Categories
Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Happy Sunday April 19TH 2020 !  This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. And let us continue this praise, this worship, this celebration of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – right where we are – in our own homes.

This is the 5TH Sunday in a row in which my church family will not be meeting corporately at our building for our weekly celebration of Christ. Our Worship Pastor taped a sermon and placed it on Facebook on our 1ST Sunday away from each other, and our Lead Pastor did the same for the next 3 sermons after that. I’m looking forward to the next one online, as they have all been relevant and powerful – giving glory to God.

Here at #CountUp I preached a full sermon in blog form in 4 parts over the past 4 Sundays. I broke my own rule of “3 minutes or less”. That is – each one of my blog posts can be read in 3 minutes or less – except for my 4-part sermon. Each part was closer to a 5-minute-read. I knew I wanted it to culminate on Easter Sunday, so that gave me 4 Sundays to do so. I actually thought about breaking it up into 5 shorter parts and then presenting the extra part on a Thursday – perhaps Holy Thursday / Maundy Thursday – but I didn’t need to do so. While it may have taken you about 20 minutes to read it all it would have taken me over 45 minutes to preach it all from the pulpit in front of my church family. At 13 Microsoft Word pages it’s actually my longest sermon ever written.

It was even longer than that. I removed an entire section on Satan and hell. That got spun-off into its very own sermon (which I’m currently writing). I’m making pretty good progress so far. I’ve already got about 10 minutes of pulpit-preaching material. Incidentally my goal is to keep my sermons at about 35 to 40 minutes. I’ve been known to be “long-winded” in the past, so I’m learning how to shorten my sermons to my church family.

My 4-part sermon – “Faces & Heels” – was substantially enhanced from its original form – written in 2017. It was the 11TH sermon that I wrote since 2016 (when I started preaching). It sat idle since then. My new sermon – “Satan & Hell” – is my 35TH sermon.

As for future sermons here at #CountUp – I may do it again sometime soon.

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
2000s Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2000

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month 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, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 20 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 16TH 2000:

  1. “(I’ll) Never Let You Go – Third Eye Blind
  2. “All The Small Things” – Blink 182
  3. “Thong Song” – Sisqo
  4. “Say My Name” – Destiny’s Child
  5. “Bye, Bye, Bye” – ‘N Sync

1 of those 5 hits is still a favorite 20 years later, and that’s Blink 182’s biggest hit ever “All The Small Things”. While it’s not currently in active rotation on my iPod Shuffles it has spent considerable time on them. According to my iTunes I purchased and added this track on New Year’s Eve 2009, and since then it’s garnered 527 plays – about 1 play per week. It was my # 6 hit overall of 2000 (out of 199 chart songs).

20 years ago this weekend I saw “Return To Me” at the Box Office, and I rated it 3 out of 4 stars – which is the equivalent of a “C” letter grade. Apparently I didn’t like it all that much. I don’t remember anything about that movie. Wikipedia tells me that David Duchovny and Minnie Driver starred in it.

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) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Blogging Career Christian Driving Food God Health Home Life Travel Weather

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

It’s back for the first time in 5 months – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

  • I miss doing these fun blog posts.
  • This was a fan favorite from the early days of this blog.
  • By “early days” I mean late-2000s.
  • Most of you weren’t tracking with me back then.
  • “Tracking with me” – that’s a favorite phrase among pastors and preachers.
  • This “Sunday Scripture” I’ll look back at my 4-part sermon “Faces & Heels”.
  • It’ll be a nice wrap-up of that 4-Sunday experiment.
  • So I’m nearing the end of Week 4 of my work-at-home experience.
  • It’s an experience – no longer an experiment.
  • The biggest “pro” – not having to deal with traffic.
  • The biggest “con” – working longer (and more erratic) hours at home.
  • I’m working out of my kitchen.
  • I never eat in my kitchen.
  • I always eat in my living room.
  • I’ve driven only 88 miles over the past 28 days.
  • I last filled-up with gas 37 days ago.
  • Last week I walked only 11.63 miles.
  • That was barely over 25,000 steps in 7 days.
  • That was the lowest ever during my 4½-year #Fitbit era.
  • 3 weeks ago was my 3RD-lowest week of the era.
  • Ironically despite little to no exercise – I’m losing weight.
  • I can’t explain that.
  • Maybe I’ll get up and walk at dawn this morning.
  • Lately we’ve been close to 80°F at dawn.
  • This morning we could actually dip into the lower-70s.
  • That’s an incentive to get up and walk around outside.
  • Next week marks 12 years since I quit smoking !
  • I smoked from age 11 to 41.
  • You know I’m doing a lot less laundry since I’ve been working at home.
  • My washer and dryer are using less electric power.
  • My A.C. is using more electric power.
  • It runs at the same temperature day and night now (77°F).
  • Happy 39TH Birthday tomorrow to my sister-in-law Christina !
  • She doesn’t read this blog.
  • Nobody in my family reads this blog.
  • Happy 10TH Birthday this coming Monday to my oldest niece Taylor !
  • I met Taylor for the first time at #DFW when she was 24 days old.
  • I’m looking forward to seeing my family again at the end of June.
  • Well I’m running out of things to write, so let’s end it here.
  • That was abrupt.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 165

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 12TH 2020:

  1. “Almost Home” – MercyMe [# 1 last week / 17TH week on chart]
  2. “Alive And Breathing” – Matt Maher [3 / 5TH]
  3. “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters [2 / 12TH]
  4. “(I’ll) Never Let You Down” – Hawk Nelson Ft. Hunter & Tara [7 / 3RD]
  5. “See A Victory” – Elevation Worship [5 / 10TH]
  6. “Amen” – Micah Tyler [4 / 8TH]
  7. “Your Name Is Power” – Rend Collective [6 / 14TH]
  8. “Edge Of My Seat” – TobyMac Ft. Cochren & Co. [8 / 3RD]
  9. “The God Who Stays” – Matthew West [9 / 21ST]
  10. “Waymaker” – Michael W. Smith Ft. Vanessa Campagna [10 / 12TH]

# 1 This Week In:
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Freedom Hymn” – Austin French
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

MercyMe are still at # 1 for an 8TH week in a row. It’s the 2ND-longest-running # 1 smash on my chart during this current era – 2ND to “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns (10 weeks at # 1 in 2018).

Coming up on Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. I’ll present a special Tuesday blog post featuring all of my # 1 hits since my chart was resurrected for this current era in February of 2017. It will be a 5TH blog post for that holiday weekend, and it will become a permanent page that will be maintained on this web site. By then maybe we’ll have my 50TH # 1 hit. (“Almost Home” is # 46.)

♫ Almost home
Brother it won’t be long
Soon all your burdens will be gone
With all your strength
Sister run wild – run free
Hold up your head
Keep pressing on
We are almost home ♫

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) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries