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Destination Wichita Falls Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week I begin a new 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. (I actually returned home just a few nights ago, but I’ll cover that in Part 4.)

I planned this trip back in mid-June, and I actually made my airline reservations for it a full 2 weeks before I made my airline reservations for the Northern Virginia & Washington D.C. trip that I chronicled in here for 7 weeks through last #TravelThursday.

I actually left home early last Wednesday morning (September 24TH 2025). After a fun (and regularly-scheduled) weekly social and lunch downtown with my museum friends of the Sebring Historical Society – I departed for Tampa. This would be my second trip to Tampa in exactly 9 weeks, and for the second time in a row – I stayed at the same exact hotel as I stayed at last time. Unlike the previous trek to Tampa – the weather was spectacular – nothing but blue skies and sunshine.

I took a bit of a different route into Tampa. I took Florida State Road 60 from Mulberry straight into the heart of downtown and out the other side, and then I made a right onto Westshore to my hotel. It’s a route that I’ve taken many times before to see concerts and hockey games, visit the aquarium, and even go on a cruise. (SR-60 runs a few blocks north of the Channel shopping, dining, and entertainment district.)

Fun Fact: From Mulberry westward to Westshore – the 35½ miles of Florida State Road 60 goes by several names – Canal Street, Brandon Boulevard, Adamo Drive, Channelside Drive, and Kennedy Boulevard.

I drove right past the front of the studios of my favorite TV station in the region – FOX-13. I watch them – particularly their news shows and personalities – more than any other station by far. (Sebring and Highlands County is an outer fringe county in the vast Tampa Bay viewing area.)

I made the right onto Westshore, and there it was – Westshore Plaza – Tampa Bay’s first enclosed and air-conditioned shopping mall. It opened a few months after I was born in 1967. When I lived in Tampa part-time from mid-1993 to early-1994 – Westshore was my go-to shopping mall. It was thriving back then, as were most shopping malls in the U.S.A. 32 years later – the mall is in its last days, as there are plans to demolish it and redevelop the 54-acre property that it sits on.

Once I checked-in at the hotel – the front desk clerk / sales director saw my address and remarked that he was born and raised in Sebring. We talked about what Sebring is like today versus what it was like when he lived there during the 1990s. (It hasn’t changed much since then.)

After a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast at the hotel – I took their shuttle to Tampa International Airport (#TPA) for my second consecutive round-trip flight. This time I knew what to expect, as I was just there for departure 9 weeks earlier. I had aisle seats from Tampa to Dallas (#DFW), and also from Dallas to Wichita Falls, so I couldn’t do my favorite thing while flying – and that is – studying the weather and the landscape below. Both departures and arrivals were early, and my arrival at Wichita Falls Regional Airport (#SPS) was very early – like over a half-hour early. I had to wait awhile for one of my family members to pick me up.

We’ll pick-up with the family adventures in the Wichita Falls area next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Yom Kippur

The Day of Atonement

Then the LORD said to Moses – “Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month – nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly – a day to deny yourselves, and present special gifts to the LORD. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement – when offerings of purification are made for you – making you right with the LORD your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all ! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.” (Leviticus 23:26-32 NLT)

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

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 450

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 September 28TH 2025 – the 450TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 16 Breakdown
[5TH week @ # 1]		 Andrew Ripp
2 2 15 What An Awesome God Phil Wickham
3 3 4 I’ve Just Seen Too Much Big Daddy Weave
4 4 8 Preach Ryan Stevenson Ft. Matt Hammitt
5 7 9 Can’t Steal My Joy Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
6 5 19 God Did It Micah Tyler
7 6 21 The King Is In The Room Phil Wickham
8 8 4 Still Crowder
9 9 7 Let The Church Sing Tauren Wells
10 10 2 Get Behind Me Emerson Day

# 1 This Week In:
2024 – “Up + Up” – Colton Dixon
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Good Morning Mercy” – Jason Crabb
2021 – “Into The Wild” – Josh Baldwin
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

JOSIAH QUEEN – His 3RD hit on my chart is now his 3RD Top 5 hit, as “Can’t Steal My Joy” continues its slow ascent. You may think that it’s a quick breakout smash for Josiah and Brandon Lake, but the song has been around all year. It was actually released as a single way back during the early part of January, and some Christian CHR (contemporary hit radio) stations have actually been playing it ever since the start. It’s currently # 2 nationally, and it’ll likely reach # 1 next week. And there’s a possibility that it could reach the top of my chart either next week or soon after.

ONE-HIT WONDER – 7eventh Time Down from Mount Vernon Kentucky have been rockin’ together for Christ for 21 years. You may know them for “Just Say Jesus” in 2013, or perhaps “God Is On The Move” from 2015 into 2016. But it was a late-2017 / early-2018 hit that reached # 2 on my chart for 4 weeks in a row and spent 16 weeks overall. That was “Only King Forever”, and it was the first and only time that they appeared on my chart.

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 28TH 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’m coming up on the 9TH anniversary of the preaching of my first sermon at my second church. My Pastor called me while I was on the road returning home from Wichita Falls Texas. I had driven 655 miles from there to Hattiesburg Mississippi on that Thursday September 29TH 2016. I didn’t answer my cell phone. I waited until I got to my hotel for the night and checked-in to my room before I called him back – fearing some bad news back home. I actually got good news. My Pastor asked me if I would preach that upcoming Sunday October 02ND 2016. Without hesitation I said “YES”. I told him that I would have plenty of time in my car on the road to pray about my sermon from Hattiesburg to Homestead.

I preached on “Vine & Branches” from John 15 on that Sunday, and it was the first of my 60+ sermons at my second church.

My Pastor actually asked me if I would preach the year before (in 2015 – a few months after arriving that year), and I politely turned him down and told him that I wasn’t ready yet. (I finally learned how to say “NO” at my second church.)

I actually preached twice at my first church – on New Year’s Day 2012, and then over 2½ years later on a Wednesday night at the end of July 2014. I don’t like talking about that first sermon because of the confusion and controversy behind it. The second sermon was intentional, and it went much better. Frankly – it probably led to my 60+ sermons at my second church. A longtime friend of mine who attended my eventual second church came to my first church to watch me preach, and then she went back and told her Pastor all about my sermon.

Going back to my first church (from 2007 to 2015) – I pretty much did everything that you could possibly do at a Sunday Morning service except for sing and preach. After several years of opening services, leading the announcements, leading Communion, and closing services – some members of the church body began referring to me as “Pastor Chris” (which I found out late during my 8-year stay – irritated the Pastor). I never told anyone to call me Pastor. It actually made me uncomfortable, and perhaps – in hindsight – maybe I should have told them to simply call me “Chris”.

It happened again at my much smaller second church, but eventually even the Pastor interchanged “Brother Chris” and “Pastor Chris”, so I didn’t take issue with it.

Back at my first church though – I kept getting asked when I was going to finally preach (since I “did everything else”). My reply was essentially “when the Pastor asks me to”. I think some members of the church body went to the Pastor and asked him when he would allow me to preach. I’m sure that irritated him as well. He was probably wondering why they wanted someone else to preach instead of him. Maybe he was thinking that I was telling them to ask him if I could preach. (I never did that.) I actually don’t blame him for wondering and thinking those scenarios.

As I continue further into my 20TH year of salvation – I’ll continue to look back at where I came from during my early and later years. I never wish to make the same mistakes in ministry as I’ve made in the past.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 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