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Blogging Driving Food Home Life Travel

My New Normal

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began – or more specifically since Friday March 20TH 2020 – I’ve driven a grand total of 367 miles over the past 76 days. That’s an average of less than 5 miles per day. (Generally I average 28 miles per day over the course of a year including road-trips.)

Over the past 76 days I drove 0 miles on 47 of those days. #SaferAtHome

I haven’t driven more than 3 days in a row since March 17TH to 20TH (4 days in a row).

I filled-up with gas on April 27TH – 48 days after the previous time I filled-up. I still have more than a half-tank remaining.

All of this ends later this month when I embark on a 1,600+ mile road-trip. That 1,600+ miles will occur during an 8-day stretch in which I’ll visit longtime friends along the way, and spend quality time with family. #Excited

I finally got a haircut for the first time in over 4 months. Usually I get one after a little more than 2 months. My hair was out-of-control. I was starting to look a lot like disheveled “Younger Me”.

This Friday June 05TH is my birthday, and I’ll be enjoying a nice delicious Lunch inside a popular local restaurant for the first time since March 15TH. I’ll be eating out a lot during this month, as I take advantage of lots of free birthday delights !

It’s Thursday June 04TH 2020, and this blog post goes LIVE at 3 AM EDT (U.S. East Coast time). It’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging for me. I’ll be back tomorrow (Friday) to go RETRO – back to a previous birthday from 49 years ago. #1971

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 172

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 31ST 2020:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 19 I Will Fear No More The Afters
2 3 7 Keep Me In The Moment Jeremy Camp
3 2 12 Alive & Breathing Matt Maher
4 5 5 Love We Are Messengers
5 4 24 Almost Home MercyMe
6 6 6 Great Things Phil Wickham
7 7 3 Amadeo (Still My God) Ryan Stevenson
8 8 3 No Impossible With You I AM THEY
9 9 3 The Father’s House Cory Asbury
10 1 See The Light TobyMac

# 1 This Week In:
2019 – “Born Again” – Austin French
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

Welcome to June. It’s one of my favorite months of the year – mostly because it’s my birthday month. I turn 53 this Friday, and I’ll celebrate with a special edition of my Friday blog series RETRO.

This past week marked 13 years of this blog. It started on Myspace during the final week of May of 2007. After 6 months and 310+ blog posts I moved it here to WordPress. It was also on Facebook from 2013 to 2017. As I enter my 14TH year of blogging my commitment remains the same – to maintain a positive Bible-based and Christ-centered blog with a music theme – and new material posted 4 times per weekend on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. Occasionally I’ll post a 5TH entry during a week on a Tuesday.

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

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Happy Sunday May 24TH 2020. This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us be the church. Let us bring the church – in everything we do – and everywhere we go.

For me (and for many of you as well) this is our 10TH Sunday in a row of no corporate church services. Many church services have been presented online – either LIVE or on Memorex. (If you get that reference then you are as old as me.)

I’ve watched many church services online. My Pastor has generally preached solo on Saturday nights from our sanctuary – recording his sermons – and then uploading them to Facebook soon after. I’ve been watching them the next morning – on Sundays right around 10 AM – the exact time when I would normally be driving to our church building. (Hopefully we’ll be able to do that again real soon – maybe as soon as next Sunday.) I miss my church family in-person.

Incidentally you can view any of my Pastor’s recent sermons on Facebook by clicking this link.

I’ve recently updated and enhanced my SERMONS page here on my blog. Check it out for my own sermon history. I’ve got future enhancements planned for this blog to include audio files of sermons. It would be a new concept for me – preaching a sermon while recording it (via my iPhone), and then uploading it as an audio file to my blog. I’ve never done it before, so I’ll experiment with it. Maybe there’s a podcast in my future ?

You know our God doesn’t want us to stay in place in neutral mode. He wants us to keep moving forward towards Him and His light. He wants us to move forward physically and spiritually. I believe that if you’re not learning something new about God on each new day of this journey then you’re not moving forward towards Him. You may not be retreating, but you may be standing still, or just barely moving along. Standing still does not get you closer to God. Barely moving along means you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities – on a lot of miracles – that God has planned for you. We must keep learning each and every day that God gives us on this Earth. Older people can learn about God from younger people. Longtime believers and followers of God can learn about God from newer and even baby Christians just learning how to walk on this journey.

Together we must:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead – fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)

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

Categories
Blogging Career Christian Driving Food God Health Home Life Travel Weather

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

It’s back for the first time in 5 months – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

  • I miss doing these fun blog posts.
  • This was a fan favorite from the early days of this blog.
  • By “early days” I mean late-2000s.
  • Most of you weren’t tracking with me back then.
  • “Tracking with me” – that’s a favorite phrase among pastors and preachers.
  • This “Sunday Scripture” I’ll look back at my 4-part sermon “Faces & Heels”.
  • It’ll be a nice wrap-up of that 4-Sunday experiment.
  • So I’m nearing the end of Week 4 of my work-at-home experience.
  • It’s an experience – no longer an experiment.
  • The biggest “pro” – not having to deal with traffic.
  • The biggest “con” – working longer (and more erratic) hours at home.
  • I’m working out of my kitchen.
  • I never eat in my kitchen.
  • I always eat in my living room.
  • I’ve driven only 88 miles over the past 28 days.
  • I last filled-up with gas 37 days ago.
  • Last week I walked only 11.63 miles.
  • That was barely over 25,000 steps in 7 days.
  • That was the lowest ever during my 4½-year #Fitbit era.
  • 3 weeks ago was my 3RD-lowest week of the era.
  • Ironically despite little to no exercise – I’m losing weight.
  • I can’t explain that.
  • Maybe I’ll get up and walk at dawn this morning.
  • Lately we’ve been close to 80°F at dawn.
  • This morning we could actually dip into the lower-70s.
  • That’s an incentive to get up and walk around outside.
  • Next week marks 12 years since I quit smoking !
  • I smoked from age 11 to 41.
  • You know I’m doing a lot less laundry since I’ve been working at home.
  • My washer and dryer are using less electric power.
  • My A.C. is using more electric power.
  • It runs at the same temperature day and night now (77°F).
  • Happy 39TH Birthday tomorrow to my sister-in-law Christina !
  • She doesn’t read this blog.
  • Nobody in my family reads this blog.
  • Happy 10TH Birthday this coming Monday to my oldest niece Taylor !
  • I met Taylor for the first time at #DFW when she was 24 days old.
  • I’m looking forward to seeing my family again at the end of June.
  • Well I’m running out of things to write, so let’s end it here.
  • That was abrupt.

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