Category: Holidays

‘Tis The Season

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 13, 2018

Christmas Tree 2018

This past Monday night my church family gathered together for 2 hours of fellowship, prayer, and pizza as we decorated our newly renovated sanctuary for Christmas. Atop our brand new stage stands our beautiful new(ish) Christmas tree with the multi-colored background. You saw a photo of our stage in midnight blue this past Sunday. Here it is in sunset red. We’ve also got garland, bows, and wreaths scattered all throughout the seating area.

One of my favorite aspects of being part of this small church family is that we are able to do this each year. We didn’t do this in my previous large church family – mostly because for 5 Christmas seasons our Sunday morning services were held inside a local movie theatre.

I don’t decorate for Christmas at all at home, and we won’t do so at the workplace either; although, an independent office in our building does have their own Christmas tree that they decorate. My family in Ohio (soon to be Texas) puts up the Christmas tree during the first or second week of November – just before my arrival each year – so I’m not part of that process either. (We celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in one fun-filled week.)

Being with my church family for those 2 hours each year to create the Christmas spirit in our sanctuary ranks up there as 2 of my favorite hours of the year. I wouldn’t replace that fellowship with anything. The love is there with my brothers and sisters of my church family. Our Worship Pastor Ben said it best on our Facebook wall – “The Love of Jesus is in this place, and is apparent by the love we share with one another.” AMEN.

Tags Christmas

Bible Christian Church God Holidays Home Ministry Scripture Travel Weather

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 25, 2018

I have returned home from vacation up north. In one of my longest vacations ever (14 days) I visited my mom, brother, sister-in-law, two nieces, and dog up north of Cincinnati Ohio. I flew up there on Saturday November 10TH (Veterans Day holiday weekend), and I flew back home to South Florida on (Black) Friday November 23RD. It was probably my final trip to Ohio for awhile, as in about 5 months my family will very likely move SW back to north of Dallas Texas – where they lived previously from 2006 to 2013.

The weather up in Ohio was mostly cloudy, wet, and miserable with 20s, 30s, and some 40s. On my 9TH day there we actually crawled up above 50°F for the only time. I returned home with dry, flaky, cracked, white skin with isolated spots of blood. The healing process began immediately as I stepped foot in our moist tropical air. It was almost 80°F with relative humidity near 70%. No more cold weather for me aside from perhaps a dozen mornings between now and the end of March. We’ve actually got a powerful cold front in the forecast for this Tuesday. We’ll have a rather chilly 48 hours from Wednesday morning to Friday morning with afternoon highs in the low-70s and morning lows in the mid-50s. No complaints here. I survived 14 days of winter up north !

My last two Sundays felt a bit empty, as I was without my church family. I was definitely looking forward to this day – the day the LORD has made. We rejoiced, and we were glad in it. It was great to be back home with my church family celebrating our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Our Lead Pastor Bob spoke on “Knowing God ” – our Creator. He began with this Scripture:

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak. Night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word. Their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. The sun rises at one end of the heavens, and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat. (Psalm 19:1-6 NLT)

Holidays Military

Honoring My Fellow Veterans

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 8, 2018

It’s the start of a fresh new weekend, as weekends always begin on Thursdays here on my blog. This is a holiday weekend here in the U.S.A. Veterans’ Day is this Sunday November 11TH, and since it’s a Sunday this year the federal holiday will actually be observed on Monday November 12TH.

To all of my fellow Veterans I wish you a safe and secure holiday weekend. Have lots of fun, and take advantage of some of the discounts and freebies out there at stores and restaurants. Thank You for your service to our country !

Vets

My Thursday night blog returns in 3 weeks on Thursday November 29TH 2018.

Tags Veterans

Food Football Holidays Travel Weather

Welcome To November

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 1, 2018

Greetings Brothers and Sisters of my extended church family all across the globe. November is here. It’s my favorite month of the year – by far – and it’s not even close. I love November due to a variety of reasons.

Daylight Saving Time ends. I don’t like Daylight Saving Time. I wish it were abolished forever. I like Standard Time. I like the sun up early in the morning. I like the sun down early in the evening. I like the real time zone. I wish we stayed on Standard Time permanently. Florida actually passed a law earlier this year to stay on Daylight Saving Time permanently. They can’t do that unless Congress votes to allow it. Congress is ignoring it for now. I hope they continue to ignore it indefinitely. I already set one of my clocks back an hour. The battery actually died in it today, so when I replaced the battery I set it back to Standard Time. It looks good now. I’m looking forward to this Sunday morning when that clock’s time is correct.

I usually feel my coldest weather of the year every November – not because I live in South Florida – but because I visit my family up in Ohio – north of Cincinnati. I like cooler weather – not colder weather. Here in South Florida we start feeling the 60s in the morning instead of the 70s – and the 70s in the afternoon instead of the 80s. Sometimes we even feel the 50s at night.

Up in Ohio I’ll feel the teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, and I’ll probably see snow as well. I’m not a fan of Cincinnati weather in the winter. Every November I visit my family up there, and we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas combined in one fun-filled week. We call it #ThanksChristmasGiving, and it’s been a family tradition for us for about 12 years now. This year I’m actually going up for two weeks. It’ll be the longest #ThanksChristmasGiving in modern recorded history. It may also be the last one in the Cincinnati area. My family may be moving back to the Dallas Texas area next summer.

On Thanksgiving Day we start with a hearty homemade Breakfast (cooked by my little brother – age 43), and then we open all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree. My two nieces – ages 8 and 5 – love that part of the morning – even though it usually only lasts for about 15 minutes. They then play with their new toys for the rest of the day. Dinner begins cooking shortly after Noon while the NFL is on the tube. A traditional Thanksgiving dinner is served right around 3 PM, and then we barely move after that – while continuing to watch football.

So there’s my November for you. I’ll be blogging less in November because I’ll be with my family having all of that fun. My Thursday, Friday, and Sunday blogs will take a break for a couple of weeks, but I’ll continue to post my all-new Top 10 hit music chart every Monday through November.

Tomorrow I’ll post my normal Friday blog, as I’ll go RETRO back to the first weekend of November of 2008.

Have a nice evening my friends, and welcome to the weekend and this wonderful new month of November !