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Home Sweet Homestead

I’m back from vacation !  My 6-day / 590-mile / 14-county Florida road-trip has come to a close. My trek started in deep South Miami-Dade County (where my home is), and it continued northward through Broward, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, Highlands, and Polk Counties, westward into Hillsborough County (Tampa), southward through Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties, and then back into Miami-Dade County. I also came within a few feet of touching (mainland) Monroe County for a second.

It was a fun trip. I saw a couple of current movies, I did a little bit of shopping (didn’t buy anything), I ate a lot of good food, I walked over 60,000 steps (to burn-off that good food), I did a lot of sightseeing, I visited some historical museums and animal-based tourist attractions, I went to two Christian music concerts, and I spent a lot of time at the beach.

I saw and I did things that I had never seen or done before in my life. This was a classic vacation. I get to spend the near future reminiscing about the times I enjoyed via the 140+ photos and 1 video I captured during all of the fun.

The 1 video I captured is a spectacular 3½-minute video of this past Tuesday night’s sunset on Venice Beach Florida. The video captures the 3 minutes leading up to the sun dropping below the horizon at sea as well as the 30 seconds right after that moment. I intended to post that video in its entirety here on my blog, but I realized that I can’t upload videos on here with my current WordPress plan. The video is also about 1:10 too long for Twitter, so I’ll have to figure out how to trim it down to 2:20 for Twitter.

In the meantime here’s Monday night’s sunset at 8:05 PM EDT on Venice Beach.

Sunset

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets – the name of the LORD is to be praised. (Psalm 113:3 NIV)

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Computers Home Internet Ministry Politics

Behind The Scenes

Happy Thursday my friends !  It’s the start of an all-new blog weekend. I generally post new blogs on Thursday mornings, Friday nights, Sunday afternoons, and Monday nights (U.S. East Coast time). My Friday, Sunday, and Monday blogs all have the same respective format and structure each weekend – while my Thursday blog is a free-for-all where I blog about whatever comes to me in the moment. I usually have no idea what I’ll blog about on my Thursday blog until I actually get going with my fingers on the keyboard. (Yes – I still do most of my online activity via a traditional desktop computer system with a keyboard and a mouse – an hp Pavilion in fact. I’ve been using a series of hp Pavilions going back to the 1990s.)

I don’t get political online (or offline for that matter). I don’t discuss politics with anyone really. I have my own personal opinions and viewpoints on just about everything, and some of them are quite radical – on both ends of the political spectrum. Some are rather centrist. I’m really all over the place. I left Facebook after nearly 5 years because it got too political over there. Now I still lurk on Facebook because many of my friends from afar only utilize Facebook, and I wish to stay in-touch with them on all things non-political. I’ve recently come very close to expressing my viewpoint on a few key political issues on Facebook and Twitter, as it’s just so easy to do so – to be pulled-in to a discussion. Once I realized what I did I quietly backed myself out of the discussion. I’d rather talk about fun things on social media – like food and travel.

I spend most of my social media time here on WordPress (for blogging), Twitter (for tweeting), and Flickr (for photokeeping). I’ve been on WordPress since 2007, Twitter since 2009, and Flickr since 2011. I promote my blog on Twitter, and I promote my tweets here on WordPress. I also promote my photos here on WordPress. Collectively my WordPress, Twitter, and Flickr make-up my online ministry – CountUp Ministries. This blog serves as the flagship of CountUp Ministries at http://www.revchrismday.com.

When I’m at home I spend much of my time online, but when I’m not online I’m watching some of my favorite television shows, and I’m spending time with my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ reading and studying His Word and writing sermons based on what I’ve read and studied. I usually get the call to preach a full sermon about once per month, so I’m always ready with at least one – preferably two sermons that are ready to go. I’ve got my next two sermons already written, so I’ll probably start working on a new sermon this weekend. (Unless I get the call to preach this Sunday. If that’s the case then I’ll select one of my two sermons, enhance it, finalize it, and rehearse it.)

Well there’s a little “Behind The Scenes” action for you. I didn’t know how this blog post would go, but there it is. That’s how I write my Thursday blog. It’s really spontaneous. I’ll be back tomorrow night with my regular weekly Friday night blog – a venture back in time via the music soundtrack of my life. We’ll check-out Sunday March 05TH 1989.

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Bible Christian Church God Holidays Home Ministry Scripture Travel Weather

Sunday Scripture

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)

All rights reserved (c) 2018 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

   

Categories
1990s Home Life Music Radio

The Major’s Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1998

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago (rotating each week). Here it is – for the week ending Sunday November 08TH 1998:

  1. “Jump Jive An’ Wail” – Brian Setzer Orchestra
  2. “One Week” – Barenaked Ladies
  3. “Tearin’ Up My Heart” – ‘N Sync
  4. “Real World” – Matchbox 20
  5. “Thank U” – Alanis Morissette

As I look back at these classic hit music charts from 10, 20, and 30 years ago – I remember my life, and what I was doing as those songs played on the radio every 3 hours or less.

I often wonder what my life will be like, and what I will be doing, and where I will be doing it – 10, 20, and 30 years from now.

I was living and working in Homestead Florida 10, 20, and 30 years ago. In fact I’m still living in the same home as I was 10 and 20 years ago. My workplace is the same today as it was 10, 20, and 30 years ago. Only the music on the radio has changed over the years.

I probably won’t be here in Homestead Florida in 10 years. I’ll probably be retired, and living in a smaller and quieter town further north in South Central Florida.

I wonder if I’ll be blogging on here in 10 years ?  I was 10 years ago.

“The Major’s Top 5 Hits RETRO” returns in 3 weeks on Friday November 30TH 2018.

All rights reserved (c) 2018 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries.