Category: Blogging

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

Home Is Where The Heartland Is

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s an anniversary week for me. It was exactly one year ago that I bought my current home here in the Heartland of Florida near Sebring. I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. It’s my forever home. I expect to live here and enjoy retirement life here for the rest of my physical life here on Earth.

This is the place that I drove through many times and eventually spent vacation time in for about 8 years – including several Presidents’ Day Weekends here in the U.S.A. I fell in love with the region. I decided that I wanted to move here after I retire. I narrowed it down from Lake Wales to Lake Placid (about 55 miles apart). I eventually settled on Sebring (right in the middle). I had my eyes on my current 55+ neighborhood when I was still 54. I waited until 2 days after my 55TH birthday to physically tour my likely new neighborhood with my Real Estate Agent. I bought my new home last Presidents’ Day Weekend.

I still love everything about my new neighborhood and home county that I loved a year ago and during those 8 years of vacations. I’ve also become actively involved in my new neighborhood and community – something I never really did during my 36 years in South Florida. My footprint is all over Sebring, Avon Park, and the surrounding Highlands County region. I’m looking forward to contributing more time to make this an even greater place to live and visit and enjoy.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll reveal the first 2 stops on my upcoming retirement road-trip. One is in the Florida Panhandle, and the other is now the second-largest city in “The Yellowhammer State”. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 365

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 February 11TH 2024 – the 365TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 14 I Believe
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Phil Wickham
2 2 10 Strong Anne Wilson
3 5 10 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
4 3 26 Hallelujah Feeling Caleb & John
5 4 17 I Thank God Housefires Ft. JWLKRS Worship
6 6 7 Hallelujah Anyway Rend Collective
7 8 2 These Days Jeremy Camp
8 – 1 Never Tasha Layton
9 7 6 Crazy About You Tauren Wells
10 – 1 Don’t Stop Praying Matthew West

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “My Story Your Glory” – Matthew West
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “The God Who Stays” – Matthew West
2019 – “Maybe It’s OK” – We Are Messengers
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard

MATTHEW WEST – It’s a good week for Matthew West. Besides the fact that he hit # 1 on this week in both 2020 and 2023 – he’s back with his new hit this week – his 9TH hit on my chart – and his 166TH week – more than any other artist over the past 7 years. It’s a song that reminds us – if you have an impossible – if you need a miracle – if you’re barely hanging by a single thread – if it looks so hopeless now – if it weighs down your heart with doubt – if you’re begging for a breakthrough – then “Don’t Stop Praying” !

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by heading over to 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.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 3 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, and #MusicMonday.

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
Advertising Bible Blogging Christian Church Football God Ministry Scripture Sports Television

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 11TH 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.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday – an unofficial holiday here in the U.S.A. That’s when hardcore American Football fans, casual watchers, and even non-football and non-sports fans around the world gather together in unison to watch the biggest game of the year and the most-watched television spectacle of the year on the biggest TV that they have access to.

I’ll be one of them here in Sebring Florida. As soon as I return home from my church family and our service this morning – I’ll be turning on CBS on my living room TV, and it’ll stay on for the next 10+ hours – from all of the pregame shows and festivities through all of the $7-million 30-second commercials to the post-game celebrations. (Of course – there’s the actual football game in there too.)

After it’s all over – football (the NFL anyway) – is off for the next 6 months. My Sunday afternoons will include more free time to do more research for #TravelThursday.

Last Sunday morning we started a new message series from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, so we’re studying 1 Peter on Friday nights and Ephesians on Sunday mornings. That’s two favorite books of mine of the New Testament. My own personal Bible studying and sermon writing will continue on most Saturdays into my retirement.

I’m making great progress on my sermon on “Sebring & Weigle”. It’s almost done in fact. It’s the story of two friends who became neighbors who founded a city built on a firm foundation in our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ.

Starting in April I’ll begin transcribing my “Jude & Judgment” sermon that I preached to my Homestead Florida church family on Sunday November 26TH 2023. It’ll be presented as a series of 4-minute reads through April, May, and June. I’m looking forward to sharing that with you.

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 Food Geography Nature Travel

Lorida Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. There’s a place in the eastern part of my home county here in the Heartland of Florida – Highlands – that is actually in the lowlands – some 100 or more feet lower in elevation than the more populated U.S. 27 corridor in the western part of the county. That place is named Lorida, and it does not rhyme with Florida. It’s pronounced “Lor-EE-da”. It was formerly named “Cow House”, and “Istokpoga”. Lorida got its name in 1938.

It’s not an incorporated city, town, or village. It’s a broad census-designated place right along U.S. 98 along the northern shore of Lake Istokpoga – one of the largest lakes in Florida. The lake is about 5 miles wide and 10 miles long. It’s very shallow with an average depth of about 4 feet. Boating and fishing are popular at this lake.

About 1,700 to 1,900 residents call Lorida home.

There’s a restaurant approaching Lorida (from Sebring) called Gator Shack. I’ve been there twice now. I went there last June late on a Sunday morning after church service for their highly-rated Fried Chicken lunch. It was spectacular, and I vowed to return for more of some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. I actually returned late last Wednesday morning, as they also offer their fried chicken on Wednesdays. Unfortunately – I found out after sitting down that it’s not available until after 4:30 PM on Wednesdays, so I got their big burger with swiss cheese and hand-cut fries. Both were delicious !

Some day in the near future I’ll venture back there on a Sunday after church to enjoy their fried chicken again. And I’ll explore more of Lorida and Lake Istokpoga including the Highlands County Park on the lake.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll celebrate my first anniversary of selecting and purchasing my new home here in Highlands County. Let’s keep traveling together.

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