Categories
2000s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2003

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 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 20 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday February 09TH 2003:

And here’s an actual snapshot of my Top 5 exactly the way it appeared on my web site at the time:

That’s from the 746TH overall edition and 387TH online edition of my weekly hit music chart – known at the time as my “Pure Dance Chart”. It was right in the middle of the 2ND era of my chart that lasted a little over 14 years from October 1995 to January 2010. For a little over 2 years from 2002 to 2004 I was immersed in the #EDM culture, and my chart reflected that short era of my life.

Last #RetroFriday I teased DJ Ray Roc joining forces with Tina Arena to score my biggest smash of 2003. That was Roc Project and Australian singer Filippina Lydia “Tina” Arena. She’s had a long and successful career going back over 45 years. In 1994 she scored with a regional Top 40 hit here stateside – “Chains”. And then she scored with a Top 5 club dance smash 9 years later, and that was “Never (Past Tense)”. It spent – get this – 54 weeks on my chart – from October 2002 through November 2003. Back during my #EDM era songs regularly spent 30 and 40 or more weeks on my chart. 54 weeks was quite the accomplishment – even for those times.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 25 years ago to February 1998. It’s when I danced like a maniac to a 128 BPM early trance track that stormed straight-in to my mainstream pop chart at # 1.

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 Driving Geography Military Photography Travel

My Carnival Celebration Vacation 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about Amber Cove, Puerto Plata, and the surrounding area up to 2,600 feet above sea level along the north-central coast of the Dominican Republic. That was Day 3 of my 7-day cruise aboard the Carnival Celebration from Sunday January 08TH 2023 to Sunday January 15TH 2023.

This week we jump to Day 4 of my 7-day cruise – and the 2ND port-of-call in San Juan Puerto Rico.

But First: It’s always good to return back to the U.S.A. – whether it’s stateside or a territory at sea – if only to get full-use of my cell phone (iPhone) back again without any extra International “roaming” charges. Those LTE signal bars look so beautiful after not having any since a few miles offshore Miami Beach.

I pre-purchased a shore excursion for Old San Juan – visiting fortresses. Shortly after arrival and U.S. Customs clearance on the island, I met my group and we hopped on our bus. Our tour guide / driver narrated during our short drive up to the first fortress. She also exhibited a little bit of Puerto Rican road-rage along the way, as traffic was thick and slow due to several cruise ships in port. Cops were blocking roads in an effort to make traffic run more smoothly, but it seemed to be causing more problems than not.

We made it to Castillo San Cristóbal, and our tour guide /driver handed-off to another tour guide who told us a little bit about the fortress. Then she told us to go check it out for ourselves and return back to the bus about 40 minutes later. (This was very unlike the shore excursion that I enjoyed on the previous day in the Dominican Republic as described last #TravelThursday.)

Our next fortress was Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and it was essentially the same situation. Our tour guide told us a little bit about it, and then we went to check it out on our own. After we were done – we walked back on our own to the bus to be there at a certain time.

After the two fortresses our tour guide / driver drove us to the city center of Viejo San Juan, and that was pretty much the end of the tour. She recommended that we walk back to the ship from there (a short walk), as traffic was muy malo. (She essentially gave up for the day.)

While the shore excursion for the Dominican Republic was a perfect 5 stars because of our tour guide and what we saw – this shore excursion was more like 3 stars. It wasn’t really a waste of time or money, but we could’ve had better, more knowledgeable, and more patient tour guides with less attitude. We could’ve also had cold air coming out of the bus vents instead of air.

I took some good pictures from the fortresses. They will appear on my Flickr Photostream in the weeks to come. Here’s one of the 3 cruise ships in port at the time from atop Castillo San Cristóbal. (The Carnival Celebration is in the middle.)

Fun Fact: This was my 2ND-ever visit to San Juan Puerto Rico. My 1ST visit was a little over 12 years ago on January 20TH 2011 as part of a 7-day cruise on the Carnival Glory.

Next #TravelThursday we’ll head over to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to enjoy a fun day on a nearly empty ship, or – perhaps – it didn’t quite turn out that way. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 312

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 February 05TH 2023 – the 312TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 16 Who I Am
[9TH week @ # 1]		 Ben Fuller
2 2 8 First Things First
[5TH week @ # 2]		 Consumed By Fire
3 4 8 My Story Your Glory Matthew West
4 5 10 I See Grace Micah Tyler
5 7 3 The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) Matt Maher
6 3 19 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
7 6 25 New Creation Mac Powell
8 8 5 Gratitude Brandon Lake
9 – 1 I Believe It (The Life Of Jesus) Jon Reddick
10 10 3 God Really Loves Us Crowder

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard

TOBYMAC’S HITS DEEP TOUR 2023 – My 5TH TobyMac concert was just as great as the 4 before it in 2010, 2017, 2019, and 2021. He knows how to put on a show, and he’s got some great friends to help him out with it. The show at the Hertz Arena in Estero Florida got started at 6:58 PM with Pastor Eric greeting the sell-out crowd. He introduced Terrian, and she belted out a couple of great tracks from center stage just 5 rows in front of me. Terrian introduced Cochren & Co., and they performed from the main stage. “Church (Take Me Back)” and “Thank God For Sunday Morning” were two of my favorites, as they were both long-running hits on my chart. Both hits spent 21 weeks on my chart. Michael Cochren introduced Jon Reddick, and he performed LIVE from center stage. He and his band also backed-up our next artist – Tasha Layton – also from center stage. I sang along loudly to all of her songs. She sounded great LIVE. She introduced Crowder, and then he went to work from the main stage. He rocked the house with 10 of his biggest hits that had much of the audience on the floor standing and stomping their feet to the beat. He’s looks crazy, and he is crazy. He’s crazy for “Good God Almighty” !

And that was the first 79 minutes of the show. After an art performance, short sermon, and fundraising event for hungry and thirsty children worldwide – hosted by Pastor Eric – we went into an intermission. That gave me a chance to recharge after singing, clapping, stomping my feet, and YES – even dancing. Incidentally I was probably very close to the average age of the 6,000+ in attendance with just as many fans older than me and younger than me. At almost 56 (that’s me) – David Crowder is just behind me at 51, and TobyMac – well he’s 58 (hard to believe).

TobyMac and his Diverse City Band took the stage at 8:58 PM, and they put on an excellent set for exactly 90 minutes and 19 hits since 2006. Toby is one of the few artists who have been a part of my fantastic journey since the beginning. I didn’t know who he was until after God rescued and saved me in 2006. I soon discovered that he’s originally from Fairfax County Virginia (same as me), and that I was listening to him on Top 40 radio back in the mid-90s (DC Talk). I think there’s an excellent chance that there will be a 6TH TobyMac concert in my future.

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 February 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.

This is normally Communion Sunday at my home church, as it’s the first Sunday of a brand-new month. But not this Sunday. We’ll observe and celebrate Communion next Sunday after the sermon.

This Sunday I’m on the road – 3 hours away – over in Southwest Florida. Last night I had a floor seat in the middle of the Hertz Arena at the TobyMac & Friends “Hits Deep Tour” show in Estero. I’ll write all about that concert tomorrow on #Top10Monday.

This morning I’m attending a church service at Cambier Park in downtown Naples Florida. Celebration Beach Church has been hosting Sunday morning church services outside in the city park for many years now, and I’ve been attending their services occasionally over the past 13 years. If I lived in Naples it would be my home church, but since I’m a tourist in Naples it’s my vacation church.

I now continue presenting my New Year’s Day sermon in its original written form. It’s based on the Matthew West song of late-2019 / early-2020 – “The God Who Stays”. Here’s Part 4:

‘Cause somehow You don’t see me like I do
Somehow You’re still here
You’re the God who stays
You’re the God who stays
You’re the One who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away

You’re the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done
Can separate my heart
From the God who stays

Paul to the Romans (8:38-39):

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed – nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My shame can’t separate
My guilt can’t separate
My past can’t separate
I’m Yours forever

My sin can’t separate
My scars can’t separate
My failures can’t separate
I’m Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change
I’m Yours forever

You know your best testimony of how great our God is – is the story of you. Only you can testify to the world out there your story – your story of redemption through Jesus Christ – our Lord + Savior. Tell them – the person that you used to be. Tell them – the person that you are now. Tell them – how you got to be where you are now. Tell them – how He lifted you out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. Tell them – that you are nothing without God – and His grace and mercy for you. Tell them – that He is the God for everyone in the entire world who accepts Him as his or her personal Lord + Savior.

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