CountUp

My Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 25, 2021

5 weeks ago (5 Thursdays ago) I returned home from my Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip. It was a fun 5-day adventure traversing 624 miles through the 10 South and Central Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Hendry, and Collier. I also barely touched Monroe County, and I saw its many islands.

Last Thursday I wrote on Day 5 – my final 202 miles from Lake Placid southward to Immokalee to Everglades City to Chokoloskee, and then back home to Homestead after 100½ hours on-the-road.

Here’s an interesting fact about this road-trip: It’s the first road-trip ever that I used Google Maps (on my iPhone) to guide me. I used it from start to finish – even when I knew exactly where I was going. It’s got a handy feature on there that tells you the exact time that you’ll be arriving at your destination based on your current driving. It also gives the number of miles remaining to get there. (I used to write everything down in advance on previous road-trips.)

Needless to say I’ll be using Google Maps on all future road-trips. I didn’t realize it did so much.

It was fun to plan this road-trip, and it was fun to actually experience what I planned (along with a few places that I did not plan). It was also fun to blog about it and share it with you over this past month of Thursdays.

How about an encore ? I’m ready to do it all over again !

And so now I’m proud to announce the 3 destinations of my next road-trip:

It’ll be a 4-day road-trip to Stuart, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach along the Treasure Coast of Florida.

I’ve driven through Stuart, but I haven’t really visited the area before. The last time I spent any quality time in Fort Pierce was about 11 years ago. And Vero Beach I’ve only driven thru (really fast on the Interstate – a few decades ago).

So I’ll be visiting lots of new and exciting places in these 3 areas from northern Martin County through St. Lucie County to southern Indian River County (right along the immediate Atlantic coastline). I’ll be spending 3 nights at a hotel in Vero Beach. This is actually a road-trip that I had previously planned in 2018, but I canceled it because I ended-up going on another (work-related) road-trip to Middle Georgia.

Once I return from this upcoming road-trip I should have lots of fun memories to blog about for a month of Thursdays after.

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 214

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 22, 2021

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 MARCH 21ST 2021	WEEK 214

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	10	Say I Won’t [4TH week @ # 1]	MercyMe
2	3	9	Fires	Jordan St. Cyr
3	2	5	Good God Almighty	Crowder
4	4	9	Less Like Me	Zach Williams
5	5	17	Every Step Of The Way	Cade Thompson
6	6	3	Amen	for King & Country
7	7	24	Truth Be Told	Matthew West
8	9	13	Another In The Fire	Hillsong United
9	10	2	Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)	TobyMac
10	–	1	God Who Listens	Chris Tomlin Ft. Thomas Rhett

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “No One Like Our God” – Lincoln Brewster
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

MercyMe are at # 1 for the 4TH week with “Say I Won’t”. Their new album drops on Friday April 30TH 2021 as per a recent series of teasers on their official Facebook page.

NEW this week is the 6TH hit since 2017 for Chris Tomlin. It features country musician Thomas Rhett – who has enjoyed a string of # 1 country hits over the past 8 years. I’m interested to see if this one crosses-over from Christian radio to Country radio.

BUBBLING UNDER just outside my Top 10 is the new one from We The Kingdom. It’s “Child Of God”, and it features Bear Rinehart – the lead singer of NeedToBreathe.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on 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.

Tags Blog, Christian, KLOVE, Music, Radio

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 21, 2021

“What is truth ?” – Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them – “He is not guilty of any crime. But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’ ?” (18:38-39)

But they shouted back – “No ! Not this man. We want Barabbas !” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.) (18:40)

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put a purple robe on Him. “Hail ! King of the Jews !” – they mocked, as they slapped Him across the face. (19:1-3)

Pilate went outside again and said to the people – “I am going to bring Him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said – “Look – here is the Man !” (19:4-5)

When they saw Him – the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting – “Crucify Him ! Crucify Him !” (19:6a)

In Part 8 of my continuing sermon leading-up to Resurrection Sunday I continue from the Gospel of John – Chapter 18 into 19 – where John remembers when Jesus was sentenced to death.

The Roman Governor – Pontius Pilate – determined that Jesus was not guilty. He committed no crime, and He was no threat to the Roman Empire. Pilate offered to release this ‘King of the Jews’, but the mob rebelled. They wanted Barabbas released instead. (Barabbas was guilty of murder and insurrection !)

Jesus was mocked and beaten by Pilate’s Roman soldiers, and then He was paraded in front of the mob outside so that they could see that He was punished – even though He was not guilty of any crimes. The leading priests and Temple guards wanted far more punishment for Jesus. They wanted Him crucified. Pilate challenged the mob to crucify Him themselves.

Pilate had another conversation with Jesus inside, and he tried to release Him again. The mob threatened Pilate if he released Jesus claiming that he (Pilate) would be no friend of (Julius) Caesar – just as Jesus was a rebel against Caesar.

Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. (19:16)

I’ll continue this journey through John Chapter 19 – next Sunday Scripture.

Missed the first 7 parts of this sermon ? Check them out – PART 1 / PART 2 / PART 3 / PART 4 / PART 5 / PART 6 / PART 7

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, God, Jesus, Minister, Ministry, Scripture, Sermon

1990s Blogging Career Driving Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 19, 2021

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 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 17TH 1991:

“One More Try” – Timmy T
“Waiting For That Day” – George Michael
“Joyride” – Roxette
“Baby Baby” – Amy Grant
“More Than Ever” – Nelson

Exactly 30 years ago this weekend I was at home – my teenage childhood home in McLean Virginia (just outside of Washington D.C.)

On the weekend prior I departed the pink desert sands of Al Kharj AB Saudi Arabia with some of my fellow Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm airmen. We lifted-off from the runway in Saudi at 0326L on Saturday March 09TH 1991. After 7 hours and 7 minutes in the air we landed at Torrejon AB Spain (near Madrid). It was a longer-than-expected nearly 5½-hour stop before we took-off again for our stateside destination at Dover AFB Delaware. We touched-down there at 1656L (21½ hours after leaving Saudi). A bus transported us to Philadelphia where we spent the night at a hotel near the airport. We flew out (commercial) the next morning – Sunday March 10TH 1991 – arriving back in Miami at 1001L.

We returned to Homestead AFB with no fanfare at all, and the next morning I was back at my workplace office. I met my new supervisor. He replaced my previous supervisor who was “reassigned”. He told me to take up to 30 days of “R & R” (rest and recuperation) as a returning war veteran. That Wednesday March 13TH 1991 I was on-the-road northward heading towards the Washington D.C. area. I spent the night in South Carolina, and the next afternoon I arrived at my childhood home 1,096 miles from the base. I stayed there for the next 2 weeks enjoying family time.

I was sent to war as punishment by my supervisor at the time (end of 1990). I didn’t do anything wrong. She just hated me. She had issues with guys that looked like me. An investigation occurred while I was at war, and she was relieved of her duties. The war (and post-war) was the start of the best (and final) 26 months of my entire Active Duty Air Force career.

(I still work for the USAF today as a Federal Civilian – at now Homestead ARB.)

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to March 1986 – towards the end of my first year working for the USAF.

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 !

Tags 1991, Music, Radio