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.

My Top 10 Hits – Week 150

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 30, 2019

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 29TH 2019:

“Unstoppable God” – Sanctus Real [# 1 last week / 8TH week on chart]
“Holy Water” – We The Kingdom [2 / 5TH]
“Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West [3 / 22ND]
“Smile” – Sidewalk Prophets [5 / 4TH]
“Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp [4 / 24TH]
“Rescue Story” – Zach Williams [8 / 12TH]
“The God Who Stays” – Matthew West [9 / 6TH]
“Almost Home” – MercyMe [10 / 2ND]
“Faith” – Jordan Feliz [7 / 12TH]
“Believer” – Rhett Walker [6 / 7TH]

# 1 One Year Ago This Week:
“Well Done” – The Afters

# 1 Two Years Ago This Week:
“Lions” – Skillet

It’s my 150TH weekly hit music chart since its resurrection during Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017. When the previous era of my chart ended almost 10 years ago at the end of January 2010 I thought that it was probably the anticlimactic ending of a hobby that dated back to my elementary school years – back when I would seek out and study the brand new edition of Billboard Magazine at my local public library. A 7-year hiatus began almost a decade ago, and then I discovered K-LOVE. This chart was reborn.

May God Bless this hobby, chart, blog, and ministry for another 150 weeks.

It’s my 52ND and final weekly hit music chart of 2019. I’ve got my Top 19 of 2019 queued up and ready to go for a special New Year’s Eve Tuesday blog post. I’ll have it online at 3 AM U.S. East Coast Time.

Tags KLOVE

Bible Christian Church Computers God Holidays Internet Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 29, 2019

On this 522ND and final Sunday of the 2010s I did what I’ve done for about 475 of those 522 Sundays, and that is to praise, worship, and celebrate our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ with my brothers and sisters of my church family.

I opened the service with God’s Word from First Thessalonians Chapter 5 (9 to 11):

For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ – not to pour out His anger on us. He died for us so that we can live with Him forever – whether we are dead or alive at the time of His return. So encourage each other and build each other up – just as you are already doing.

We had an unusually well-attended Sunday morning service for the final Sunday of the year – during the peak of holiday vacation time. In fact it was actually one of our biggest crowds of the year !

Today I led with my 30TH sermon over the past 3 years and 3 months. It was a groundbreaking sermon for me personally, and one that I was most nervous about. It’s the first time I went unscripted. I essentially had no idea what I was going to say until I actually said it. I used Internet memes to tell the story of how great our God is.

Earlier this year I began saving, collecting, and organizing Internet memes – mostly from Facebook. I then came up with the idea of preaching an entire sermon based solely on memes. Then I decided that it was a silly idea – perhaps even corny. Then I kept thinking about it, and praying about the best way to have a few dozen memes tell the story that I wanted to tell without the usual full manuscript that I write, edit, rewrite, enhance, finalize, rehearse, and print for each of my typical sermons.

I preached “Ways & Memes” today. It lasted a little over 45 minutes, and I think that it went fairly well considering I was out of my comfort zone at the pulpit. It can be rather risky giving me a wireless mic and 45 minutes to preach without a script, but I managed to do so without saying anything controversial.

Here’s 1 of the 30 memes that told the story of God’s Way:

Jesus Is

My next sermon is already half-written, and it’s titled “Church & State”. I hope to preach it to my church family in January or February. Meanwhile the saving, collecting, and organizing of Internet memes continues on. I’ll start compiling a new batch for “Ways & Memes 2” later in 2020.

1980s Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1989

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 27, 2019

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 10, 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 31ST 1989:

“Leave A Light On” – Belinda Carlisle
“Love Shack” – The B-52s
“Bust A Move” – Young MC
“Blame It On The Rain” – Milli Vanilli
“With Every Beat Of My Heart” – Taylor Dayne

And that’s how the 1980s ended high atop my Top 40 chart exactly 30 years ago this weekend. The 1980s were definitely not one of my favorite decades of secular hit music. Looking back in hindsight I place the 1990s, the 1970s, and even the 2000s (in that order) ahead of the 1980s. 1980 to 1985 (my teenage years) can be completely written off, but then it started getting good during my two years (1986-1987) in the United Kingdom (British pop). Back home stateside 1988 was essentially a rerun of 1987 in the U.K., but then the music got really good in 1989. I’ve always considered 1989 to be the first real year of 1990s music (my all-time favorite decade).

Starting next month on the 4TH Friday of the month 30 years ago will be January 1990. We’ll jump in to my all-time favorite decade then. We’ll check out the # 1 smash from one of my favorite artists of the early-1990s – a duo with a string of hits – and just a few weeks ago one-half of the duo passed away.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (New Year’s Eve) with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

Tags 1989

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Christmas In Okeechobee

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 26, 2019

Merry Day After Christmas my friends. I hope that you got to spend some quality time with loved ones, or you got to do something that you love.

For the 2ND Christmas in a row I embarked on a Florida road-trip to and from just a few hours to the north of where I live. This time I drove 355 miles round-trip to West Palm Beach, and then over to Okeechobee. It was a 4-day road-trip. I returned home yesterday (Christmas Day) morning.

Over in West Palm Beach I saw Jim Gaffigan LIVE in concert at the Kravis Center For The Performing Arts. He’s my favorite comedian today. I last saw him in 2010. Ryan Hamilton opened for Jim. He was very funny. He reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld. The next morning I spent a couple of hours at the historic Palm Beach Zoo. I got in for free as a military veteran. It was my first visit since 2010.

A few times each year I visit a town in Florida that I’ve never been to before, I haven’t visited in many years, or I’ve only driven through – in order to determine whether or not I wish to move there in a few years after I retire. I selected Okeechobee several months ago, and I spent a couple of days and nights there leading up to Christmas Day. It’s on the northern side of the big Lake Okeechobee.

While in Okeechobee I visited the main attraction – the big Lake ‘O’. I walked a couple of miles high atop the dike / levee known as the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. If you were to walk completely around the lake then it would take you a few days to do so – because it’s 109 miles around the lake ! I also ate at a couple of family-owned restaurants “where the locals eat”, and I toured the town’s old historic downtown district. It was a fun visit, but I don’t think I’d want to move there after I retire. Its location is a bit secluded from other towns. I’ll visit again though. It’s got small-town charm.

I ended up taking over 110 photos of my excursions on this Florida road-trip. 3 of them are up above, and I’ll probably post about half of the remaining photos over on my Flickr site in the weeks and months to come.