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Skyline Drive + Blue Ridge Parkway

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit 574 miles of scenic roadway up in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.

Several years ago I planned (via Excel spreadsheet) a road-trip that encompassed both Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a very ambitious itinerary that – looking back upon it – is almost undoable. It had me flying-in to Washington Dulles International Airport and renting a car there. I’d get on the I-66 westbound, and I’d take that to Front Royal where I’d spend the night.

On the morning of Day 2 I’d begin my mountain adventure and embark on Skyline Drive – the 105½-mile slow and curvy road that runs near the top of the entire length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I’d visit Luray Caverns on this day. It’s 11 miles off Skyline Drive. I remember a long time ago – sometime in the mid-1970s – visiting this place as a little kid with my parents. I need to visit it again to enjoy it as an older adult. The area has grown-up a lot since then, and the caverns are surrounded by other museums and attractions.

I’d spend my 2ND night of this road-trip in Fishersville Virginia – located in-between the south-end of Skyline Drive and the north-end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Days 3, 4, and 5 were quite ambitious in that I would drive the entire length of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia into North Carolina (with various attraction and hotel stops along the way). At the end of the 5TH day I’d end-up in Gatlinburg Tennessee on the other side of the Great Smoky Mountains. I suppose I would’ve spent several days and nights in Gatlinburg exploring the area. After that I would’ve turned-in my rental car, and flown back home to sea level in Miami.

So while I extensively planned that road-trip – I never took it. I’ve not lost interest in taking that trip, and I probably will take it in the next several years – early-on in the next chapter of my life – post-retirement. I think I’d eliminate the Gatlinburg Tennessee portion of the future trip, as that’s worthy of its own trip by itself. Me and my little brother visited Gatlinburg for several hours back in August of 1992 – a few weeks after a horrible fire consumed a portion of the downtown attractions district. I remember that it still reeked of smoke some 3 weeks after the fire. I’d really like to spend about 4 days and 3 nights in and around Gatlinburg enjoying all that the area has to offer. I’d really like to visit Gatlinburg with my family (who live in North Texas), but I don’t think that it’s a destination that my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces would find as much fun as me. They are not “mountain people”. They are “beach people”.

Now the Skyline Drive + Blue Ridge Parkway road-trip – that’s definitely a solo trip. Perhaps I’ll do it in reverse – from south to north – over the course of maybe 10 days instead of 5 – adding more stops for sightseeing, photography, attractions, and good mountain dining and lodging. Of course I’d drive my own car for the road-trip. It’s about 830 miles to drive from my current home in South Florida to the south-end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. Once I hit Front Royal Virginia (at the north-end of the 574-mile parkway adventure) I’d take more traditional roads back southward, and the Andy Griffith Museum and the Billy Graham Library would be key stops along the way through the foothills of North Carolina.

I think it’s time to start redoing that itinerary (via Excel spreadsheet) so that it’s ready to implement in about 3 to 5 years. I’ll have over 2,500 miles to cover !

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)

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Earlier this year I added “Singer” to my vast church résumé. It was another one of those situations within my 14½-year church experience where I was invited (asked) to do something by the Lead Pastor, and I said “YES !” without even thinking about it. So I joined our Praise & Worship team. (I affectionately refer to us as “the band”.)

Our Lead Pastor actually invited two of us to sing with him while our Praise & Worship Pastor was incapacitated. (He broke his leg skiing). Once he recovered enough to resume his duties a few months later he asked us to stay, so now it’s him and his wife, and the two of us recruited earlier this year to belt-out 3 or 4 contemporary worship songs. We’re a 4-piece band. I’m a back-up singer. I just try to blend-in with the others.

Aside from Karaoke on cruise ships, singing loudly and boldly at home, at work, and in my car, and singing a few times during some of my earlier sermons that I’ve preached – I have no real singing experience. I’m not that good of a singer. I barely have 1 octave. I’m actually a much better dancer than singer (if you can believe that). I have far more experience dancing than singing, but I left most of that behind almost 20 years ago in the trance and techno clubs. I’m 54 now. I can no longer dance like a 20-year-old in his mid-30s.

One of the songs that we’ve been singing often on Sunday mornings (almost every week) is “Way Maker”. Michael W. Smith scored his biggest radio hit since the late-1990s with his cover version of the song. (It peaked at # 3 on my own chart.)

“Way Maker” is a crowd favorite on Sunday mornings. From the stage I see the eyes of my brothers and sisters light-up, and I see smiles during the opening chords. I see and hear joy as we all sing together the words of “Way Maker” to our Way Maker.

Sometimes we need a reminder that when we sing – we don’t do so for our own entertainment. We’re not singing to each other. We’re singing to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. He is our Way Maker. He is our Miracle Worker. He is our Promise Keeper. He is our Light in the darkness. He is our God. That is who He is.

I am the LORD – your Holy One – Israel’s Creator and King. I am the LORD – who opened a way through the waters – making a dry path through the sea. (Isaiah 43:15-16)

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

As a Pastor – looks don’t matter to me. I don’t care what you look like. I don’t care what you’re wearing. I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care what you’ve done. Everyone is welcome into our church family.

That guy in the middle – rough around the edges – is closest to God. He knows God. He’s getting closer to God by reading more of His Word. I can work with him. I can use him as a teacher. I can use him to lead others – like those two guys to the left of him – who aren’t as close to God as they think. Putting on nice clothes and looking prim and proper on Sunday mornings won’t get you to Heaven. Persecuting others for the way they look won’t lead to eternity with God. She thinks she is Christian.

The four of them should get together after church service for Lunch and get to know each other and learn from each other, and then learn more about God together as brothers and sisters of the church family.

I’ve been a part of 2 church families over the past 14½ years, and neither church family would’ve rejected that guy in the middle. He would’ve been welcomed with open arms. He would’ve been used as a church leader to teach others how to have a heart for Christ – how to have a heart filled with The Holy Spirit. I know that many churches would frown upon or even outright reject that guy in the middle. I myself would reject the church that rejects anyone.

I want that guy in the middle to bring his friends with him for Sunday morning service. I want that guy in the middle to preach God’s Good News to anyone who will listen to him.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

So true. You can substitute the word “fishing” with “football” (especially with football season coming up), or even “work”. If you’re at church on a Sunday morning, but you’re only there because someone dragged you there, or you think that you have to be there in order to get to Heaven – then you’re there for the wrong reasons.

I’ve seen it often – church attenders who are physically there, but are not mentally there. Their mind is elsewhere. It is on what they did yesterday, or what they plan to do tomorrow. They are not taking-in God’s Truth. They are not giving-out God’s love.

I’ve also seen people at church who show up, but don’t even attend any services. They are merely there because their friends are there. Larger churches with younger demographics have this problem. They have a nice modern café as part of their main entrance or lobby or atrium, and it’s a hangout joint on Sunday mornings for some who just want to drink coffee and be with their friends. But then when their friends enter the sanctuary or worship center – they leave the premises and go somewhere else.

“Oh I need to go to church to be seen.” – That’s being religious. Going to church doesn’t impress God. Going to church won’t change your life forever. Going to church won’t get you into Heaven.

On the other hand – if you’re constantly thinking about your Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, and talking to Him, and thanking Him for all that He has done for you – and all that He will do for you – then that’s a true relationship with God. It doesn’t matter when it is. It doesn’t matter where it is. If God is in the center of your heart in everything you do and everywhere you go – then that will change your life forever, for you will be alive forever with God in your heart here on earth, and God up in Heaven once your journey here in this temporary place is done.

That relationship with God is being the church all day every day. It’s bringing the church with you on Sunday mornings to meet with your brothers and sisters of your church family in community – to praise God, to worship God, to celebrate God, to talk to God, to learn more about God, and to get closer to God.

If you’re a believer and follower of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ then I hope that you are an integral part of a Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching, and Jesus-loving church family. If you’re seeking a church to belong to then don’t look for the nicest and biggest church in town with the most programs and features. Look for the church body who are closest to God by their talk and their walk, for that’s a family that will strengthen your personal and communal relationship with God.

So encourage each other and build each other up – just as you are already doing.
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries