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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends ! This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us continue to praise, to worship, and to learn more about our God who loves us.

It is Sunday December 20TH 2020 – the 4TH Sunday of Advent, and the last Sunday before Christmas.

I plan to share John 1:6-15 with my church family later this morning:

God sent a man – John the Baptist – to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell about the light. The One who is the true light – who gives light to everyone – was coming into the world.

He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him – He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory – the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John testified about Him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for He existed long before me.’”

God used John The Baptist to herald the arrival of Jesus into the world and prepare God’s people to receive Him as God’s Son and Messiah. Jesus Christ is the Messiah – the Son of the living God.

Are you a child of God ? If you believe Him. If you accept Him as your Lord & Savior – then that’s what you are. You’re a child of the most high God. You are reborn. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

Be a witness. Tell the world what you have seen. Tell the world what you have heard. Tell the world what you have experienced from the glory of God. Tell the skeptical, unbelieving, and unaccepting world about the God that you know. The God that is with you every step of the way. The God that is with you forevermore. Tell about the light – the One who is the true light. Be a light into the world. You can change the world.

May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Blogging Driving Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1990

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 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 16TH 1990:

  1. “You’re Amazing” – Robert Palmer
  2. “Disappear” – INXS
  3. “Love Will Never Do Without You” – Janet Jackson
  4. “After The Rain” – Nelson
  5. “Impulsive” – Wilson Phillips

What a solid Top 5 chart that was exactly 30 years ago this weekend !

Robert Palmer scored a # 1 smash with his very underrated single “You’re Amazing”. It’s my 2ND-favorite song from him – 2ND to “Simply Irresistible” – which this song sounds a lot like. I’d love to purchase it online, but it is a rarity apparently. It’s not even on iTunes.

INXS and Janet Jackson held down the # 2 and # 3 spots with my favorite songs from each artist. I still love to hear them today. Nelson’s “After The Rain” is currently in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that I listen to at the workplace. I hear it almost every day.

30 years ago this past week I drove from Homestead AFB Florida (where I still work today) to McLean Virginia (my parents’ home at the time and my home as a teenager). I departed the airbase at 3:35 AM on Sunday December 16TH 1990, and I arrived at my pitstop for the night – South Of The Border (along the North / South Carolina border) – at 3:37 PM. I drove 724.7 miles that day – averaging 60.2 MPH. I departed South Of The Border the next morning at 4:58 AM on Monday December 17TH 1990. I arrived at my parents’ home at 11:17 AM. I drove 378.3 miles that day – averaging 59.9 MPH. My 1,103-mile trek up the U.S. East Coast was complete, and I spent 10 days at home with my Mom, Dad, Brother, and Cats.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to December 1985. It was my first Christmas away from home in a foreign land …

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Health

My Deep-Cleaned Teeth

♫ All I want for Christmas is my deep-cleaned teeth.
My deep-cleaned teeth. See my deep-cleaned teeth.
Gee if I could only have my deep-cleaned teeth.
Then I could wish you Merry Christmas ! ♫

Happy Thursday December 17TH 2020 my friends. Christmas Day is just 8 days away. Next Thursday here on my blog I’m bringing back a Christmas classic – “The Legend Of Fluffy The Manx Cat”. Meanwhile on this Thursday let me share with you my experience with a deep-cleaning of my teeth. It’s my unintentional Christmas gift to myself. (I’m glad I have dental insurance.)

A couple of weeks ago I went in to my longtime Dentist’s office for my annual exam (with x-rays). I also hoped to get my chipped bottom tooth filled-in during that same appointment. (I had chipped-it while eating popcorn about 3 months earlier.) The x-rays were done all around, and then the Lead Dentist entered the room for the visual exam. After a minute or two she declared that my teeth were too dirty for a proper exam, and then she sort of scolded her team of hygienists for scheduling the exam without first doing a cleaning. (My last cleaning was 2 months earlier.)

So we scheduled 2 follow-up appointments for 2 weeks later (which was this week). 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Monday, and the other 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Tuesday. My chipped tooth would be filled-in following the first deep-cleaning.

I couldn’t remember, and they really had no records of me ever getting a deep-cleaning of my teeth. (It may have been sometime in the 1990s. LOL)

I’ve been going in for regular cleanings every 3, 4, or 6 months over the past 25 years or so. Apparently there’s a big difference between regular cleanings and deep-cleanings (formally known as “periodontal scaling and root planing with gingival irrigation”), and I now know that – having gone through the complete experience. My favorite part was the anesthesia which was injected with a needle-like instrument directly into the inner-cheek of my mouth to numb it. It numbed very quickly, and I felt little to no pain while my dental hygienist went to work deep-cleaning my teeth by quadrant.

The numbness lasted for about 2½ to 3 hours after injection, so that was a weird feeling around my mouth until it wore off. I had to wait for that to happen before I could eat, drink, or shave. I was almost talking like a ventriloquist as well – barely moving my lips. LOL.

I think the deep-cleaning was really more for my gums rather than my teeth. Hopefully any developing gum disease is curtailed, and it starts retreating. I’d like to keep my full set of 32 teeth for another 25 or 30 years.

Oh yeah – I forgot this part. My Dentist asked me if I knew that I still had my wisdom teeth intact. YES – I knew. I never had them removed because they have never bothered me before, and they still don’t bother me. She recommended that I consider removing them in the future. That was before she discovered that I am 53-years-old. That astonished her. She thought I was in my 20s or 30s. Really ? Teenagers get their wisdom teeth removed – not near senior citizens !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio Scripture

My Top 20 Hits – 200 Weeks

200 weekly hit music charts and 190 positive and encouraging hits have created this cumulative hit music chart of my Top 20 hits of this current era of my chart ever since it was resurrected on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017 here in the U.S. after a 7-year hiatus. It’s based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay.

RK PK WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 25 Nobody (But Jesus) Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2 1 24 Almost Home MercyMe
3 1 22 Do It Again Elevation Worship
4 1 27 Even Then Micah Tyler
5 1 26 I Will Fear No More The Afters
6 1 24 Grace Got You MercyMe
7 2 25 Alive & Breathing Matt Maher
8 1 21 Church (Take Me Back) Cochren & Co.
9 2 30 Known Tauren Wells
10 1 22 Broken Things Matthew West
11 1 19 Even If MercyMe
12 1 17 Fear No More Building 429
13 1 25 Dead Man Walking Jeremy Camp
14 1 19 Nobody Loves Me Like You Chris Tomlin
15 1 25 The God Who Stays Matthew West
16 1 26 Different Micah Tyler
17 1 20 Home Chris Tomlin
18 1 20 Gracefully Broken Matt Redman Ft. Tasha C. Leonard
19 1 20 No Impossible With You I AM THEY
20 1 20 Forgiven Crowder

What a great chart of glorious music that gives thanks to our God. Matthew West, MercyMe, Micah Tyler, and Chris Tomlin have been quite active over the past 200 weeks placing multiple songs on my cumulative Top 20 chart. They represent 4 out of my Top 6 artists during this era with 10 # 1 hits, 44 weeks at # 1, and 18 hits overall.

Every song on here sounds as fresh today as it did when I first heard it on the radio. You know this era has been extra special for me. It’s lasted 200 weeks, and it’s still going strong. God used Christian music to rescue and save me almost 14½ years ago at the age of 39. In the beginning I solely listened to Christian music on the radio. I did that for about 3½ years. The “Salvation Era” of my chart lasted about 180 weeks, and then I completely stopped producing a weekly hit music chart after 24 years. I was actually turned-off by Christian music on the radio, but my journey with Christ continued moving forward. (I actually went in to church leadership after that.)

After a “revival” of sorts during Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017 in Tallahassee Florida and on-the-road between there and home – this weekly hit music chart was resurrected after a 7-year hiatus into this current era.

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.

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