Category: Blogging

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Blogging Commerce Driving Food Geography Home Travel

Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my misadventures on Albany Georgia‘s Liberty Expressway (U.S. 82). I also wrote about Tifton and Waycross in South Georgia.

Back on the morning of Day 2 of my April retirement road-trip – I drove out of Florida and into Alabama via I-10 on one of the two portions of Interstate highway that was part of my road-trip. 15 days later – I’ve returned home to Florida. I missed Florida. I love it so much. I’ve lived here for over 36 years, and I’ll be here until the end.

I visited a friend / former coworker of mine from Homestead who now lives happily ever after – retired – in the Yulee area. Yulee is actually not an incorporated village, town, or city. It’s a broad census area northeast of Jacksonville, and it serves as a suburb of the big city. It’s the population center of Nassau County – located in the northeast corner of Florida. It’s a mostly young military region – with U.S. Navy bases to the north and south. It’s a rapidly growing area, and there are an abundance of new homes, stores, and restaurants under construction. Traffic was very busy in both directions (east and west) along the main thoroughfare – Florida State Road 200. They even have a “diverging diamond interchange” over I-95.

Fernandina Beach and the adjacent beachside communities were originally on my itinerary for Day 17 of my road-trip, but I opted to stay and hang out and reminisce with my friend at his house instead. I’ve actually been to Fernandina Beach before on a daytrip with my Mom and Dad when they actually lived in Jacksonville in the late-1990s and most of the 2000s. I want to visit again on a future road-trip. On an early rendition of my road-trip itinerary – Day 18 would’ve taken me from Yulee – over to Fernandina Beach – down A1A / U.S. 1 for 250+ miles to Vero Beach or Fort Pierce – and then finally inland from there to return home. (There was even a Day 19 considered as well.)

But I really love my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida, and by this time I was homesick and exhausted. I wanted to get back home and relax and recuperate and return to my daily life.

So – I did just that on Day 18. I drove away from the Yulee area – westward and southward along Florida State Road 200, and onto U.S. 301, U.S. 441, Florida State Road 33, a series of old narrow backroads in northern Polk County (following Google Maps), and back to U.S. 27. I stopped for Lunch at a very busy Sizzling Grill in Lake Wales, and then 29 miles down the road – I was back home again.

Next #TravelThursday on the Fourth Of July – I’ll summarize and wrap-up my April retirement road-trip with lots of fun numbers on America’s 248TH Birthday. 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 – Week 384

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 June 23RD 2024 – the 384TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 7 Beautiful Life
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Pat Barrett
2 2 9 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
3 3 4 Strongholds Chris Tomlin
4 7 5 God Is With Us The Afters
5 4 14 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
6 5 29 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
7 6 18 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane
8 9 3 Take You At Your Word Cody Carnes
9 – 9 The Prodigal Josiah Queen
10 – 1 Miracle Child Brandon Lake

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Cornerstone” – TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
2022 – “Me On My Mind” – Matthew West
2021 – “Yes He Can” – Cain
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Church (Take Me Back)” – Cochren & Co.
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “Home” – Chris Tomlin

JOSIAH QUEEN – It’s a rare re-entry this week. It’s so rare that I should explain what a re-entry is. It’s a song that was previously on my chart – that fell off – and now it’s back on again. After 3 weeks off – “The Prodigal” is back on. It returns to the # 9 position that it held during its last 4 weeks on my chart through the entire month of May.

TOP 40 OF 400 – This October I’ll present my Top 40 songs of the first 400 weeks of this chart. Right now – The Afters’ “I Will Fear No More” is in the Top 10 on the chart. It was # 1 on this weekend exactly 4 years ago.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply 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

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 23RD 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.

This morning I awoke in Homestead Florida for the 2ND Sunday this month. I was previously here 3 Sundays ago. I return home to Sebring Florida right after church service and lunch today. Starting tomorrow night I’ll be involved in #VBS – Vacation Bible School – at my church. I’ll be in skits and other fun stuff for 5 nights. Our audience will be 4-to-11-year-olds. Our theme will be “Shipwrecked – Rescued By Jesus”. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been involved in VBS in my 17½ years as part of a church family.

Since the start of April and for the next couple of months – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Links are provided for Parts 1 to 8 of “Jude & Judgment” over on my SERMONS page. (It’s Sermon 56.) Here’s Part 3 of “Jude & Jury”:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

2ND Corinthians (4:4):
Satan – who is the god of this world – has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ – who is the exact likeness of God.

Beware of false teachers all around you. Always check and confirm with God’s Word. If it doesn’t sound right to you – then it’s probably not right. That applies to the secular world around us. There are a lot of con artists out there that are waiting to scam you out of money and personal belongings and even your entire home. And YES – a lot of these con artists lurk online from foreign countries. But you know – we have homegrown con artists walking amongst us right here in Homestead and Miami-Dade County. Beware of them. They are up to no good.

And we have con artists who have – as Jude writes – wormed their way into your churches. Beware of them. They are up to no good. As I preached last week – the enemy – he even works on Sunday mornings. Sunday is the devil’s busiest day.

Jude writes about these false teachers. As I read this – close your eyes and picture the vivid imagery in your mind:

When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love – they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea – churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars – doomed forever to blackest darkness. (Jude 12-13)

You know one of my favorite times of the week – aside from here in God’s house on Sunday mornings – is our fellowship meal after the service at one of our local restaurants. YES – the food is usually great. And I usually eat all of it. (No leftovers for me.) And the service from the wait staff is usually – good to OK. (Sometimes it can be better.) But it’s the fellowship that is most important to me. And we usually end up talking (for a few minutes anyway) about the sermon that was just preached to us. And we also pray. And talk. And laugh. That’s fellowship.

Jude writes about fellowship meals. Those early Christians of the late-First Century – they commemorated the Lord’s love by celebrating the Lord’s Supper – or Holy Communion – as we refer to it today. We will observe and celebrate Communion this morning to remind ourselves of how great our God is.

But Jude is warning his readers that false teachers are amongst us. Beware, and be aware. Don’t fall for them. They are useless. They are dangerous. They wander aimlessly. God condemns them. They are doomed forever.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography Travel

Georgia

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my scenic drive southeastward across my birth state – Alabama – from the college town of Tuscaloosa – to the State Capitol of Montgomery – to the historic Chattahoochee River city of Eufaula.

Before I reached my pitstop for the night – I came across a good friend – U.S. 27 – as it crossed U.S. 82. I live on U.S. 27 some 400+ miles southeast.

Day 16 of my April retirement road-trip ended in Albany Georgia – the population center of Southwest Georgia – with a metro area population approaching 150,000.

Funny Story: The next morning – Day 17 of my road-trip – I decided to ignore Google Maps, do my own thing, and immediately get back on U.S. 82 to continue my trek southeastward. Sounds innocent enough. Well – (as I’ve written before) – weird things happen when I deviate from Google Maps. I suddenly found myself on a busy freeway during the morning rush hour, and I was a bit terrified during much of the experience. If that wasn’t bad enough – I missed my exit to actually stay on U.S. 82 (the non-freeway version of it), and I ended-up exiting onto Business U.S. 82 (which ironically is the way Google Maps was telling me to go the entire way from my hotel). After a few miles on Business U.S. 82 I took a side-road to get back onto U.S. 82. Of course – I didn’t realize that I could’ve just stayed on Business U.S. 82 for a few more miles until it ended at U.S. 82. So that was a comedy of errors on that particular Wednesday morning, but I survived the Liberty Expressway Experience in Albany Georgia.

The rest of my trek through South Georgia was fairly uneventful (thankfully). U.S. 82 goes under I-75 in Tifton. I’ve been on that portion of I-75 quite a few times (back when I used to drive the Interstates without fear and anxiety). I was originally planning to spend the night in Tifton (right by I-75), but hotel rates in the area were much higher than hotel rates in the Albany area, so I opted for Albany over Tifton.

As a U.S. Highway nerd – Waycross Georgia greatly intrigues me. It’s where 6 railroad lines meet, and it’s also where 4 major U.S. highways meet. On one street I was on U.S. 1, U.S. 23, U.S. 82, and U.S. 84 – all at the same time. It was good to see U.S. 84 again. I took her westward from Mississippi into Louisiana back on Days 3 and 4. On this day – I lost U.S. 84 quickly, as she continues on in a northeasterly direction through and away from Waycross. A moment later – I lost U.S. 82, as she continues on in a mostly easterly direction. Both U.S. 82 and U.S. 84 end at I-95 about 47 miles apart. Both of those U.S. highways made this road-trip truly special.

I continued southeast along the concurrency of U.S. 1 and U.S. 23, and just north of the Florida border – U.S. 301 joined us.

Fun Facts: I’ve lived within the vicinity of U.S. 1 for nearly all of my life – from 1969 to 1985 (Washington D.C. area), and then again from 1987 to 2023 (South Florida). I also lived just off U.S. 301 in Bowie Maryland from 1972 to 1975.

The St. Marys River serves as the border between Georgia and Florida in this area. Once upon a time for many years in an era long gone – a Florida Welcome Center greeted out-of-state tourists alongside U.S. 1 / U.S. 23 / U.S. 301. You know you could count on two things there – a cup of complimentary cold orange juice – and bathrooms. Only remnants and memories remain today.

Next #TravelThursday – I return home to the Heartland of Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

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