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 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 10TH 1996:
Joan Osborne scored her first and only hit here stateside with the somewhat Christian track “One Of Us”. It was released early on in 1995, and it took nearly a year to build and emerge as a worldwide multi-format smash into 1996. On my chart it spent 23 weeks in my Top 20, and it was my # 7 hit overall in 1996.
Now obviously I didn’t understand the song back in 1996 when I was a 28 / 29-year-old of the world, but I knew it was about God because of its prominent lyrics that were easy to sing along to:
♫ If God had a name what would it be ?
And would you call it to His face ?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question ?
And yeah – yeah – God is great
Yeah – yeah – God is good
And yeah – yeah – yeah – yeah – yeah
What if God was one of us ?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make His way home ♫
Eric Bazilian – one of the founding members of the longtime band The Hooters wrote the song. It’s often ranked as one of the greatest songs of the 1990s. It was nominated for several Grammy Awards including Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. It lost in both categories to “Kiss From A Rose” from Seal.
Here’s the official music video for “One Of Us”. You can watch it here, or link here on YouTube.
Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to March 1991. Post-Desert Storm I’m back home stateside, and the American pop charts are heating-up !
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
3 weeks ago (3 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 3 – my next 116 miles through the countryside of Highlands and Hardee Counties. The story continues now:
On Day 4 I started the morning in downtown Lake Placid with a hearty breakfast. I then checked-out the Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife & Environmental Area: Lake Placid Scrub Unit a few miles to the south. It’s a large sandy wooded area abutting the southwestern shore of the actual 3,400-acre Lake Placid. Hundreds of thousands of years ago when sea levels were about 150 feet higher than they are today it was beachfront property, and the abundant sand is left over from that era. I didn’t stay very long there, as it is “Bear Country”, and I’m scared of bears.
I headed northward to Avon Park at the far-northwest corner of Highlands County. I excitedly arrived at the Avon Park Depot Museum – only to be instantly dismayed when I found it CLOSED. Nevertheless I took this picture of a 1948 passenger car that was used by Western Pacific during the 1950s and 1960s, and then later by Auto Train (from Virginia to Florida) in the 1970s. It was actually a buffet dining car as part of Auto Train, and 50 years later it sits here – as a buffet dining car that the museum hosts.
So my trip to Avon Park was a total bust, as that was my only scheduled stop there. But not so fast. I just spent more time writing about it above than the amount of time that I was physically there, so all was not lost. I’ll make it back there in the future.
I headed back southward to the downtown district of Sebring (my likely retirement town in a few years). I headed for Lake Jackson – the 3,212-acre lake that Sebring surrounds. After spending a few minutes on the pier that extends onto the lake I decided on a spontaneous spur-of-the-moment visit to the Sebring Historical Society (facing the pier and lake). Unfortunately it was CLOSED when it was supposed to be open. Well this morning is going just wonderful thus far !
I wasn’t about to give up so quickly. I actually drove around the building, parked my car again, and noticed an entrance on the 2ND floor of that same building (from the parking lot on the hill). I walked-in, and within about 10 seconds I realized that I had walked-in to the Sebring Public Library. #LOL
I looked around the library for a little while – pretending I was interested in what I was looking at. (I wasn’t.) After a few minutes of that I walked up to the front counter, and I inquired about the museum downstairs. They actually called downstairs for me to find out if (or when) they were open. I didn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but after the librarian got off the phone she told me that YES – they were open – but head for the “yellow house” (across the parking lot) instead, and walk-in. I thanked the librarian for going out of her way in doing that, and I headed for the “yellow house”.
A nice older woman greeted me at the front door as I walked-in, and she gave me an extensive guided tour of the historic house that less than 2 months earlier became a public museum after restoration. I loved every minute of her tour. The tour took perhaps 45 minutes (if that). For the next 45 minutes we just chatted back-and-forth as if we knew each other for years. She lived much of her life in Miami-Dade County, and then she retired to Sebring where she is now a docent for the Sebring Historical Society. Sounds like an interesting plan. Sounds like a potential vision for my future. She urged me to return to that first place that I tried to enter earlier but encountered a locked door. She said that I should talk to the guy that’s in there right now. He’s a Director at the Sebring Historical Society. I did just that, and we talked for almost 90 minutes. (I also got to tour the premises which serves as a library of historical archives for the city and region.)
The rest of my day in Sebring was fairly uneventful. I felt rejuvenated after that unexpected 3-hour experience with the Sebring Historical Society. It was the highlight of my entire road-trip vacation.
Looks like I went over 3 minutes with this blog post. (My goal is to write blog posts that take less than 3 minutes to read.)
I’ll share Day 5 of my 5-day road-trip next Thursday here on my blog. It was not my normal “last day of a road-trip”. I took a detour, and I visited a few places that I had never been to before.
Miles Driven on Days 1, 2, 3, & 4 = 422
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
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:
for King & Country return to my chart for the first time since the middle of December of 2019. “Amen” is their new radio single, and it’s their 5TH hit on my chart since 2017. It’s actually not such a new single. It’s from their 2018 album “Burn The Ships”, and it’s the 4TH single from that album.
“Amen” is all about that breathtaking and life-changing moment during baptism when the new body rises up from the water, and a new life in Christ has begun publicly.
I’m comin’ alive with You !
Here’s the official music video for “Amen”. You can watch it here, or link here on YouTube.
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.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then He was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. So Pilate – the governor – went out to them and asked – “What is your charge against this Man ?”
“We wouldn’t have handed Him over to you if He weren’t a criminal !” – they retorted.
“Then take Him away, and judge Him by your own law” – Pilate told them.
“Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone” – the Jewish leaders replied. (This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way He would die.)
In Part 6 of my continuing sermon leading-up to Resurrection Sunday I continue from the Gospel of John – Chapter 18. In Verses 28 to 32 John writes about Jesus’ trial before the Roman Governor – Pontius Pilate. He was ruthless as a ruler – especially against the Jews – committing many atrocities against them. But in this particular case he wanted the Jewish leaders to handle Jesus Himself. He didn’t really want to have anything to do with this case against Jesus. But they wanted Jesus executed, and only Pilate could do that under Roman law. Pilate was nevertheless hesitant to take any action against Jesus.
As an aside the Apostle John wrote his Gospel as an Elder during the late-First Century – some 50 to 60 years after these events of Christ’s final days on earth. He mostly wrote on the Roman trial leading-up to His crucifixion. During the time of his writing the Jewish nation had been scattered by Rome, and Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans.
John 18:33-35:
Then Pilate went back into his headquarters, and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are You the King of the Jews ?” – he asked Him.
Jesus replied – “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about Me ?”
“Am I a Jew ?” – Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought You to me for trial. Why ? What have you done ?”
Pilate began calmly questioning Jesus inside. He was looking out for the safety and security of the Roman Empire that was under his control, and he wanted to know if Jesus was a threat to it. Jesus would soon clarify His position as a King, but first He wanted to know what Pilate really meant when he asked Him if He was “King of the Jews”. Jesus would soon answer with a very specific response.
I’ll continue this journey through John Chapter 18 – next Sunday Scripture.
CountUp 