– It’s 9:54 PM EDT here on the U.S. East Coast as I begin compiling this.
– This easily makes it the latest edition EVER of the ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– I wanted to try something a little bit different this week.
– I wanted to compile this from a different time perspective.
– 10 PM at night is much different than 4 PM in the afternoon.
– My work day is done at 4 PM, but I’m just getting started at home.
– My entire day is virtually done at 10 PM, so I can look back at it.
– God performed yet more miracles for me at work.
– Some of them I noticed right away, and some of them were ‘God-Winks’.
– God keeps everything exciting for me in this 44TH month of my journey.
– It’s a fantastic journey that’s a winding road with dangerous curves.
– I try not to get too close to the edges.
– The enemy is anxiously waiting all along both sides of the journey.
– Today was an abnormally busy day at work in a strange way.
– It was weird how the events played out, but I was a player.
– After work I ventured over to Publix – where shopping is a pleasure.
– It’s my favourite store in the entire world.
– That’s because eating food is one of my favourite hobbies.
– If this U.S. Government thing doesn’t work out for me then I’m goin’ to Publix.
– The’re always hiring.
– I’ve heard that their work benefits are some of the best in the industry.
– I finally got home shortly before 5 PM EDT.
– That gave me about two hours to chill before heading over to Life Group.
– I was at Life Group for nearly 2½-hours.
– The time flew by as we studied His Good News – His Truth.
– So as you can see it’s been a rather hectic Thursday out and about.
– This is a Life that’s far different (and radical) than it was before Christ.
– Before I was rescued and saved 43 months ago I lived a different life.
– I really believe that if I had continued on with that life I wouldn’t be here now.
– God saved my life.
– Actually I died from my first life and He granted me a new Life.
– God took the dead man out of me.
– As Good Friday approaches in less than an hour I honour Him.
– I honour Jesus Christ for giving it all up so that I could live.
– I honour Him for dying on that bloody hunk of wood.
– I owe Him the rest of my Life for what He did for me.
– Tomorrow night I’m hangin’ out with my brothers and sisters.
– We’re having a special Good Friday service down in The Keys.
– I’m looking forward to celebrating Life with my church family.
– As a result I’m taking the night off from blogging.
– I’ll be back on here on Saturday night with your ‘Retro’ for the week.
– In the meantime be sure to follow me on Twitter.
– You won’t regret it pal.
Category: Blogging
May a fascinating new week of blogging begin … NOW !
I. House Of Heroes / Skillet / Toby Mac – Last Friday night I saw my first rock concert in a major sports arena (non church setting) in over 3 years. This was over at the 7,000+ seat Germain Arena in Estero Florida (halfway between Fort Myers and Naples right alongside I-75). I’ve been to a lot of rock concerts over the past 25 years, and this was probably the first one ever in which there was no drinking, smoking, or drug use occurring during the show. It was a fairly young crowd. At nearly 43 I was surely at the upper tier of the demographics observed. Of course just becuase I’m approaching 43 doesn’t mean that I have to act like I’m so. I stood and sang and danced for virtually the entire show – and so did everyone around me. I had to blend in with the young and energetic crowd. House Of Heroes performed 4 songs during their short 15-minute set including two of their big hits from 2008 “Lose Control” and “In The Valley Of The Dying Sun”. Surprisingly they didn’t perform their last two hits “Code Name: Raven” or “Field Of Daggers”. Skillet were up next, and based on the crowd attendance and reaction they were the unofficial headlining act of the show. Their explosive set lasted for a little over an hour, and they churned through over a decade of hard rockin’ hits. Their music was awesomely loud, and their pyrotechnics was impressively bright. The pyro was bigger than your typical WWE show on television ! It was definitely a vivid spectacle that was so fun to experience. Toby Mac was all over the arena for his 1 hour and 20 minute show. There was no pyro for his show – just powerful lyrics, kool melodies, and lots of singing, rapping, and dancing to God Almighty. I knew most of his material – but not all of it – particularly the older stuff. He did however perform “Jesus Freak” from 15 years ago. I knew that dc Talk rocker because of Chasing Victory‘s cover version of it from a few years ago. It was a great 4-hour experience at the arena from start to finish. It was a pleasure to spend it with all of those around me who love Jesus Christ and His hard rockin’ jamz !
II. Naples Florida – After a relaxing night in a nice and peaceful and quiet Estero hotel I spent the next morning into the afternoon playing the role of tourist / future resident in and around Naples. I visited the Naples Pier (and the adjacent beach), the Naples Zoo At Caribbean Gardens, and the Collier County Museum in East Naples. I was particularly impressed with my first ever visit to the museum, as it was far more expansive than I ever imagined. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to visit another Collier County Museum branch right after that – the Museum Of The Everglades – in secluded Everglades City. I had tried to visit that particular museum on a previous visit to Everglades City last October, but it was allegedly closed at the time. This time it was open and nearly packed. It’s always good to see lots of people getting a historical education at the museum. While I took I-75 over to the Naples area on Friday afternoon (to get over there quicker) I took U.S. 41 on the return trip back home on Saturday afternoon. Both coast-to-coast routes have their obvious advantages and disadvantages, and I shall continue to utilize them both on many future visits to the Southwest Florida area.
III. Next Stop – Lake Okeechobee & Florida’s Treasure Coast – In about 3½ weeks I embark on a brand new road trip adventure of a lifetime. I’ve got a detailed itinerary already planned out for bright and early on a Saturday morning through real late on a Sunday night. My trek will take me up to rural Palm Beach County – and all along the entire eastern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee. I don’t believe that I have ever seen the Big Lake ‘O’ before in my lifetime (aside from up above in an airplane). After spending the night at an undisclosed location in Fort Pierce (where Florida’s Turnpike and I-95 come together) I’ll be taking a nice and slow and scenic drive back southbound along the A1A and the U.S. 1 (for the most part) with scheduled pit stops at various tourist attractions in Stuart, Jupiter, and Palm Beach before I attend a LIVE concert at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. It should be a lot of fun visiting a slice of Florida that I’ve never really seen before up close.
Well my friends those are my ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ on this Tuesday night. I’m headed to Toastmasters in just a little while, so I need to go and get ready for the fun there. Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ in just about 48 hours. Until I blog again (tomorrow night) – REMEMBER THIS !
EXACTLY 9 YEARS AGO TODAY on the 27TH of March of 2001 I sent an E-Mail to my travel agent at the time. She worked on Marco Island, and I was inquiring about the area. Here’s an actual paragraph from that original E-Mail:
I am in the process of planning a two-day vacation for myself over in Naples for the final weekend of April, and I pretty much know what I am going to see and do while over there, but I also want to spend some time (maybe three or four hours at the most) in Marco Island on the day that I drive back from Naples to the Miami area.
It seems that the more things change – the more things stay the same. Back then I was planning a two-day / two-night visit over in the Naples area – my first visit over there in about a decade (since before Hurricane Andrew).
TODAY – 9 YEARS LATER – I drove right by the hotel that I stayed at back then – and I drove right by Marco Island as well. I did visit Everglades City again on this visit – my 2ND visit to the area in about 5½-months. I’ll be visiting the area again later on this year, and perhaps I’ll even make a pit stop on Marco Island.
BACK TO 9 YEARS AGO during the Spring of 2001 when a younger Y-100-listening Chris M. Day was driving around in his brand new gold 2001 Saturn SC2 with this jam cranked-up as loud as can be on the FM stereo:
This concludes another week of blogging for me. I’ll return LIVE on Tuesday night with my weekly ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ and a totally complete synopsis of my short stay over in the Naples area. Until then my friends have yourself a wonderful weekend, and be sure to follow me on Twitter. See you there.
– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Be reasonable – do it my way.
– Be radical – do it Jesus’s way.
– For the 2ND Thursday in a row I ate Lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse.
– It’s my newest (and coolest) weekly tradition.
– It’s my secret hideaway for one hour away from coworkers.
– When I walk in the joint some of the hosts and wait staff welcome me back.
– They identify me as a regular attender.
– I dig that notion !
– My favourite Tweeter is Jesse Santoyo, so you should follow him.
– Come to think of it he’s my favourite blogger too.
– At least someone out there is still kickin’ it old school.
– I’m gearing up for my short weekend trip over to the Naples FL area.
– I’ll be driving over there tomorrow (Friday) afternoon after work.
– I’ll be rocking my face off tomorrow night at the Germain Arena.
– Toby Mac, Skillet, and House Of Heroes are going to raise the roof !
– I used to go to rock concerts on a fairly regular basis before I was saved.
– It’s been a long time since my last one in a major arena (non-church setting).
– In fact it’s been over 3 years – since a Huey Lewis And The News show.
– On Saturday morning I have a few pit stops to make over in Naples.
– I’ve got to visit my animal buds over at Naples Zoo.
– I’ve also got to check out the Collier County Museum.
– I’ll also be glancing over at various neighbourhoods as I drive by them.
– I just have this feeling that I’m a future resident of the Naples area.
– I may even catch Lunch on Saturday at Sonic.
– That’s the closest Sonic to my home – 110 miles away !
– Rumours suggest that we may get our very own Sonic here in Homestead.
– Longtimers may remember when we used to have two Sonics on U.S. 1.
– One was in the Naranja area near SW 264TH Street.
– The other one was in Homestead south of SW 320TH Street.
– That was before Hurricane Andrew destroyed everything in its path.
– I’ll be at Life Pointe Church bright and early on Sunday morning.
– I’ve got to be there, as I’m hosting the 9 AM service.
– Grab your crew and check out that first service.
– That would help to free up seats for the second service.
– This Saturday night here on the blog it’s an all-new ‘Retro’.
– I’ll be flashing back 9 years ago to 2001.
– There is no ‘Disco Party’ tomorrow night, and no new blog post.
– Until I blog again on Saturday night my friends take care of yourselves.
– Spread Love – it’s contagious !
