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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 316

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 nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday March 05TH 2023 – the 316TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 7 The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)
[2ND week @ # 1]
Matt Maher
2 3 14 I See Grace Micah Tyler
3 2 12 My Story Your Glory Matthew West
4 4 3 Running Home Cochren & Co.
5 5 4 I’m So Blessed Cain
6 6 12 First Things First Consumed By Fire
7 8 2 That’s Enough Brandon Heath
8 9 5 I Believe It (The Life Of Jesus) Jon Reddick
9 9 Don’t Lose Heart Steven Curtis Chapman Ft. Mitchell Tenpenny
10 1 This Is Our God Phil Wickham

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Jesus Is Coming Back” – Jordan Feliz Ft. Mandisa & Jonathan Traylor
2021 – “Say I Won’t” – MercyMe
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Red Letters” – Crowder
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard
2017 – “Love Broke Thru” – TobyMac

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN – An incredible phenomenon occurs this week. Mr. Chapman scores his 50TH # 1 smash at U.S. Christian radio with “Don’t Lose Heart”. The man has been charting on the radio for almost as long as this chart has been in existence – since the mid-1980s. It was a slow climb to the top. It was originally released to radio last July, and it stalled-out along the way before picking up steam early this year. It’s a rare re-entry on my chart – having originally spent 8 weeks on it back in August and September and peaking at # 4. An amazing 23 weeks after falling off my chart – it’s back at # 9. This is actually a new version of the single with country musician Michael Tenpenny assisting.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday#SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

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 our 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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday March 05TH 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.

On this Sunday morning I’m preaching again for the 2ND week in a row. Last week I preached an unrehearsed and spontaneous sermon titled “Sebring & Beyond” – all about the promised land that God has setup for me 186 miles to the north of where I am now. When I had my eyes fixed on the southwest coast of Florida – my God had plans for me in the Heartland of Florida. And then He revealed it to me about 7 years ago. He has opened some doors for me up in Sebring, and I’m walking through those entryways as I approach the next part of my life – retirement.

This morning I’ll be preaching a traditional sermon for me – one that is totally rehearsed and fully written. It’s a sermon about the Apostle Paul and his disciple Titus on the island of Crete that I wrote in about 7 days back in late-October. It’s been sitting “on-the-shelf” since then. Sometimes the time is not right for a particular sermon. Sometimes God guides His church leaders in other directions. Sometimes He leads us to preach on the Gospel that the church body needs to hear right now. I will always listen to God. I will always be totally dependent on Him and His Way.

Preach the word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

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

Categories
2000s Blogging Christian Church God Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2008

Hello again retro music fans. 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, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 1ST Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 02ND 2008:

  1. “Friend Like That” – Hawk Nelson
  2. “Southern Weather” – The Almost
  3. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” – The Wedding
  4. “Medicine” – The Fold
  5. “Casting Off” – This Beautiful Republic

It’s fun to look back at those bands that I rocked-out to as a kid 15 years ago. (OK – so I was 40 – almost 41 – at the time, but I was a mere kid on this fantastic journey experiencing my own Jesus Revolution.)

The Almost was an awesome band back then. They sounded great on the radio on CALL-FM. Led by Aaron Gillepsie – they are originally from the Tampa Bay area, so they know a little something about that “Southern Weather”. It was 1 of their 5 hits on the radio back during the late-2000s. It spent 6 weeks at # 2. It’s one of those songs that I never forgot. Its melody is still on my mind after 15 years.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 20 years ago to March 2003. It’s when I got my glowsticks out on the dancefloor to move to a dreamy trance.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian Church Driving Geography God Home Travel

Sebring & Beyond

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I revealed that I had recently spent 4 days and 3 nights up in scenic Highlands County Florida.

I activated the start of a dream that I’ve been dreaming (and blogging about) for the past 7 years. That dream is to relocate and retire near Sebring (the county seat). Shortly upon arrival in Lake Placid my Real Estate Agent and I drove to my dream neighborhood where we toured 5 condos. I selected my favorite one (which was the last one we toured), and I made a purchase offer on it. It was quickly accepted by the seller. I am now 15 days into the 30-day closing process, and everything continues to work out smoothly so far.

My new home is absolutely beautiful and clean. It was love at first sight upon entering it. I had to contain my excitement for it. It’s a 3-bedroom / 2-bathroom 2ND-floor condo in a 55+ active-adult gated-community. It comes fully-furnished, and the furniture is newish. I met the husband-and-wife owners of the condo. They bought it in 2022, and they refurbished and modernized it. They were pretty much done with that, so they put it on the market a couple of months ago. (I had been tracking it online since the start of the year.) They will continue to live in the neighborhood, buy vacated condos, refurbish them, and sell them for a small profit. (The husband is a retired Civil Engineer.)

The neighborhood’s homeowners’ association requires a background security check and vote before being accepted as a resident. (They will find absolutely nothing in their investigation of me.)

If all goes well then the final closing date should be during the week of St. Patrick’s Day, and I will drive back up there to be physically present for that, and be handed the keys to my new home. I’ll also have a trunk-load of personal belongings with me, as I will begin moving-in that same day.

It’ll be a slow and gradual relocation from South Florida (Miami-Dade County) to South-Central Florida (Highlands County). I don’t retire for another 9 months, so on most weeks I’ll live and work down south from Sunday mornings to Wednesday afternoons, and I’ll live and work up north from Wednesday evenings to Sunday mornings. My commuting distance will be 186 miles, and that’s about a 3-hour and 20-minute drive. Each drive northward will be another haul of my personal belongings. Eventually the drives will be less-frequent, and I’ll spend more time in Sebring than not.

I’m looking forward to the change in lifestyle, and the change in region. This will be the first time since I lived in the United Kingdom 35+ years ago that I’ll be living in a rural area (versus suburban). I’m moving to a 1,106-square-mile county with a total population of just over 100,000. Right now over 100,000 people live within about 5 miles of me. (Over 2.7 million residents call Miami-Dade County home.)

Sebring will also be the first time in exactly 30 years – and 2ND-time in my life – that I’ll be relocating to the city / area of my choice. Back in March 1993 I relocated to Melbourne Florida – because I wanted to. 30 years later I’m relocating about 100 miles away from Melbourne – because I want to.

I can’t believe that this is finally happening, and I owe it all to my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. It’s easy to claim that these were my plans for many years, but these were really God’s plans for me. He guided and directed me to the Florida Heartland. I preached about that this past Sunday. “Sebring & Beyond” was the title of my sermon.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll tell you all about my 2ND visit to the main office of the Sebring Historical Society. I’ll be serving with them soon. Let’s keep traveling together.

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