduate of the Class Of 1985. My youngest niece was a performer at the concert. She showed off her gymnastics skills. The concert was actually better than expected – a lot of fun. It was also a bit long – 90 minutes !

So that was my Thursday earlier this month in North Texas. Next #TravelThursday – it’s Part 3 of my fun with family, as me and my brother see a movie and I eat more chicken. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Career Holidays Military

Happy Armed Forces Week

It’s Wednesday May 14TH 2025, and National Military Appreciation Month continues here in the U.S.A. with Armed Forces Week (all this week), and that culminates this Saturday with Armed Forces Day. Unlike Memorial Day (this year on May 26TH) and Veterans Day (November 11TH) – this is an opportunity for us to honor everyone who currently serves within our military.

Last year I retired from a nearly 39-year career with the United States Air Force. I actually committed to 4 years of active-duty service about a month into my Senior year in high school in 1984. 6 days after graduating from high school in June 1985 – I was on my way to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio Texas for 6½ weeks of Basic Military Training.

My 39 years in the USAF included 31 years as a civil-servant. Prior to that – I served 8 years on active-duty and 6 years as a reservist (overlapping with the first 6 years of my civil-service).

Up until about the age of 16 – I intended to go to college after high school and emerge with a degree in either Meteorology or Communications (radio and television broadcasting). That didn’t happen, but the USAF trained me well. It was determined that I was great at math, so I was made to be an analyst / statistician / number-cruncher for most of my career. I served as a Financial Manager for my final 16½ years.

In the USAF I had some great years, some good years, some bad years, and some horrible years. There’s an entire 13-year era that was the worst of my career (and life). Thankfully – I followed that up with the best 16½-year era of my career (and life). My career ended near a high last year.

To all military service members – whether you are currently on active-duty, a reservist, a civil-servant, or a contractor working alongside all of the above – I thank you for all that you do with each new duty day. Represent well.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp