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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 03RD 2023, 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. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Yesterday afternoon I saw “The Hill” at the movie theatre. It’s a faith-based true story about a young baseball player with a disability and his family including his Pastor Dad in a small town in Texas. The story was uplifting, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 4 stars. “A+”. I recommend !

This morning I’ll be checking out a new church here in Sebring. I’ve decided to leave my first church here in my new hometown after about 4½ months. I’m looking forward to a new Pastor and a new church family to meet and greet.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another – especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT)

And now here on #SundayScripture it’s the continuation of the refresh, renew, and reboot of my sermon on “Pray & Believe” – originally preached on Sunday June 16TH 2019. Here’s Part 6:

[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]

So back to our story on King Herod of Judea. In 44 A.D. – some 10 or 11 years after the death and resurrection of Christ – King Herod had the apostle James (the brother of John) killed with a sword. Now this is a different James than the James that I preached on for much of 2018. That James was the half-brother of Jesus Himself. This James – son of Zebedee – was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. In fact he may have been the first of the 12 to join Jesus. He was also the first to be murdered for his faith. The other James – the one that I preached on for much of 2018 – (and into 2019) – well – he began his letter – what we now know as the Book Of James – about 5 years later – addressing it to the 12 tribes – the Jewish believers that were scattered abroad due to persecution.

So King Herod had the apostle James killed with a sword, and he continued the momentum by arresting Peter during Passover of that same year – 44 A.D. He sent Peter to jail where he was heavily guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. There was no way that Peter could possibly escape … or was there ?

While Peter was in prison – the church prayed very earnestly for him. (Acts 12:5)

You know that God answers the earnest – the intentional prayers of His believers and followers – His holy people ? I know that. I hope that you know that too. God answers your prayers. Are you talking to Him ?

I’ve asked God for miracles – big miracles – impossible miracles – life-changing miracles – over these past 17 years of this journey. Guess what I got ? I got miracles ! I know I’m not alone. I’m looking at miracles – beautiful living miracles – here in this church body. I am in the presence of miracles, for with God – who we are all in the presence of – all things are possible. There is always a way with God.

You know that none of us are supposed to be here. If the enemy had his way – we wouldn’t be here. This church body wouldn’t exist. We probably wouldn’t know each other. Some of us wouldn’t be alive today. But we are. And we’re here. And God put us together as His church body in this place. He did that intentionally. We are not here by accident. We are not here by coincidence. We are His holy people. We are His disciples. We are His messengers. We are His miracles. (Everyone say “miracles”.) We belong to each other. We need each other.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Food Geography Movies Music Sports Television Travel

Footloose

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Saturday I went on my first day-trip with some of my friends at the Sebring Historical Society. We gathered on our chartered bus at around 9 AM, and 30 minutes later we left the parking lot of our downtown Sebring museum for Fort Myers – 2 hours away.

We arrived at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre just in time for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet – or – as I like to pronounce it – boo/FAY. The salad bar, the main course bar, and the dessert bar – it was all wonderful. Lots of choices, and everything tasted great. Service was pretty good too. You get your own food, and the wait staff brings you your unlimited drinks (water, iced tea, soda, coffee, etc.).

As a large group of over 20 we had 4 tables assigned to us up near the front of the 400-seat dinner theatre. We all had an excellent view of the stage for the after-lunch show.

And that show was #Footloose. I saw the original movie with my family as a 16-year-old in Fairfax County Virginia. I also saw the late-2011 remake. Good story. Good music. The Broadway-style show held true to its origins. I forgot about the whole minister / church part of the plot. It was interesting watching that this past Saturday afternoon as a minister.

I actually want to see the original 1984 movie again. Next time I see it on my TV listings I’ll have to DVR it. (Oh wait a minute – I forgot – it’s 2023, and I mostly stream. I have MAX, and I can watch it anytime on there.)

Well our next trip with the Sebring Historical Society is next month to a Tampa Bay Rays / New York Yankees Major League Baseball game in St. Petersburg Florida. I won’t be blogging about that, as I won’t be going on that trip. I just don’t like baseball. But I’m sure that the trip will be popular with a lot of the guys in our organization.

I hear that our next trip after that is in December to a Christmas show at a theatre in Winter Haven – or is it Winter Garden ? I get those two cities mixed-up. (And then there’s nearby Winter Park and Winter Springs.)

Next #TravelThursday – ALL ABOARD ! Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Geography Holidays Music Sports Travel

Hockey Night In Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. As I revealed in last week’s edition I recently spent 10 days with my family over in the Dallas Texas area. It was our annual #ThanksChristmasGiving – where we combine Thanksgiving and Christmas into one fun week (or longer). It’s been a family tradition for many years now, but this was likely the last one of its kind.

The highlight of this recent trip occurred at the American Airlines Center – a large sports and entertainment arena in downtown Dallas. It was built between 1999 and 2001, and I think I had been there before, but I can’t remember. Before returning to the Dallas Texas area in 2019 my family previously lived there from 2006 to 2013, so it would’ve been back then, and it would’ve been either a WWE event or an NHL game. Maybe I hadn’t been there before. The arena and the surrounding area looked new to me on this visit.

So me and my brother went there on Monday November 21ST 2022 to watch our Dallas Stars take-on the visiting Colorado Avalanche. It was a fun game. Texans know how to put on a hockey game. The pregame intro (audio, video, visuals) was unlike anything that I’d ever seen at a hockey game. It was quite the show before the show. I’ve been to quite a few NHL games over the past 30 years – far more than any other sports league. It’s my favorite sport to watch LIVE in person at the arena. (I think it’s actually quite boring to watch hockey on TV.)

The action on the rink was a lot of fun with the audience interaction (for both teams playing). Colorado had its fair share of fans in the stands. I also enjoyed the loud techno and rock and even country music (it’s Texas) in-between the action on the ice. I remarked to my brother that the deejay has to be really good and paying close attention to start a snippet of a new song at the precise second that the action stops, and then end the song at the precise second that the action restarts. His playlist has to be well over 100 songs – with no repeats !

The game ended in a 2-2 tie, so there was a 5-minute “sudden death” overtime with less players on the ice. Neither team scored. So a shootout occurred. Colorado won the shootout. End-of-game. Avalanche 3 Stars 2 (SO).

The announced attendance of the game was 18,532, and that’s also the capacity of the arena.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll count my steps. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Food Movies Sports Television Travel Wrestling

My Wild Wrestling Weekend Vacation 2022

And I am back from yet another vacation – this one a 6-day trip out west. I flew in to the Dallas Texas area early last Thursday morning (March 31ST). First stop after my brother picked me up at the airport (DFW) was a restaurant nearby that the locals love – Old West Cafe. I enjoyed a hearty breakfast during my first hour within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and it continued a new tradition for me and my brother. This was our first stop the last time I flew in to DFW (in November 2020), and it worked out so well that we’ve decided to do it every time I fly in to DFW.

Here’s me a few seconds before diving in to this culinary masterpiece:

We saw a movie that afternoon – The Lost City (starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe – among others). I enjoyed it. A solid ‘B’. 3.5 out of 4 stars from me. It was my 3RD movie seen at the theatres so far in 2022, and that ties both 2020 and 2021. (By comparison my 2000 to 2009 average was 20 movies per year, and my 2010 to 2019 average was 30 movies per year.)

That night we went to WrestleCon in downtown Dallas at a large hotel with a convention center. You may have heard of ComicCon held in various cities each year around the U.S. (and probably the world.) Well this is the professional wrestling version of that. Picture a lot of vendor booths with well-known wrestlers behind many of them selling photographs, autographs, and selfies or pictures of you and the wrestler. These are real-life TV stars of the wrestling realm – past and present – of rival companies – sitting or standing right in front of you in living color. Just you and them meeting and greeting each other. It was quite the experience. I was a bit starstruck. My brother talked to a few of his favorites, and he bought their photo and signature, and I took a picture of them with my brother’s smart phone.

Also part of the convention was a show at the wrestling ring with a full card of matches. We had front row seats ringside for that first night’s show. These are mostly independent wrestlers. I’m a huge WWE fan (more on that later), but beyond that I’m not really in to the independent wrestling scene (or other promotions stateside and worldwide). I know of some of them because they used to work for the WWE. I was very impressed with this first night’s experience.

Night 2 (Friday), and we were in Garland Texas (a Dallas suburb) at the Curtis Culwell Center – a nearly 7,000-seat arena. We were there for the reboot of Ring Of Honor and their annual Supercard Of Honor pay-per-view event. It was a stacked card with a dozen matches that thrilled the more than 2,000 in attendance. (We had ringside seats again.)

Nights 3 and 4, and we were at WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium (where the Dallas Cowboys play). This was my 21ST WrestleMania (since WrestleMania X8 in 2002), but it was my very first LIVE and in-person. It was a bucket list event for me and my brother, and we finally did it. We were there for 8 hours on Saturday night and 6 hours on Sunday night. (The show itself was 4 hours on each night.)

If you have followed me online for a while then you know that I am a huge WWE fan. (I even preached a sermon about it here on my blog.) My brother got me hooked in June 2001 at a Raw and Smackdown in Tampa and Orlando respectively. Before those two LIVE events I had never seen an episode of either show. Since then I don’t think that I’ve missed one. I became a sudden and instant fan at those two shows at the atypical age of 34. (I never watched it as a kid either.)

Me and my brother watched the post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw at his house, and then I flew back home the next morning. My wild wrestling weekend vacation was complete.

A couple hundred million dollars were pumped-in to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex economy last weekend due to professional wrestling and its loyal fanbase worldwide, and I was part of all of that.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp