Category: Church

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 12, 2020

Greetings my friends and Happy Sunday Morning. It’s the peak of my week ! This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it.

This morning I’ll be leading my church family and preaching a full sermon I call “Church & State”. It’s all about the importance of being an integral part of a church family and attending church services corporately each week. It’s all about being the church and bringing the church.

I’ll be presenting Scripture from Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (below):

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles
second are prophets
third are teachers
then those who do miracles
those who have the gift of healing
those who can help others
those who have the gift of leadership
those who speak in unknown languages.

Are we all apostles ?
Are we all prophets ?
Are we all teachers ?
Do we all have the power to do miracles ?
Do we all have the gift of healing ?
Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages ?
Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages ?

Of course not !
So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

Tags Blog, Christian, Church, Family, God

Animals Christian Church Driving Food God History Military Photography Travel

Fort Morgan

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 9, 2020

This past Sunday I wrote all about my fun adventures just outside the big city of Mobile Alabama. I praised, worshipped, and celebrated Christ at my friends’ church. I enjoyed a delicious Thai Lunch. I walked a family farm with goats. Sunday was my fun day away from my family on this family vacation.

The next day – Monday – was supposed to be a fun family visit to the local zoo in Gulf Shores. I had planned on this day for many weeks. I was really looking forward to it. I soon realized that (aside from myself) nobody else was really interested in going to the zoo – not even my two nieces (ages 10 and 7). I was a little bit heartbroken about that.

I decided to simply go to the zoo by myself. As I was looking for a coupon to the zoo in a tourist magazine I stumbled across a full-page color ad for a place I had never heard of before – Fort Morgan. It’s an old war fort at the far-western tip of the barrier island that Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are located on about 30 miles away. It sits at the mouth of Mobile Bay where it meets the Gulf Of Mexico. It’s an Alabama State Historic Site and a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It’s on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places. The brave soldiers that served at this site protected our nation during the War Of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War 1, and World War 2.

In lieu of the zoo I went to the fort by myself early last Tuesday morning. When I arrived at the entrance gate I was immediately greeted and recognized as a Veteran. I was admitted for free. That was a nice surprise. I spent a couple of hours touring the site. It was bigger and better than I expected. I took 44 photos of the 200+ years of history all around me. I’ve already posted over a dozen of these photos on my Flickr site, and you can also see the last 5 photos posted here on my blog site. Here’s one I haven’t posted yet:

This visit – planned just hours in advance – turned out to be one of the highlights of my recent 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip vacation. I’m glad I discovered it in a tourist magazine. I’ll be talking about this place for years to come.

Tags Alabama, Fort Morgan

Bible Blogging Christian Church Driving God Home Ministry Scripture Travel

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 5, 2020

Greetings my friends ! I am back at home where I belong in Homestead Florida. I returned late this past Friday morning from a 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip. The two states were Florida (my home state of the past 32½ years) and Alabama (my birth state from 53 years ago). I met my family – my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces – in Orange Beach Alabama. They drove from east of Dallas Texas (less mileage than myself). We spent 4 full days and 5 nights at a condo directly on Romar Beach. We were on the 10TH floor of an 11-story building. The views of the Gulf Of Mexico were spectacular !

It was fun to be with my family for the first time in 7 months. I’ll see them again in less than 3 months in Texas !

I took a couple of fun side-trips on my own during this road-trip. I’ll write about some of them on my next few Thursday blog posts. But let me share where I went last Sunday. I drove 75 miles over to Semmes Alabama (northwestern suburb of Mobile) to visit Pathway Church – home of some longtime friends / brothers and sisters of my church family here in Homestead from 2007 to 2015. Most of them were actually on vacation themselves, so I didn’t get to hang out with them, but a few good friends were there.

The first person I ever met upon arriving for a church service for the first time as an adult (at age 39 in 2007) was there – Anne J. She greeted me, we talked for about an hour, and then we sat together in the front row for the 2ND service (at 10:30 AM). The Administrative Pastor – Andric – preached a great sermon from Colossians 2:6-15:

And now – just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord – you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7 NLT)

WHAT I BELIEVE + WHAT I KNOW = HOW I LIVE

Following the service I got a grande tour of the entire church campus – almost every building. Their campus is quite sprawling. It’s much bigger than it looks from the main road (U.S. 98). They are doing great things for God in Semmes !

Following a nice Thai Lunch with Anne J. and a tour of her farm behind her house I returned back surfside to join my family.

This is the Summer Season Premiere of #CountUp. It’s the first of perhaps 47 blog posts in a row every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday through the middle of September. It’s going to be a fun 2½-month run. Thank You for joining me here !

Tags Blog, Christian, Church, Family, God

Bible Christian Church Driving God Ministry Scripture Travel

Sunday Scripture

Who do you pray for ? Who do you pray for ? If all of your prayers today were answered by God tomorrow – then how many people other than yourself would experience life-changing miracles ? How about this: Would any of those people be complete strangers ?

But Chris – why would I pray for complete strangers ? I want God to answer the prayers for my loved ones – my family and my friends.

Yeah – same here. But God commanded us to love your neighbor as yourself, and everyone is your neighbor. If you see or hear another person – no matter where you are – then he or she is your neighbor. Your neighbor is everyone in the world.

Pray for your neighbors. If you know what their specific needs are – then ask God to fulfill them. Be intentional when you pray. If you don’t know what their specific needs are – then pray for them anyway. Be genuine when you pray.

And pray for your loved ones. I pray for my family – by name – in Texas. I have family near Dallas and near Wichita Falls. That’s 10 family members – from age 7 to 89 – living within 3 hours of each other in North Texas. I’m going on a road-trip this upcoming week to a neutral location where I’ll visit and spend 4 days / 5 nights with 5 family members. Pray for me – and 1,700 miles on the road (round-trip – between here and there).

I pray for my church family – my current church family – my former (and still) church family – my extended church family. I count each of you reading this blog on a regular basis as part of my extended church family. We are all God’s children.

I pray for each and every one of you. You know I don’t know your specific needs, but God surely does. Pray to Him about them. Expect miracles. Never be discouraged. God sends His miracles in His time – when we least expect them.

I don’t know your specific needs, but that will never stop me from praying to God for you. I will always pray for my brothers and sisters – my friends and coworkers – my neighbors and even strangers – as the Holy Spirit calls on me to do so. That’s the God at work within us.

And church family – pray for me too. Pray for my continued forward momentum on this fantastic journey that God created and customized uniquely for me.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. (Ephesians 6:18-19 NLT)