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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 08TH 2024, 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.

You know – I am not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord + Savior. He is the one true God. He was sent to this world as a man – not to start another religion, but to end all religion. He died for my sins and for the sins of all mankind – past, present, and future. He rose again. He is alive today. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return.

Then Jesus said – “Come to Me – all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

I know that it may sound weird and confusing for a Pastor to hate religion, but I do. Religion is about obeying manmade rules and rituals in order to get to Heaven. It’s about doing enough good things for other people. None of us is that good. All of us will fail. Many people who go to church really don’t know God. It’s just a ritual to be seen for an hour on Sundays. We are all hypocrites. We are all sinful. Religion is burdensome. It leads to a dead-end. Religion kills. Jesus saves.

I am a born-again evangelical Christian. I have a real relationship with my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ that grows with each new day. I talk directly to Him. I don’t have to go through any other person to reach Him. He’s always there for me. He lives in my heart. I love Him more than anyone and anything. He is why I exist today.

Once you dump the religion and get to know Jesus more and more with every step of the way in each new day – you will really know how to live an abundant and purposeful life with Him eternally. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, 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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Animals Blogging Food Football Home Movies Sports Travel Weather Wrestling

Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 4 days ago – I returned home from Texas. Back in mid-July I got a really good deal on American Airlines for round-trip airfare from Sarasota-Bradenton (#SRQ) to Dallas-Fort Worth (#DFW) and back. It cost less than $225 – taxes and fees included. I flew out on Wednesday August 28TH, and I returned on Sunday September 01ST. (There’s only one flight daily between the two airports.)

Fun Fact: I sat in a window seat on the 32ND row out of #SRQ, and I sat in an aisle seat on the 33RD and last row out of #DFW. I guess when you pay the bottom-of-the-barrel cost for airfare – you’re placed at the very back of the aircraft. (I could have paid extra to sit closer to the front, but why bother ?)

The inbound flight on that Wednesday afternoon flew a bunch of circles off the Florida coast northwest of the Tampa Bay area, and then it was diverted over to Jacksonville (#JAX) due to heavy thunderstorms over Sarasota at the time. It refueled there, and then it continued its flight to Sarasota. I got in to #DFW about 2½ hours late. Better late than not at all.

Me and my brother packed a lot of activities into our 3 full days together.

On Thursday I experienced a couple of firsts. A bunch of outdoor scenes were filmed for an upcoming movie that I’ll be appearing in. I’ll be an extra with about 20 others, and I do have a speaking role. I’ll be appearing (with the others) as a protestor. (Dress code = all black.) More on that (perhaps) sometime next year when the movie premieres. Later that same day – I attended a high school football game for the first time in my life. My oldest niece is in high school now, and she’s a cheerleader for the junior varsity football team. We watched her, and we cheered on the Raiders. (They won.) #DUBEAST

On Friday we drove up to Wichita Falls to visit our Uncle and Cousin. At their home – a dog (Lacey) and a cat (Gracie) loved me dearly. We enjoyed reminiscing about our extended family, and we also enjoyed a nice Mexican buffet lunch at El Mejicano.

On Saturday we rested and stayed at home for much of the day, and we enjoyed WWE Bash In Berlin (LIVE from Germany). We also watched one of my favorite recent movies – Thelma.

On Sunday it was the return flight back to Florida. It departed early. It arrived early. Thunderstorms were approaching the Sarasota area from inland, so the pilot wanted to get up, get over, get down, and then get back up again before the storm clouds descended.

It was a fun 3 days and 4 nights in Texas with family. I’m looking forward to my next visit in a couple of months. I’ve already got my flights reserved.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll tell you all about a historic hotel in Avon Park Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Summer Of 2024

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 over 45 years. Today it’s a special chart of my Top 10 hits of this past Summer. Here’s this Summer’s chart:

RK PK WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 15 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
2 1 15 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
3 1 13 Take You At Your Word Cody Carnes
4 2 10 Good Day Forrest Frank
5 2 9 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
6 3 9 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
7 1 5 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
8 3 6 Strongholds Chris Tomlin
9 4 9 Miracle Child Brandon Lake
10 3 6 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane

# 1 Summer Of:
2023 – “Big God” – Terrian
2022 – “Love Is Everything We Need” – Unspoken
2021 – “Yes He Can” – Cain
2020 – “No Impossible With You” – I AM THEY
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong UNITED

WHAT A SUMMER ! – 15 weekly hit music charts and 21 positive and encouraging hits (2 less than the last 2 Summers) have created this cumulative hit music chart of my Top 10 hits of the Summer Of 2024 based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. This past Summer season is defined as U.S. Memorial Day Weekend (last Sunday of May) to U.S. Labor Day Weekend (first Sunday of September). This chart is an End-Of-Summer tradition for me.

NO SOLO AT THE TOP – After last Summer’s anomaly with a solo artist (Terrian) atop my chart – a band / group returns to # 1 for the Summer. Bands / groups have now led my chart for 7 out of 8 Summers. This year it’s Caleb and John and Taylor and Madison and Logan. They scored my # 1 smash of the Summer with “Somebody Like Me”. It’s 1 of 2 songs to spend all 15 weeks of the Summer on my chart – including 6 weeks at # 1. Male solo artists dominated my chart this Summer with 8 out of my Top 10 hits. In fact – Taylor and Madison Cain are the only female artists on my chart.

PAT BARRETT – His 4TH hit is the biggest hit of his career on my chart. “Beautiful Life” also spent all 15 weeks of the Summer on my chart – including 4 weeks at # 1. Next week it will enter “My Top 40 Hits – 400 Weeks” – a special chart that I’ll present the day after my 400TH chart of this current era (since February 2017).

JOSIAH QUEEN – His debut hit “The Prodigal” spent 15 non-consecutive weeks on my chart, but only 7 of them were in the Summer. He peaked at # 4 (twice), and he barely missed out on my Top 10 for the Summer – finishing at # 11.

2024 – Get ready for the final 17 weeks of 2024, and after it’s all over – I’ll #CountUp my Top 24 Of 2024.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 394

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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday September 01ST 2024 – the 394TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 13 Take You At Your Word
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Cody Carnes
2 3 4 Count ‘Em Brandon Lake
3 2 10 Good Day Forrest Frank
4 5 17 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
5 4 19 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
6 10 2 Up + Up Colton Dixon
7 9 4 Do It Again Steven Curtis Chapman
8 6 8 Take It All Back Tauren Wells
9 7 9 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
10 8 3 Just As You Are Ryan Stevenson

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
2021 – “Into The Wild” – Josh Baldwin
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

THE FORGE – Good to see North America seeing this wonderful movie at the theatres. After 11 days – it’s made over $16 million at the box office, and it actually increased its theatre count for this holiday weekend – up to 1,921. (That’s a rarity nowadays.) If it’s playing near you then I highly recommend you seeing it if you haven’t done so already. Box office receipts such as these should encourage movie makers to make more about our Glorious God. It should also encourage theatre owners to include these movies at their venues.

SUMMER OF 2024 – It’s the final week of our 15-week Summer (starting with Memorial Day Weekend and ending with Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S.A.). As is tradition here on #CountUp – I’ll present “My Top 10 Hits” of the Summer. In fact – I’m working on it now. It’ll publish tomorrow – Wednesday September 04TH 2024. Come back here to see my hottest Christian hits of the Summer.

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 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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp