Category: Driving

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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 06TH 2025, 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.

As I wrote last #SundayScripture – it’s been a while since I refreshed and posted one of my past sermons on here. Starting with this edition – and continuing through September – I’ll be doing just that.

I’ll be transcribing my original sermon that I preached to my church family in Homestead Florida on Sunday October 16TH 2022. The title of the sermon is “Blessings & Benedictions”, and it’s my 50TH sermon as identified on my SERMONS page.

Here’s Part 1:

You know – I don’t think that I have a good singing voice. There’s a reason why I’ve never been on “America’s Got Talent”, or “American Idol”, or “The Voice” – if you’re familiar with those long-running talent competition shows on TV.

I don’t think I sound good when I sing. But my God – our God – well He thinks that my voice is beautiful. He thinks that all of our voices are beautiful – especially when we sing to Him. I love to sing to our Lord – especially as part of traditional Praise & Worship up here with Ben, and Jen, and Betty. And I love to sing to our Lord in my car – while driving all around Homestead. You know it’s also a great time to pray to our Lord – while driving all around Homestead. (I do some of my best praying to God – while driving.) Sometimes I sing my prayers to God – while driving all around Homestead.

And I love to speak of our Lord – to anyone who will listen to me – even if it’s only the Lord Himself. He’s the One that truly matters. And I know that He is listening.

A couple of weeks ago we sang “I Speak Jesus” to our Lord during Praise & Worship. I had never heard it before Pastor Bob played the video for it. I love it. Next Sunday morning it’ll be one of the videos that I’ll play for Praise & Worship.

You know our God has given us a voice. It’s His gift to us. We must not waste it. We must use it to bless others. We must use it to glorify our God.

Today I want to talk to you about “Blessings & Benedictions”. This is a little bit of a different type of sermon that you may be used to from me. I’m gonna be all over the Bible with this message – both Old and New Testaments, so let’s go on this journey together through God’s Word.

You know at the end of every service I stand up here, or I stand down there, and I recite specific intentional verses of Scripture. That’s the Benediction.

Most churches – no matter their respective denomination – or no denomination – most churches – close their services with a Benediction. At some churches the Pastor will have everyone stand up and recite it with him or her. At other churches (like ours) we don’t do that. I’m not really a big fan of having everyone stand up and recite or repeat something over and over again. I’d rather you hear the Benediction rather than say it. You tend to absorb or take-in speech (or words) more so when you are listening rather than talking. You know – 2 ears – 1 mouth – twice as much listening than speaking.

(To be continued next week.)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Church Commerce Driving Food Geography Holidays Home Shopping Travel

Return To Homestead

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Let’s get back on the road. Almost 3 weekends ago I drove down to my old Homestead – which was Homestead Florida – my home from 1987 to 2023. It was Flag Day on Saturday and Father’s Day on Sunday.

I departed home at 8:18 AM, and I arrived at my old home at 11:58 AM. That’s fairly average for a Saturday morning drive southward. I haven’t done many Saturday morning drives down to Homestead. My last one was last September (2024) – and before that – April (2024).

I entered my old condo for probably the very last time – exactly 30 years and 1 day after I first entered and moved-in to it on June 13TH 1995. I went there to look around one last time, pick-up my Shark Rotator vacuum cleaner (best vacuum I’ve ever owned – bought it in April 2014), and pick-up a few other assorted items from my kitchen cabinets. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes – taking with me for good – 30 years of memories of that home – from my late-20s to my late-50s.

Time for some food, so I ventured over to Outback Steakhouse for lunch. I enjoyed food and fellowship with a longtime former coworker at the airbase near Homestead. And we celebrated my birthday too, and the wait staff all gathered together to sing their fun birthday song to me and present me with a delicious dessert with a lit candle on it.

I spent the night at the Hampton Inn behind the Outback. I had a wonderful 5TH floor view of the Outback and the surrounding businesses along busy Campbell Drive. Outback got increasingly busier as the afternoon became the evening. My favorite Publix (# 1136) is in view in the shopping center in the background. That was built in 2007. This whole area of Homestead is mostly less than 20 years old.

The next morning – I went to my former home church across town in NW Homestead, and we celebrated my birthday again at the start of the service. After service a group of us battled the Father’s Day crowds and went to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. In fact – nearly half of our church attendance that morning went there, and we were scattered over a couple of tables. The place was packed for the holiday. (This just in – Dads love steak.) Longhorn is my favorite restaurant in Homestead. I’ve always received great food and service there ever since they opened in 2009. I’ve probably been there more than any other restaurant in Homestead over the past 16 years. Olive Garden (next door) is my second-most visited restaurant in Homestead. So many great memories next door to each other.

After Longhorn I headed home to Sebring. My route out of Miami-Dade County was endangered because it was shut down the previous afternoon due to a wildfire near Krome Avenue (Florida State Road 997) and Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). Firefighters contained the fire overnight, conditions improved, and the highways were reopened on Sunday morning. I got home at 6:08 PM, and that was the end of my fun 373-mile weekend road-trip between Sebring and Homestead. It was my 4TH such trip of 2025, and 17TH trip since the start of 2024, and 36TH trip since I bought my home here in Sebring in February 2023. My 37TH trip has already occurred, and I’ll report on that trip in a few weeks.

#ButFirst – Next #TravelThursday I’ll stay on the road as I begin a multi-part series on my recent trip to and from Florida’s Gulf Coast Beaches. I’ll write about some areas that I visited for the very first time – and for the first time in a long time. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church Driving Food God Ministry Scripture Travel

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 29TH 2025, 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 the 5TH Sunday of the month, so my church family here in Sebring will be celebrating post-service with a potluck luncheon – which we do pretty good. We have a lot of great cooks in my church family. I am not one of them, but I have a great appetite for great food.

Unfortunately I won’t be there this morning. I’ll be down in Homestead again with my former church family there for the 2ND time in 3 Sundays. It will likely be my final trip to Homestead for at least the next 100 days. I’ll write all about this visit to and from Homestead in a future #TravelThursday blog post. #StayTuned

It’s been a while since I refreshed and posted one of my past sermons on here, so starting next Sunday and continuing through July, August, and into September I’ll be doing just that. I haven’t decided which sermon to refresh and post, but it will be posted in 3-to-4-minute reads each week. That means that – just like all of my blog posts – you can read it in 3 to 4 minutes. My sermons are generally about 35 to 45 minutes in length (when preached), so whichever sermon I decide to post will be done so in probably 8 to 10 parts.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel Weather

Sebring Florida’s Cold Winter Of 2024-2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week it’s a change-of-pace blog post. Here in Sebring Florida our wintertime population increases exponentially from the summertime – perhaps even doubling or even more. In my 55+ neighborhood we are about 35% year-round residents and 65% “snowbirds” – our endearing term for our friends and neighbors who fly (or drive) south for the winter. They come from the north (many from the Great Lakes States) to all over Florida – especially Central and South Florida – along both coasts and down the spine. They come for our weather in-between hurricane seasons.

Some of our snowbirds arrive as early as September and depart as late as May. The majority are here from December to March with January and February being peak season. It gets busy around here from about Thanksgiving to about Easter, and especially after the New Year !

Our coldest months up here in the Highlands of South-Central Florida are December, January, and February. Our average afternoon high temperatures are in the low-70s, and our average morning low temperatures are in the mid-50s. A cold day is when we don’t reach 70°F / 21°C. A cold night is a night in the 40s / below 10°C. We are generally warmer during the day and colder during the night than our neighbors at both coasts some 80 miles away.

This past winter season we had 19 cold days when we did not reach 70°F. 14 of them occurred in January – including a brutal stretch of 6 days in a row from the 20TH to the 25TH – when on a couple of days – we couldn’t get out of the 50s – and on one day – we were stuck in the 40s all day. In fact – we were stuck in the 40s for 46 hours in a row. I briefly thought about flying to the U.S. Virgin Islands during that Arctic blast.

We also had 50 cold nights when we were into the 40s (and 30s too). 4 were in November, 12 in December, 23 in January, 2 in February, and 9 in March. January was a very cold month indeed with 4 mornings into the 30s. In fact – it was one of the Top 10 coldest Januarys in modern recorded history – and the coldest in 15 years !

It was my 2ND full winter season here in Sebring Florida. (I moved here at the end of the 2022-2023 season.) I previously lived in Homestead Florida for 36 winter seasons. Down there we averaged less than 20 cold days and nights combined per season (compared with 60 to 70 combined days and nights here).

I know that those cold days and nights are just about 5 months away, and the snowbirds – well – they will be heading back here to their winter homes starting in less than 3 months.

We’re in our 4-month rainy season now. That’s when about 70% of our annual rainfall occurs. We’re also in our 6-month hurricane season. That started on June 01ST and continues until November 30TH with peak season being September and October. Hopefully the rain will fall (we’re recovering from a severe drought), but the hurricanes will stay out at sea.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll recap my walking season. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp