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.

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 410

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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday December 22ND 2024 – the 410TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 19 Do It Again
[4TH week @ # 1]		 Steven Curtis Chapman
2 2 12 Love’s Got A Way Andrew Ripp
3 3 15 That’s Who I Praise Brandon Lake
4 4 4 In The Name Of Jesus JWLKRS Worship Ft. Maverick City Music
5 5 5 Praise God For That Jordan Feliz
6 – 1 Running Back To You Seph Schlueter
7 6 10 Place In This World for King + Country Ft. Michael W. Smith
8 8 14 Worship Through It Tasha Layton Ft. Chris Brown
9 10 2 Still Waters (Psalm 23) Leanna Crawford
10 9 4 The Truth Megan Woods

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “I Thank God” – Housefires Ft. JWLKRS Worship
2022 – “Who I Am” – Ben Fuller
2021 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2020 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2019 – “Unstoppable God” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Well Done” – The Afters
2017 – “Control (Somehow You Want Me)” – Tenth Avenue North

CHRISTMAS # 1 – So – as it turns out – my Christmas # 1 was already on my chart in the middle of August. Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Do It Again” spends its 19TH non-consecutive week on my chart – and 4TH week in a row at # 1. It’s my 106TH # 1 smash since this current era began 410 weeks ago. Here’s that fun vintage music video again that looks back at Steven’s life and career thus far.

TOP 24 OF 2024 – Next Monday I’ll publish my 52ND and final Top 10 chart of 2024, and then – the next day – I’ll publish my Top 24 hits of 2024. Spoiler: It appears that “Do It Again” has clinched the #6 spot for the year.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 22ND 2024, 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.

It’s another frigid morning in the low-40s here in Sebring. It feels like Christmas. It also looks like Christmas – with all of the beautiful trees, and decorations, and lights everywhere I go.

I’m looking forward to celebrating the season with my Highlands Community Church family this morning at 10 AM. (Service starts at 10:30 AM.) We’re also hosting our “Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Gathering” at 7 PM this Tuesday night. If you’re in the local #SebringFL / #HighlandsCountyFL area, and you don’t already have a home church (or they don’t have a Christmas Eve service) – then I invite you to come join us. We are a no judgment “come as you are” church. No need to dress up. Be yourself. Wear what’s comfortable. But remember – it’s cool outside, and it may be cool inside too.

We’re also on YouTube, and all of our services are presented LIVE and forever at – https://www.youtube.com/@HighlandsCommunityChurch-bw5yi

Finally – our Senior Pastor Tim recently did a podcast titled “Christmas: Jesus The Light”. It’s a little less than 6 minutes long, and you can hear it at – https://sebring.com/?p=podcasts_listen&pid=226

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography Home Travel

Homestead And Back

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Thursday morning I drove down to Homestead Florida for the 32ND time since I bought my new home in Sebring Florida 22 months ago. Traffic was a bit heavier than normal for a Thursday morning with lots of truckers and tourists from the north.

I actually drove straight to Longhorn Steakhouse – where I met up with two former coworkers / supervisors for another one of our reunion lunches. We meet about every 3 months. It’s a great tradition that we’ve continued for many years now.

This will likely be my final monthly visit to Homestead. I’ve kept my longtime condo since moving away. I hope to put it on the market next month, and hopefully it will sell fast. I’ll still visit Homestead in 2025 – just not as often – maybe every 3 months or so.

It’s a nice 3½-hour drive between my new home and my old home. 99% of it is on just two highways – U.S. 27 and Florida State Road 997 (locally known as Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County).

I drove back home this past Sunday afternoon after church and lunch in Homestead. My scenic (mostly rural) drive includes 6 Counties – Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, and Highlands.

Once I’ve reached U.S. 27 near the Miami-Dade / Broward line – I’m on the road that I live on. (My neighborhood’s entrance is directly on U.S. 27 just shy of 150 miles away.)

Once I’ve reached South Bay near the south end of Lake Okeechobee in far-western Palm Beach County – I’ve reached the halfway point. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped anywhere in South Bay. I’ve only driven through it. A new RaceTrac Travel Center is currently under construction. That holds promise for potential future stops.

Clewiston (in Hendry County) is next up on the trek. It’s actually the most populated city directly along the road between Homestead and Lake Placid (in Highlands County). Over 7,000 residents call Clewiston home. A longtime Sonny’s BBQ recently went out-of-business along U.S. 27 in Clewiston. I’ve stopped there a few times for a mid-trip meal. If only I were driving through the area before 1999 when Old South Bar-B-Q Ranch drew in the hungry locals and tourists along U.S. 27 for over 40 years.

I’ve written about Love’s here on my blog in the past. It’s just west of the small town of Moore Haven. It was built in 2016 and opened in March 2017. I remember driving by it a few times while it was under construction thinking that I’d very likely be a future customer there. I’ve stopped there many times – in fact – more times than not heading northward. Their employees are friendly. Their restrooms are wonderful – large and mostly clean. They have an Arby’s on-site, and lots of gas pumps. That Love’s stop is right at the two-thirds point of my trek back home.

And then there’s the ordinary (but beautiful to me) “ENTERING Highlands COUNTY” road sign at the slight rightward bend in the road. Once I reach that sign – I’m 40 miles / 45 minutes away from home. I used to dream of living in Highlands County every time I saw that sign during my road-trips northward. My dream came true 22 months ago. Now I’m glad to be back home again when I see that sign. (The whole County is my home.)

From the Highlands County line northward – it’s a slow ascent from elevations in the 60s (feet above sea level) to more than 3 times higher !

Although my visits to Homestead 3½ hours down the road will be fewer starting in 2025 – I can’t envision a time in the future when I stop driving southward to Homestead. As long as I have friends still living down there – I’ll be visiting them. That – and the scenic drive alone – is well worth the trip to and fro. The portion of U.S. 27 from I-75 northward is a trip along the main highway through rural and unspoiled South-Central Florida (“The Heartland”). I imagine that much of it looks mostly the same today as it has for the past 65 years.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my progress on Season 18 of my fitness walks around my neighborhood. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays. I’m also the Social Media Director for the Sebring Historical Society. I post on our Facebook page 6 days a week – Mondays to Saturdays.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 409

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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday December 15TH 2024 – the 409TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 18 Do It Again
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Steven Curtis Chapman
2 2 11 Love’s Got A Way Andrew Ripp
3 4 14 That’s Who I Praise Brandon Lake
4 7 3 In The Name Of Jesus JWLKRS Worship Ft. Maverick City Music
5 6 4 Praise God For That Jordan Feliz
6 3 9 Place In This World for King + Country Ft. Michael W. Smith
7 5 9 If I Got Jesus Ben Fuller
8 8 13 Worship Through It Tasha Layton Ft. Chris Brown
9 9 3 The Truth Megan Woods
10 – 1 Still Waters (Psalm 23) Leanna Crawford

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “I Thank God” – Housefires Ft. JWLKRS Worship
2022 – “Who I Am” – Ben Fuller
2021 – “On Our Way” – MercyMe Ft. Sam Wesley
2020 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2019 – “Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp
2018 – “Well Done” – The Afters
2017 – “Control (Somehow You Want Me)” – Tenth Avenue North

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN – He’s 62, and he’s been writing and singing to God since his mid-20s. Officially he’s got 50 # 1 smash hits in his career (more than any other Christian artist). He entered my chart for the very first time in August 2022 with “Don’t Lose Heart” – which was officially his 50TH # 1 smash nationwide (in February 2023). His 2ND hit – is his 1ST # 1 smash on my chart – “Do It Again”. It sounds like a throwback to mid-1980s power-pop. Check out the fun vintage music video that looks back at his life and career.

TOP 24 OF 2024 – 2 more weekly charts remain in 2024, and then I’ll have all of the data that I need to compile my Top 24 hits of 2024. I’ll publish it here on Tuesday December 31ST 2024. Looks like exactly half of the songs in my current Top 10 will be on my Top 24 Of 2024 – including of course – “Do It Again”.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp