CountUp

My Top 10 Hits – Week 133

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 2, 2019

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 01ST 2019:

“Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
[# 1 last week / 5TH week on chart]
“Fear No More” – Building 429 [2 / 5TH]
“Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp [6 / 7TH]
“Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music [3 / 13TH]
“Symphony” – Switch [4 / 13TH]
“I’m Gonna Let It Go” – Jason Gray [5 / 4TH]
“(Love Is The) Reason” – Unspoken [7 / 7TH]
“Yes I Will” – Vertical Worship [9 / 3RD]
“Good Grace” – Hillsong UNITED [- / 1ST]
“Power” – We Are Messengers [10 / 2ND]

# 1 One Year Ago This Week:
“Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship

# 1 Two Years Ago This Week:
“Broken Things” – Matthew West

Casting Crowns are still at # 1 for a 2ND week in a row. I believe that it’s at the start of a long run at the top of my chart. Their “Only Jesus” spent 10 weeks at # 1 starting a year ago next week, and that carried them deep into November.

“Nobody (But Jesus)” has also clinched a spot on tomorrow’s special blog post and chart featuring my Top 10 hits of the Summer of 2019 – from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It’s my Top 10 hits based on my 15 weekly charts this Summer. That drops at 3 AM EDT on Tuesday right here.

Moving up a notch this week to # 8 is the debut smash (on my chart) from Vertical Worship out of Chicago. “Yes I Will” is from their 6TH album titled, “Bright Faith Bold Future” (released about 17 months ago). The single was released last year, and it started to impact Christian pop radio about 7 months ago. It’s currently approaching the Top 10 nationally, and it’s slowly inching-up my chart too. It’s really growing on me. I’m starting to sing along to it when I hear it on the radio. Here’s its official music video:

Tags KLOVE

Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Today I led my church family on our journey to get closer to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I preached about a 35 to 40 minute sermon on the fall of the “Southern Kingdom” of Judah following the untimely death of the good King Josiah on the battlefield at Megiddo. Titled “Neco & Nebuchadnezzar” (the two Kings mostly responsible for the final fall of Judah) – it was the follow-up (or sequel) to my previous sermon of 4 weeks ago titled “Josiah & Judah” which was all about the 31-year reign of King Josiah.

Here’s an excerpt of my sermon:

King Josiah didn’t see the end of his life coming, and as the Bible says:

While Josiah was King – Pharaoh Neco – King of Egypt – went to the Euphrates River to help the King of Assyria. King Josiah and his army marched out to fight him, but King Neco killed him when they met at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29)

… So the year is 609 B.C. Josiah was the King of Judah – the smaller “Southern Kingdom” of the Jewish homeland. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were both in Judah – the far-northern part of Judah. To its north was the Kingdom of Assyria – or the Assyrian Empire. That northern part was once the Kingdom of Israel. That’s when there were two divided Kingdoms – Israel and Judah. And of course before that they were one United Kingdom – of Israel and Judah. After the split the two Kingdoms started as bitter enemies, but then they ended-up as somewhat friendly allies. Bethel and Samaria were both in the “Northern Kingdom”.

So King Josiah heard (through the grapevine) that Pharaoh Neco – the King of Egypt – and his loyal army – were to march northward – out of Egypt (along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea) – and then inland – across the mountains – towards the Euphrates River – to help the King of Assyria in fighting the Babylonians – who were becoming increasingly powerful and expanding westward into the region …

… King Josiah didn’t like that idea. He had major problems with that maneuver. He didn’t want the Assyrian Empire (to the north) to get any stronger. He didn’t want the King of Assyria to receive any outside help. The Assyrian Empire was fading fast. It was crumbling from within due to a series of brutal civil wars and attacks from outsiders. King Josiah really wanted the Babylonians to finish the job. King Josiah was on the side of the Babylonians – for reasons unknown. It’s not really clear in the Bible as to why Josiah favored the Babylonians over the Assyrians. Maybe he thought that they would be friendlier / more accommodating neighbors to the north – and to the east.

So King Josiah was not going to let the Egyptians help out the Assyrians against the Babylonians. Deep within the Kingdom of Assyria – King Josiah and his loyal army intercepted Pharaoh Neco and his loyal army at a place called Megiddo. Modern-day Megiddo is located in far-northern Israel – north of the West Bank – very near Nazareth …

… So at Megiddo – the two Kings talked. King Josiah urged Pharaoh Neco to stop and turn around. Neco refused, and in fact he told King Josiah that the LORD wanted him to fight the Babylonians. Neco told Josiah that if he really listened to the LORD who he believes, follows, and trusts – then he would know that the enemy was not the Assyrians or the Egyptians. The enemy was the Babylonians. Josiah didn’t believe Neco. Josiah was enraged at Neco. Josiah led an attack on Neco and his army. That didn’t end well. It ended in disaster. King Josiah was killed in the battle.

In 2ND Chronicles an account of this deadly battle is described in greater detail than in 2ND Kings, so as the Bible says:

King Neco sent messengers to Josiah with this message: “What do you want with me – King of Judah ? I have no quarrel with you today ! I am on my way to fight another nation, and God has told me to hurry ! Do not interfere with God – who is with me, or He will destroy you.” (2 Chronicles 35:21)

And the very next verse of 2ND Chronicles reveals that God had indeed spoken to Neco, and Neco was truly following the will of God.

So the one time that Josiah failed to listen to God’s voice – it cost him his life. Maybe after 39 years of life, and 31 years of reign, and 23 years of listening to the LORD – he had gotten just a little bit complacent – maybe a bit too comfortable.

You can’t get complacent or comfortable on this journey. That type of thinking won’t move you closer to God. The enemy loves that type of thinking.

1980s Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – OMD

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 30, 2019

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 10, 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 5TH Friday of the month, so it’s a SPECIAL this week.

Last night I was at the Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale Florida for a nearly 4-hour concert event with Berlin, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD), and The B-52s.

When I was 19-years-young – and living, working, and playing in England – I saw both Berlin and OMD LIVE in concert. Berlin opened for Frankie Goes To Hollywood in Birmingham shortly after the peak of their worldwide success with “Take My Breath Away”. OMD headlined their own tour in support of their new album at the time “The Pacific Age”. I saw them in Oxford on October 28TH 1986. It was a wild a crazy night !

It was a fun night last night at the show – some 33 years later. I won’t write about Berlin and The B-52s. They both performed great sets of their hits of the past 40 years. But I was there to see one of my favorite pop-dance acts of all-time – OMD. I would’ve gone to a show with just them performing.

OMD

I was up on my feet singing and dancing for their entire 55-minute set. Here’s their setlist:

“Enola Gay” (1980)
“Secret” (1985)
“Tesla Girls” (1984)
“History Of Modern (Part 1)” (2010)
“(Forever) Live and Die” (1986)
“If You Leave” (1986)
“Joan Of Arc (Maid of Orleans)” (1982)
“Talking Loud And Clear” (1984)
“So In Love” (1985)
“Dreaming” (1988)
“Locomotion” (1984)
“Electricity” (1979)

There was definitely one dude who was singing and dancing louder than me at the show, and that was the lead singer / lead dancer of OMD – Andy McCluskey. The dude is 60, but he still dances like he’s 20 and it’s 1979. Andy is well known for dancing like a total new wave maniac. It almost appears as if he’s experiencing rapid-fire out-of-control arm and leg convulsions, but it’s pure art, and I think he pretty much invented the style some 40 years ago. At 60 he’s in great shape, and he still performs all of those manic dance moves with great precision.

I don’t go to clubs and dance anymore (because I’m 52 and fragile), but during my heyday I pretty much danced like Andy McCluskey. I pretty much learned how to dance like him – from him – at that original 1986 concert in Oxford. It was my 4TH-ever concert, and it was one of the greatest concert experiences of my entire lifetime. I’m glad that I got to relive just a little bit of my youth last night some 33 years later. My Fitbit shows that during the time that OMD was performing I was experiencing “very intense” action.

Here’s a song that they did not perform last night. I wish they had because I would have gone totally ballistic and taken over the small dance area that was right in front of my row that was up against the left-edge of the stage. Andy occasionally came over to that area to let us sing into the microphone. In return we showed him our dance moves. LOL.

Oh by the way – I’m in this music video from 1986:

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday and your Labor Day holiday weekend here in the U.S.A. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

Tags OMD

Movies

Box Office Summer

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 29, 2019

IN A YEAR – when I’ll see less movies at the box office than any previous year since 2010 – I’ve actually seen 5 movies this summer (up from 4 last summer). In previous years I’ve seen 8 movies (2017), 9 movies (2016), 12 movies (2015), and 14 movies (2014) during the summer months (June, July, and August). Clearly I’ve been too busy seeing and doing other things this summer (and last summer) than spending time in movie theatres.

This summer I saw (in order) “Ma“, “Crawl“, “Spider-Man: Far From Home“, “Yesterday“, and “The Art Of Racing In The Rain“.

IN A WORD – I can describe each movie respectively as – creepy, campy, cool, creative, and captivating. I rated all of them (aside from “Crawl”) as 4 stars (“A+”, “A”, or “A-“). “Crawl” was a bit too campy for me. Campy can be good, but this one just didn’t try hard enough. It was also utterly unrealistic.

I plan to add a 6TH movie to my list this Friday. I plan to see the current faith-based movie “Overcomer” – which is surprising pundits with its box office success thus far (over $10 million). I’m looking forward to its encouragement and inspiration at the box office. I’ll write about it this weekend on my “Sunday Scripture” blog post.