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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 18TH 2022, 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.

It’s the 3RD Sunday of December, and it’s the 4TH Sunday of Advent. Next Sunday is Christmas Day.

On this 4TH Sunday of Advent we are reminded of our God’s peace. The Apostle Paul ends his 2ND letter to the Thessalonians with this Benediction:

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you His peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:16 NLT)

I was originally scheduled to preach what would have been a traditional Christmas message to my brothers and sisters of my church family this morning. I’ve always wanted to do that in my 6 years of preaching. Maybe next year. I get another year to prepare for it.

An opportunity arose, and instead I will be welcoming a local minister / musician and his band to our church later this morning. They will be presenting a Christmas concert for us, and I am looking forward to it. It’ll be a change-of-pace Sunday morning worship service for us.

Many modern contemporary churches host a “Night Of Worship” a few times per year. The way we did it (at least originally) at my previous church was a 90-minute concert where we invited local church musicians to perform a 3 or 4 song set on our stage. I hosted a few of those nights. They were a lot of fun. There was a lot of singing and dancing for God at those events.

Our Sunday morning service today is our first attempt at that type of all-music service, and I’m calling it a “Morning Of Worship”. Our God will be glorified today in music and lyrics.

He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:3 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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1997

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 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 21ST 1997:

  1. “Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
  2. “Legend Of A Cowgirl” – Imani Coppola
  3. “Mo Money Mo Problems” – Notorious B.I.G. Ft. Puff Daddy & Mase
  4. “Walkin’ On The Sun” – Smash Mouth
  5. “(I Just Wanna) Fly” – Sugar Ray Ft. Super Cat

19-year-old New York City native Imani Coppola hit # 2 on my chart in December 1997 for 3 weeks in a row. She was held from the top spot by Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping”. It spent 26 weeks in a row on my chart. It finished 1997 as my # 21 hit of the year (out of 161). It also finished 1998 as my # 41 hit of the year (out of 188).

“Legend Of A Cowgirl” remains a favorite of mine 25 years later. In fact it’s currently in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. Here’s its award-nominated official music video:

Next #RetroFriday (in 2 weeks) I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of December 1987. It’s when a 17-year-old teen from Long Island New York arrived “Out Of The Blue” to encourage you to “Shake Your Love”.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Health Holidays Shopping Travel

Step By Step

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m on my 4TH smart watch now in 7 years. I was introduced to the wonderful world of Fitbit back in November 2015. It was one of my surprise #ThanksChristmasGiving gifts that year from my family. I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t really know what a Fitbit was back then. They bought me a Fitbit Charge. I eventually got that first Charge replaced with a new one free-of-charge because the wrist band broke on it. After a few years I got a Fitbit Blaze to replace my Charge, and that was definitely an upgrade. I had to replace the wrist band for it several times, but recently it’s been increasingly difficult to find replacements because it’s obsolete. (I’ve been lucky to find it mostly via Amazon.)

I asked my brother for a Fitbit Sense 2 (brand-new in 2022) as my main #ThanksChristmasGiving gift this year, and that’s exactly what I was expecting to open at the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving morning.

I did not get that. I removed the wrapping paper, and there it was – an Apple Watch. For a few moments I was disappointed. My brother kind of sensed that, as he mentioned that he had the gift receipt for it in case I didn’t want it.

I don’t return gifts. I embrace gifts. So as is tradition on Thanksgiving morning – after everyone in the family opened all of the gifts underneath the Christmas tree – I went upstairs to pack. (I usually drive or fly back home the next day.)

But before packing for the return trip home – I unpacked my new Apple Watch, and I charged it up all the way while doing research for it online. (I knew nothing about Apple Watch until I read all about it.) The more I read – the more I got excited about it. I was looking forward to having it completely charged so that I could take off my Fitbit Blaze for the final time and put on my Apple Watch for the first time. And so I did that.

My new Apple Watch has been on my left wrist ever since then – with the exception of showering every day and recharging it every couple of days. I even wear it to bed to monitor my sleep. In a nutshell – I love it. It’s got far more features than my former Fitbit Blaze – particularly all of the charts and graphs on the various iPhone apps associated with it.

I wonder how long this wrist band is going to last ?

I guess I’ll be with Apple Watch indefinitely now. Fitbit had a good 7-year run on my wrist.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll go the distance. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 304

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 December 11TH 2022 – the 304TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 8 Who I Am
[1ST week @ # 1]
Ben Fuller
2 1 11 Ain’t Nobody Cody Carnes
3 3 11 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
4 5 14 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
5 4 8 Then Christ Came MercyMe
6 6 18 Good Morning Mercy Jason Crabb
7 7 17 New Creation Mac Powell
8 8 4 There Is Freedom Josh Baldwin
9 9 2 Heart Of God Zach Williams
10 10 2 I See Grace Micah Tyler

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “On Our Way” – MercyMe Ft. Sam Wesley
2020 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2019 – “Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp
2018 – “Even Then” – Micah Tyler
2017 – “Control (Somehow You Want Me)” – Tenth Avenue North

CHRISTMAS # 1 – I think I found my Christmas chart-topper for this year. Newcomer Ben Fuller reaches the top as he sings to God about who he is. He’s a child of the most-high God, and the most-high God’s for him. I love this song. I love Ben’s powerful voice. I love Ben’s passion in singing his song to God. I love the words that he uses.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp