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Merry Christmas

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‘Twas the night before Christmas. Let me take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you following me and reading my blog a very Merry Christmas.

My traditional family “Christmas” actually occurred 4 weeks ago on Thanksgiving Day. For the past dozen years or so my family has enjoyed a hearty home-cooked Breakfast, and then shortly after that we’ve opened all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree. Once they are all opened it’s time to watch the Macy’s Parade, and then football for the rest of the day and into the night – pausing for about an hour to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner at around three or four in the afternoon.

On the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”) Christmas is done and over for me. Well – sort of. For the first 3 weeks of December I get to observe and celebrate bits and pieces of Christmas here and there by putting up the Christmas tree and decorations in the church sanctuary, listening to Christmas music on the radio, watching Christmas shows on television, writing and sending out Christmas cards and messages to family and friends from afar, and enjoying several Christmas luncheons with friends and coworkers.

We all celebrate Christmas in our own unique and traditional ways. May you spend this season with your loved ones. Make and share good memories that will last a lifetime. Honor each other. Love one another.

And may we remember why we celebrate Christmas.

And she will have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 NLT)

The LORD saves.

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Bible Blogging Christian Driving God Ministry Music Radio Scripture Travel

My Top 10 Hits – Week 253

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 DECEMBER 19TH 2021 WEEK 253
TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 3 6 Weary Traveler
[1ST week @ # 1]
Jordan St. Cyr
2 4 3 Heart Of The Father Ryan Ellis
3 5 3 God Turn It Around Jon Reddick
4 2 8 In The House Crowder
5 1 8 On Our Way MercyMe Ft. Sam Wesley
6 6 11 Come What May We Are Messengers
7 7 6 Rejoice Andrew Ripp
8 9 3 For The Good Riley Clemmons
9 8 3 Heaven Help Me Zach Williams
10 10 2 Jesus Is Coming Back Jordan Feliz Ft. Mandisa & Jonathan Traylor

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2019 – “Unstoppable God” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Well Done” – The Afters
2017 – “Control (Somehow You Want Me)” – Tenth Avenue North

WEARY TRAVELER – Jordan St. Cyr’s 2ND hit is a # 1 smash just like his 1ST hit. “Weary Traveler” was an unlikely pop hit on my chart at the onset. It was released to U.S. Christian Radio back during the 2ND week of September, and K-LOVE picked-up on it a couple of weeks later. I didn’t like it / appreciate it at first, but it eventually grew on me. It quietly entered my chart at # 10, as my 18-day road-trip between South Florida and North Texas was getting underway last month. It became the anthem of my road-trip. Its powerful lyrics were appropriate for my journey, but they are also very relevant for the troubled world that we live in today.

Check out Jordan in his own words with the story behind the song:

Come to Me – all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you – because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

2021 – Next Monday I’ll present my final weekly chart of 2021. On Wednesday December 29TH 2021 I’ll present “My Top 20 Hits – 2021”. Who’s got my # 1 smash of the entire year ? We shall soon find out.

This blog is # 33 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites in 2021 chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 5 new entries on Wednesday, 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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 15TH 1991:

  1. “Black Or White” – Michael Jackson
  2. “All 4 Love” – Color Me Badd
  3. “Cream” – Prince And The New Power Generation
  4. “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss” – P.M. Dawn
  5. “The One And Only” – Chesney Hawkes

Brothers Prince Be and DJ Minutemix were P.M. Dawn out of Jersey City New Jersey, and they took the world by storm with their unique fusion of catchy pop-oriented hip hop and R & B. They scored with a trio of huge hits during the early-1990s – “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”, “I’d Die Without You”, and “Looking Through Patient Eyes”. As opposed to much of the Eurodance music on the radio at the time this music allowed you to chill. It was relaxing. It was soothing to the soul. It was good music for its era.

Here’s the official music video for the blissful “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”:

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to December 1986.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1970s Blogging History Humor Music Television

Match Game ’74

Earlier this year I stumbled across Match Game reruns on Game Show Network. I wondered why I wasn’t recording them. (GSN airs 2 episodes back-to-back at 1:00 and 1:30 ET weekday afternoons.) It’s perhaps my favorite game show of all-time – hosted by my favorite game show host of all-time – Gene Rayburn !

I remember my Dad watching it in the afternoon after I got home from school. He’d be laughing hysterically at times. Of course I was 7 and 8 and 9, so I didn’t understand the fast-paced and sometimes risqué humor. I think I was mostly interested in hearing the quirky yet repetitive theme music that played all throughout each show.

I picked-up on the reruns of Match Game several years later as a teenager in the early-1980s. “The Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour” in 1983 and 1984 on NBC was a favorite to watch at home after school.

I’ve watched most of the reincarnations of Match Game over the years. I even like the current ABC prime-time version with Alec Baldwin as host. But nothing comes close to the original star-studded big-money Match Game on CBS in the 1970s. (Although that run was actually a remake of a much lamer and tamer 1960s version.)

Over the past several months I’ve watched a majority of the episodes that aired sequentially during the latter-half of 1976 as “Match Game ’76”. I say a majority of them because GSN actually skipped-over a bunch of them – probably because they included content that is considered too politically incorrect or insensitive for 2021 television viewers. (What was OK 45 years ago is no longer OK today.) I was actually disappointed when GSN recently “started over” and went back to episodes from the Summer of 1974 as “Match Game ’74” instead of continuing forward into 1977. But as it turns out those earlier episodes seem a bit fresher and funnier than those of 2 years later. (The show was still fairly new in 1974, whereas by late-1976 it was starting to become a bit stale.)

I’ll keep watching these old Match Game reruns. They make me laugh more than pretty much everything else on TV today. It’s fun to look-in at America at a simpler more innocent time in our history. I would even say that it was a friendlier time in our history – back when we could actually joke and laugh with each other without fear of offending or retaliating.

It’s the start of a fresh new weekend here on my blog. Be sure to check-out #TravelThursday tomorrow, as I continue to tell you all about my [blank] !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries