Categories
Blogging Internet

Autumn Season Premiere

Happy September my friends. It’s Wednesday September 01ST 2021, and with this special midweek edition I begin an all-new season of blog posts.

Normally I don’t post on Wednesdays, and I probably won’t do so again until my Winter Season Premiere on Wednesday December 01ST 2021.

I publish new blog posts 4 times per week on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays at 3 AM U.S. East Coast time. Each day has its own unique theme. My Thursday posts are travel-related. My Friday posts are retro music-related. My Sunday posts are Scripture-related. My Monday posts are current music-related. So my hashtags are #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

I publish occasional special posts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but not too often.

If you’re new to my blog then I welcome you. Thank You for checking it out. You may have clicked on my link on Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr. Perhaps Google or Feedspot sent you here awhile back, and you’ve been coming back on a regular basis. Maybe you only read my posts on #TravelThursday, or you’re only interested in my messages on Sundays. Either way I’m glad you’re here. This is a no-judgement zone. This is also a politics-free space online. There’s plenty of judgement and politics elsewhere.

Feel free to comment on any post. You can also reach me on Twitter @ChrisMDay. Some of you have your own blogs that I check out on a regular basis. Keep doing what you do. Keep blogging alive !

I’ve been blogging since 2007, and really I was blogging for 14 years before that via my own dial-in bulletin board system (BBS) and its spinoff on the early World Wide Web of the late-1990s into the early-2000s. It’s my favorite hobby online. But I can get too much of a good thing; hence, the typical 4-post-per-week schedule.

#TravelThursday will be posted tomorrow at 3 AM. Last week I traveled within my own hometown here in South Florida. Tomorrow I’ll check-out a stateside location that’s about 1,500 miles away.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 237

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 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:

COUNTUP MINISTRIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY AUGUST 29TH 2021 WEEK 237
TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 3 7 Into The Wild
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Josh Baldwin
2 1 14 When We Fall Apart Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
3 2 5 House Of The Lord Phil Wickham
4 4 17 Yes He Can Cain
5 5 5 Brand New Coby James
6 7 3 Thank You Lord Chris Tomlin Ft. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line
7 6 21 Gospel Song Rhett Walker
8 8 7 What If Matthew West
9 – 5 Sunday Morning Feeling Apollo LTD Ft. Ryan Stevenson
10 – 1 Promises Maverick City Music

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

NEW # 1 – Josh Baldwin’s 4TH hit becomes his 1ST # 1 smash on my chart, as the catchy “Into The Wild” ascends to # 1 in its 7TH week. He previously charted with “Stand In Your Love” (# 5 in 2018), “Let The Redeemed” (# 10 in 2020), and “Evidence” (# 8 in 2020). When I first heard this song during the first-half of July I instantly liked it, and I began singing along to it after just a few listens.

BACK @ # 9 – Ryan Stevenson is back with his 7TH hit that re-enters my chart after falling-off 4 weeks ago. He’s a featured artist with a prominent role on Apollo LTD’s hit “Sunday Morning Feeling”. Here’s the official lyric video that should get you up and dancing:

This blog is # 34 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites in 2021 chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 5 new entries on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

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 the 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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church Food God Life Ministry Music Scripture

Sunday Scripture

This past Friday – late in the morning – I was sitting at my booth at Buffalo Wild Wings awaiting the arrival of my traditional wings (with sweet BBQ sauce) and wedges, and I was listening to the random hits that were being played loudly on the sound system. (They have a really nice sound system in there.)

Suddenly – out of nowhere – “Child Of Love” from We The Kingdom began playing !

I let out a big smile. I even laughed a little bit. It’s a hit from my own chart earlier this year that spent 14 weeks in my Top 10, 8 weeks in my Top 5, and 6 weeks in my Top 3. I thought to myself, “How on earth did this song end up on Buffalo Wild Wings’ playlist ? !”

It hasn’t crossed-over to the (secular) pop charts (yet). Their debut hit – “Holy Water” – actually did cross-over early-on in 2020. It peaked at # 106.

Buffalo Wild Wings was fairly empty at the time (during the 11 AM hour), and perhaps I was the only one in the restaurant who recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated that song being played loudly. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played so loud before.)

“Child Of Love” tells the life-changing story of salvation. It tells my story from exactly 15 years ago:

♫ I was walking the wayside
Lost on a lonely road
I was chasing the high life
Tryna satisfy my soul

All the lies I believed in
Left me crying like the rain
Then I saw lightning from Heaven
And I’ve never been the same

I’m gonna climb a mountain
I’m gonna shout about it
I am a child of love
I found a world of freedom
I found a friend in Jesus
I am a child of love

I’ve felt the sting of the fire
But I saw You in the flames
Just when I thought it was over
You broke me out of the grave ♫

You know salvation can begin unexpectedly for anyone at anytime in anyplace. Most of us who are saved by our God’s great grace didn’t see it coming. For me salvation began on a dark 2-lane street in my city early in the morning as the first hint of daylight was appearing in the eastern sky. God used hit music to save me. Our God is powerful. He’ll even use Buffalo Wild Wings to save another lost soul.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground, and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:1-3a NLT)

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
1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

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, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 31ST 1986:

  1. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” – The Communards
  2. “Press” – Paul McCartney
  3. “Dancing On The Ceiling” – Lionel Richie
  4. “Girls And Boys” – Prince And The Revolution
  5. “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” – Jermaine Stewart

Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles were The Communards – a short-lived pop-dance duo while I was living in the United Kingdom. They formed just before I arrived in 1985, and they broke-up for good just after I left in 1988. They scored 9 U.K. Top 40 hits in a row – including a single # 1 smash – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” – that was not just a # 1 smash for a month – but it was the U.K. # 1 smash for the entire year of 1986. It hit # 1 or # 2 in the U.K., Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand. It also crossed-over stateside and hit # 1 on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart, but only # 40 on the pop chart (still a remarkable achievement for an obscure pop act from across the Atlantic).

Here’s the official music video for the 130+ BPM HI-NRG pop-dance anthem of 1986:

35 years ago this weekend I compiled (via pen, pencil, and loose-leaf notebook paper) my 50TH weekly hit music chart. It was Labor Day Weekend in the U.S.A., and we observed and celebrated it on our U.S. Air Force Base in the U.K. For that 50TH “issue” of my chart I also counted down the Top 50 hits of my first 50 charts. Here are the Top 5 of that Top 50:

  1. “The Edge Of Heaven” – Wham!
  2. “The Spirit In The Sky” – Doctor And The Medics
  3. “Rock Me Amadeus” – Falco
  4. “The Lady In Red” – Chris DeBurgh
  5. “Sun Street” – Katrina And The Waves

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries