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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 30TH 2022, 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.

You may notice that my blog looks a little bit different than it used to. A few days ago I changed the “theme” of my WordPress blog. (A “theme” is the way that a blog looks – the overall appearance of it.) Basically I got bored with the way that it used to look, so I changed it up a bit. I’m still tweaking it so that it looks as close as possible to the way that I want it to look. Not every theme is perfect, and each one has its own set of irregularities and glitches. It’s all “window dressing”. It’s the content of the blog that really matters, and my goal is to produce a high-quality product that interests you – my reader.

You know sometimes we dress ourselves up real nice. I tend to wear my nicest clothes on Sundays for church service, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at my workplace. That’s a collared polo shirt, pants (not jeans), and shoes (not sneakers). On Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays I dress down – even more so if I’m staying in and not leaving my home.

But no matter what I’m wearing it’s all “window dressing”. I’m the same me whether I’m dressed-up or not. The me on Sunday with my church family is the same me on Tuesday with my work family is the same me on Saturday sitting at home on my computer with my television on while doing laundry. The me on land is the same me at sea. My “theme” changes daily, but my content remains relatively stable.

I have irregularities and glitches. I’m far from perfect. I’m a sinner. But God’s grace and mercy redeems me. He redeems me from death, and crowns me with love and tender mercies. (Psalm 103:4)

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 258

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 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:

COUNTUP MINISTRIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY JANUARY 23RD 2022 WEEK 258
TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 11 Weary Traveler
[6TH week @ # 1]
Jordan St. Cyr
2 3 16 Come What May We Are Messengers
3 2 13 In The House Crowder
4 7 3 River Of Life Mac Powell
5 8 4 Walking Free Micah Tyler
6 6 7 Jesus Is Coming Back Jordan Feliz Ft. Mandisa & Jonathan Traylor
7 4 8 Heart Of The Father Ryan Ellis
8 5 8 God Turn It Around Jon Reddick
9 1 Too Good To Not Believe Brandon Lake Ft. Jenn Johnson
10 10 3 Know You Will Hillsong UNITED

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Lions” – Skillet

WEEK 258 – Well after a 1-week diversion last week from my weekly hit music chart (“My Concerts – 2021“) I am back with an all-new published Top 10. My chart continued on last week (unpublished) with minimal movements and no new entries. This is the 258TH week of the 3RD era of my chart. I’ll be celebrating 5 years of this era next month. That’s 5 years of listening to K-LOVE on the radio !

WEARY TRAVELER – Jordan St. Cyr spends his 6TH week atop my chart with his sleeper smash “Weary Traveler”. It’s now doubled the number of weeks at # 1 of “Fires” – Jordan’s debut smash that was my # 1 smash of all of last year. “Weary Traveler” turned-out to be the instant anthem of my long 18-day road-trip this past November between South Florida and North Texas. It was also the most-played song (and very appropriate) during the Christmas season. Finally it played on the radio during my short (1-hour) drive home from PortMiami and my recent cruise vacation. ♫ I won’t be weary long. ♫

Here’s the brand new (just released) official music video for “Weary Traveler”:

This blog is # 35 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 23RD 2022, 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.

This is also the day that I return home to my brothers and sisters of my church family to celebrate Christ in community. It’s been 3 weeks since we’ve been together, as I’ve been on vacation. I’m very much looking forward to bringing the church this morning. It was exactly 15 years ago this weekend that I attended a church service for the first time as a born-again Christian. My Sunday mornings changed forever on Sunday January 21ST 2007. I was no longer an orphan on this fantastic journey.

Last month (December 2021) I preached to my church family on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Here’s the final excerpt – Part 6:

Before we knew God our life was empty. It had no purpose. It had no meaning. It was led by the world. But now we are “Holy & Redeemed”. You know it’s not easy being holy. To be holy requires us to separate ourselves from the world. We’re still in this world, but we are not of this world. You remember how you used to act and think back then before you knew Christ. Do you want to go back to that darkness ?

We turned away from that nonsense – that chaos – that evil. It took a lot for us to do that. For some of us it was the most courageous act of our life. For all of us it changed our life forever. We couldn’t have done it without our God guiding and directing us every step of the way.

You know to outsiders – those of this world – it may seem pompous – if you will – to call yourself “Holy & Redeemed”. But that’s what we are. And that’s who we are. Because that is who He is. When you’re talking to God – tell Him who He is, and tell Him who you are. You are His child. You are for Him. You want to be more like Him. You are a citizen of His Kingdom. And His Kingdom is your new homestead.

But guess what ?  And this is where I’ll close. Because we’re all getting hungry.

It’s redemption season. The entryways to God’s Kingdom are wide open, and our God – He has His arms wide open. Yeah – we’re “Holy & Redeemed”, but anyone out there of this world can be “Holy & Redeemed” too. Some of our neighbors out there are hungry too. Some of them are hungry for physical food. And some of them are hungry for something different – something that they don’t currently have. They are hungry for guidance and direction from a higher being. They are hungry for a new life that’s completely different from their current life. They are hungry for a fantastic journey that leads them to an eternal life in Heaven.

Go be the disciples that God made you to be when you became born again. Go and tell God’s Good News to your neighbor who needs to hear it from you. Tell them that you are “Holy & Redeemed”, but don’t stop there. Tell them how they can be “Holy & Redeemed” too. Introduce them to God’s Word. Invite them into God’s Kingdom. There’s plenty of room, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Lord we thank You for making us “Holy & Redeemed”. Lead us to opportunities where we can share Your Good News with others. Soften the harder parts of our heart so that we may show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters and as neighbors of this temporary land. Show us the way to expand Your Kingdom here on earth. We love You Lord. It is in Your powerful name that we pray this to you. Amen.

And that’s my message for you today. Thank You for allowing me to share the Gospel with you. Now go out and do the same out there.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian Driving God Music Travel

My Concerts – 2021

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 40+ years.

My chart is offline for this week’s edition. It will return next Monday.

Today it’s a #CountUp special. It’s a look back at my concerts from 2021.

I attended 3 concerts in 2021. That’s a slight uptick from 2020 (Pre-COVID) when I managed just 2 concerts. By comparison I attended 12 concerts / LIVE events in 2019, 5 in 2018, and 5 in 2017.

3 months ago in Tampa Florida I saw MercyMe, Micah Tyler, and Sam Wesley and his band. Sam is Bart Millard’s son, and he also plays guitar for MercyMe on tour.

The next night I drove down to Estero (between Fort Myers and Naples), and I saw Casting Crowns and Matthew West in a show that was postponed twice during COVID in 2020. I had a ticket to the show for 21 months. It was well worth the wait. It was my very first Matthew West concert. My second Matthew West concert may be soon !

The first of the three concerts occurred in February. Here’s what I wrote about it back then:

Last Sunday night (February 14TH 2021) I attended TobyMac’s “Hits Deep Tour 2021” at the BB&T Center here in South Florida (Sunrise). It was my first LIVE concert in over 11 months (since just before COVID shut-down America), and it was my first LIVE concert at the BB&T Center in over 15 months. It was also my 3RD TobyMac concert in mid-February over the past 4 years.

The wearing of face masks was mandatory and strictly enforced by staff. The arena had socially-distanced seating. Individuals and groups were more than 6 feet apart from others both in the standard (elevated) seating as well as the floor seating. Arena seating (usable for the concert) was probably no more than about 20% to 25% full. It was one of the best concert experiences I can ever remember for the simple reason that I had plenty of room to stand-up and dance all around my seat on the floor, and I did just that. Everyone had their own personal dancefloor !

I was seated along the right-edge of the floor in the center of the arena. There were two stages – the main stage up-front – and the center stage to the left of me (by about 20 feet or so).

Unspoken kicked-off the show from the main stage, and then Terrian performed from the center stage. We Are Messengers were up next from the main stage, and then Cochren & Co. took over from the center stage. Tauren Wells performed from the main stage. The first 5 artists split (almost evenly) 1 hour and 20 minutes (about 15 minutes apiece). They were all great. We Are Messengers are my personal favorite of the 5, so naturally I was singing and dancing along through all of their hits. I liked when Chad Mattson (lead singer of Unspoken) guest-performed “Echo” (the Elevation Worship song) with Tauren Wells.

After a 35-minute sermon and fundraising push (Food For The Hungry) TobyMac took center stage for “The Elements”. He performed non-stop hits for the next 1 hour and 35 minutes – performing about half of his set from the main stage – and half from the center stage. The guy has so much energy for his age. (He’s 56.) He’s also from one of my childhood hometowns of Fairfax County Virginia.

Terrian was with Toby for many of his hits. (She’s a back-up vocalist with Toby’s Diverse City band.) Michael Cochren assisted Toby with one of his hits.

What a great night to praise and worship my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ with my instant church family for the night.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries