Greetings family and friends. It’s Sunday October 04TH 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this new day – this new season !
This is the U.S. Autumn Season Premiere of my blog. It will last for 6½ weeks, so that’s 26 blog posts in a row every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday – starting today !
I’m back home from my annual late-September trip to North Texas to visit family. It was a fun week with good food, lots of laughs, sharing old memories, creating new memories, and visiting new places. I’ll share a little bit more of that over the next few Thursday blog posts.
My Scripture for this Sunday is a good one for travel. Whether you’re driving to church, or driving to work, or taking a flight out to another part of the country or the world – remember this:
Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet, and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey Your righteous regulations. I have suffered much – O LORD. Restore my life again as You promised. LORD – accept my offering of praise, and teach me Your regulations. (Psalm 119:105-108 NLT)
God’s Word is our light forward, and His light shows us the way – the only way – towards eternal life with Him. Let His light shine forth in your life for guidance and direction. Let His light eradicate the darkness along your path.
All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place – where they could be alone.(Mark 6:30-32 NLT)
All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
Greetings my extended church body – my brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide. It’s Sunday September 13TH 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this day and each new day that God grants us on His fantastic journey for us.
Last Sunday morning when I arrived at my church sanctuary about 45 minutes prior to the start of the service I saw this to my surprise:
That’s our Communion table – front-and-center. I wasn’t expecting it there. You see for the past 4 years I’ve been in charge of Communion. I schedule it (usually on the first Sunday of every month). I study for it. I pray about it. I prepare the elements. I place the table. I lead my church body in Holy Communion. I did that every month from August 2016 to March 2020, and then COVID-19 hit.
We resumed regular weekly in-person services on Sunday May 31ST, but Communion was not part of the service due to COVID concerns. In June, July, and August I told my church body that eventually we would return to observing and celebrating Communion at the start of every month – once we figure out how to do it safely.
Well our Lead Pastor figured out a way to do it safely. He actually setup that Communion table, and it looked beautiful too. Once I saw that I had less than 45 minutes to study for it and pray about it. A nicety with modern technology is the fact that I had almost my entire history of Communions on a Cloud – accessible via my iPhone. I went to work to find one that was perfect for the day. Once I found it I updated it for the day. I prayed about it. I enhanced it further. I prayed about it some more. I essentially did what usually takes me much of Saturday to do at my traditional computer at home – in less than 45 minutes on my iPhone.
Our Lead Pastor delivered his message titled, “What Is The Day Of The LORD ?”, and then he called me up to lead Communion. It went rather smoothly, and it actually flowed perfectly as a nice continuation of his sermon. (That was a “God-wink” moment there.)
My Communion was based on 1 John 5:1-6:
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children too. We know we love God’s children – if we love God and obey His commandments.Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.And who can win this battle against the world ? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water, and by shedding His blood on the cross. And the Spirit – who is truth – confirms it with His testimony.
EPILOGUE: You know I’m not big into surprises. I prefer the status quo. I prefer the way that it’s always been done. But you know – I’ve come to expect God’s surprises over the past 14 years, and I love them. Our God didn’t create this fantastic journey for us to live a routine – mundane – monotonous life. He created this journey for adventure and excitement. He died for us so that we can live – live the life that He intended us to live when He created us – a life with purpose – a life with potential to change the world. There are surprises with each new curve along the journey. Grab them, and make the most of them !
All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
16 weekly hit music charts and 26 positive and encouraging hits (2 more than last Summer) have created this cumulative hit music chart of my Top 10 hits of the Summer Of 2020 based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. Here it is – from U.S. Memorial Day Weekend (last Sunday of May) to U.S. Labor Day Weekend (first Sunday of September):
I mentioned it 8 days ago here on my blog. A sleeper smash has dominated my chart this summer. I never saw it coming. It’s a song that probably shouldn’t have charted all along. It’s from a 10-song album – “Trial & Triumph” – that was released over 2½ years ago in March of 2018. It’s been on YouTube since before then. It was released as a single in 2019, and it peaked at Christian radio nationwide this past May. It debuted on my chart the week before this summer began, as airplay was ramping-up on K-LOVE. It’s the only song that spent all 16 weeks of summer (from start to finish) on my chart. Congratulations to I AM THEY with their sleeper smash of the summer – “No Impossible With You”.
There were really no other surprises for my summertime chart. Every # 1 smash made it. Every song that spent at least 1 week at # 2 made it. No artist repeated from last summer. It was a solid summer of good music for the Lord based on Good News from the Lord.
Much like all of 2020 (since March) – I’ll remember this unique summer for years to come. It’s the summer that I spent more time at home than anywhere else, and I was doing something strange at home that I had never done before (this year) – work from home. And while I was working from home I was listening to continuous positive and encouraging hits on K-LOVE. I think I’ve listened to more radio this summer than in any previous summer in modern times.
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. God used music to rescue and save me from the darkness during the Summer Of 2006.
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
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