Category: Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 26, 2021

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 26TH 2021, 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.

Yesterday afternoon here in my hometown at our local small performing arts theatre downtown I experienced this awesome event:

What do you get when you combine #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday ? Well besides a normal weekend here on my blog you also get that music show above. It was essentially the story of the history of this great nation of ours as told through 400 years of music from coast-to-coast. It traveled the country and highlighted the music that emanated from each region. It was quite patriotic and spiritual. It was pretty much a singalong and clapalong as our 4-piece band (led by Matthew Sabatella) performed on stage via numerous musical instruments.

Once we arrived in the 20TH Century I pretty much knew every song performed, and I joined the singalong. The small audience definitely got louder as the years progressed into our lifetimes. It was definitely a “feel-good” 100-minute show.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit – singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. (Ephesians 5:18b-19)

(That Scripture was featured during an early segment of the show.)

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.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, Communion, God, Jesus, Minister, Ministry, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Blogging Driving Food Nature Photography Scripture Shopping Travel

Wichita Falls Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 23, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we return to one of my favorite cities in the great state of Texas – Wichita Falls. It’s one of my favorite cities for one main reason – I have 5 family members (and their pets) who live there. I visit them every year.

And if you haven’t already guessed by now – I was there last weekend ! #Vacation

I was there from last Thursday morning through Monday morning (96 hours). I spent quality time with family and pets, and we celebrated my Aunt’s & Uncle’s 65TH anniversary together with a quiet spaghetti dinner at home. (Normally we go out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant (usually a steakhouse) to honor the occasion, but this year we decided to go “low-key”.)

As I wrote about last #TravelThursday we embarked on our traditional Saturday road-trip of a few hours away from the metro area. We went eastward this time along U.S. 82. We stopped for Lunch along the way at Tres Niños – a Mexican restaurant in Nocona. It was pretty good. I enjoyed my plate of a sour cream chicken enchilada, a beef enchilada with chili, a guacamole tostada, rice, and beans. Eating Mexican food has become a tradition within the tradition. I didn’t know that we were going to eat Mexican food on our road-trip, but I had a pretty good idea of it. Once something works – we just keep doing it, and the tradition continues to grow.

Nocona is about 52 miles east of where we started on the south-side of the Wichita Falls area. (We previously visited Nocona on our 2015 road-trip.) From there we proceeded another 22½ miles southeastward to downtown Muenster Texas (our final destination for this road-trip). Muenster is a very German-Catholic town of a little over 1,600 residents. More than 90% of its residents are of German descent. It was founded by settlers 132 years ago. It’s named after Münster Germany. They host German festivals year-round, and tourists come to visit to enjoy the eating and drinking fun. Much of the architecture of Muenster looks very German:

That’s actually a Glockenspiel. Read more about it.

On the return trip back from Muenster we drove the backroads through “Wine Country” where multiple vineyards dot the picturesque hilly landscape. We also drove through the Henrietta area, and we visited a couple of large gift shops / “tourist traps” adjacent to gas stations along the highway. (This has also become a tradition of our road-trips.)

It was a fun 4-day visit to the #Texoma region along the Red River. The sights and sounds on the road were fun as usual. The food was abundant every day. But most importantly I got closer to my family there. Above all – family always comes first.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

Tags German, Glockenspiel, Henrietta, Muenster, Nocona, Texas, Travel, Wichita Falls

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 19, 2021

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 19TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

Ever since that first Sunday that I walked in to a church building for the first time in my adult life – I haven’t missed too many Sundays of church service.

I probably average about 4 or 5 missed Sundays per year – mostly due to vacations but a few due to sickness. 10 Sundays in a row were missed in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during the initial lockdown. That was by far the longest stretch of missed Sundays since the beginning.

I’ve been part of church leadership for the past 12 years now, so my attendance, participation, and assimilation on Sunday mornings must be high. You don’t become a church leader by attending whenever you feel like it. The church body relies on you to be there for them, and to lead them closer to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

When I’m not with my church body on a Sunday morning I feel somewhat out-of-place. When I’m on vacation and 11 AM U.S. East Coast Time strikes I think about what I would be doing back at home with my church body – whether it be singing, praying, listening, learning, or preaching. And then there’s the post-service fellowship Lunch.

I will actually miss 3 Sundays in a row this November, as I’ll be on a long 18-day road-trip vacation. On 2 of those 3 Sundays I hope to check out 2 local area church services to experience how it’s done there (at my destination). I encourage current and future Pastors to visit other church bodies to see how it’s done differently. I used to do this more often than I have recently – including a Saturday night or Sunday morning church service as part of my vacation experience. I need to get back to doing that. Sometimes the Pastor or someone on his leadership team will introduce themself to me and welcome me to their church. That’s always a wonderful feeling. If the conversation continues on then I’ll introduce myself as a Pastor visiting to experience worship and to also gather new ideas and concepts. Sometimes I’ll even get a mention from the Pastor as part of his sermon. A few times I’ve been invited up on stage to lead the church body in prayer and to say a few words. It’s always an honor to do that.

So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock – His church – purchased with His own blood – over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. (Acts 20:28 NLT)

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.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, Communion, God, Jesus, Minister, Ministry, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Blogging Driving Nature Photography Scripture Travel

Wichita Falls Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 16, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit one of my favorite cities in the great state of Texas – Wichita Falls. It’s one of my favorite cities for one main reason – I have 5 family members (and their pets) who live there. I visit them every year.

The 72-square-mile city of Wichita Falls includes just over 100,000 residents with little to no growth since 1960. The 3-county metro area of Wichita, Archer, and Clay Counties includes just over 150,000 residents. One of the weird aspects of this metro area is that they have nice modern wide highways and expressways with very little traffic on them. I think most of their expressways were built throughout the 1960s, and they were built to handle substantial growth. That growth never occurred, as they have the same number of residents today as they did in 1960. Their “rush hour” is fairly non-existent; although, some of the locals may contend that statement. I actually enjoy driving through the Wichita Falls metro area. It’s mostly peaceful on all days at all times.

I’ve driven there a few times – in my own car from South Florida – and also in a rental car from the #DFW airport about 2½ hours away. I’ve visited Wichita Falls every year since 2013. My Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins have showed me a lot of the city and the local area. As is tradition with each visit we all go on a road-trip of a few hours away from the metro area. We’ve gone southward, eastward, and northward, but not yet westward. They used to tell me where we were going on our road-trips, but now they intentionally keep it a secret from me so that I don’t do extensive research on the destination(s) and know more about it than them.