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Blogging Driving Geography Travel Weather

Tampa International Airport

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. At the end of last week’s edition I teased that I was heading somewhere – outside of Florida – that I haven’t been to in exactly 10 years, and that I would write about it for the next 3 weeks. Well – it’ll actually be a 6-part (possibly 7-part) blog series starting with this edition and continuing through this month and next month. This vacation was so much fun that I plan to reenact it in words until I run out of material to write about.

So – if you’re ready to go traveling together (virtually) – then let’s get started on this new adventure.

The fun started 3 weeks and 1 day ago when I departed my home with my very durable and somewhat attractive American Tourister Moonlight Carry-On Stardust – along with a personal item bag that fits underneath the seat in front of me. Can you tell that I’m getting ready to fly somewhere ?

It’s on to the Tampa International Airport (#TPA) area on a Wednesday afternoon during the rush hour – oh – and also during a driving downpour. There wasn’t much lightning and thunder, but there was an abundance of ominous dark clouds overhead and a plethora of rain falling from them. As I drove further west the brighter skies to the west filled-in with the darker and rain-soaked clouds from the east. (I was driving in the same direction – westward – as the squall line of downpours.)

2 hours and 38 minutes and 82½ miles later – I had arrived at my destination for the night – a hotel near #TPA. They have a plan where you spend the night, and you can leave your car parked in their parking lot for up to 7 days as you fly away somewhere. Their shuttle will take you to the airport, and it will also pick you up from the airport upon your return. That’s what I did. I essentially paid less than $3 extra per day to leave my car parked there – well – sort of. When we get to Part 6 (or 7) you’ll see why it was actually a bit more expensive than that – due to more bad weather.

The hotel was nice. It was an older hotel – built in 1988. I believe that it was the very first one in the area for my favorite hotel brand – the brand that I’ve stayed at far more than any other. The hotel was much newer when I actually lived and worked a few miles down the road in Tampa for about 7 months in 1993 into 1994. I probably drove right by it a few times back then.

The next morning I took the hotel shuttle to the airport. I was the only rider for the 8 AM run. I got to sightsee along the way to the departures drop-off zone 2½ miles away.

So #TPA. I think I’ve flown in and out of it at least once – possibly twice – back in 1993. But then again – I could be wrong. I just don’t remember my mid-20s all that much. It was a crazy and hectic time of my life.

I thought that #TPA was a very strange airport to experience as a first-timer (possibly) – at least for the first time in over 30 years. From the Main Terminal you scan your boarding pass in order to enter the secure area and board the SkyConnect train to your respective airside concourse. (All of the concourses are detached from the Main Terminal.) Once you arrive at your concourse you immediately begin the TSA security process by checking-in with your REAL ID driver’s license or passport. You then walk through security before heading towards your gate. I probably didn’t explain the process as good as I could, but it was very different for me. I’ve never experienced any other airport like it. Also – most of the concourse gates shared one huge area that sort of resembled an aircraft hangar. Small walk-up restaurants were in the middle of it all.

#TPA just seems so much more modern and efficient than any other airport I’ve been to. Perhaps it’s the airport of the future ?

My American Airlines flight departed for its destination on time (even a few minutes early), and next #TravelThursday I’ll reveal that location. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 443

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 almost 50 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday August 10TH 2025 – the 443RD week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 8 What An Awesome God
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Phil Wickham
2 1 12 God Did It Micah Tyler
3 4 9 Breakdown Andrew Ripp
4 3 19 Jesus Loves Zach Williams
5 5 14 The King Is In The Room Phil Wickham
6 7 17 No Fear Jon Reddick
7 8 20 Oh Death MercyMe
8 10 2 Can’t Steal My Joy Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
9 6 5 What If Consumed By Fire
10 – 1 Preach Ryan Stevenson Ft. Matt Hammitt

# 1 This Week In:
2024 – “Somebody Like Me” – Caleb & John Ft. Cain
2023 – “Big God” – Terrian
2022 – “Love Is Everything We Need” – Unspoken
2021 – “Gospel Song” – Rhett Walker
2020 – “There Was Jesus” – Zach Williams Ft. Dolly Parton
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Dream Small” – Josh Wilson
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong United

PHIL WICKHAM – He’s back atop my chart with his 4TH # 1 smash out of his last 5 songs. “What An Awesome God” replaces “God Did It” (Micah Tyler) which replaced “The King Is In The Room” at # 1. This is turning out to be the “Summer Of Phil Wickham”.

ONE-HIT WONDER – Hillary Scott spent 3 weeks in a row at # 10 on my chart in May 2017 with “Still”. It was from her 2016 album “Love Remains” which also included the 2016 radio smash “Thy Will”. I’m speculating that “Thy Will” would have been huge here on my chart if it was active in 2016. Country music fans know Hillary as one of the lead singers of Lady Antebellum (now known as Lady A).

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

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. God used loud music on the radio in South Florida to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 10TH 2025, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

I’m loving Friday Night Bible Study at my church where we’re reading and discussing various stories of redemption in the Bible under the “This Is MY Story” banner. A couple of Friday nights ago we read and discussed Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus from Acts 9. This series is encouraging us to share our story about how “I once was …”, and then “I met Jesus …”, and “Now I …”.

I love a good testimony. I love to share my own testimony to all who care to listen to it.

Last month here on #SundayScripture I began transcribing my original sermon that I preached to my church family in Homestead Florida on Sunday October 16TH 2022. The title of the sermon is “Blessings & Benedictions”, and it’s my 50TH sermon as identified on my SERMONS page.

Here’s Part 6:

And at the end of every good sermon about God – is a “Blessing & Benediction” – straight from God.

From the last verse (6:18) of Galatians:

Dear brothers and sisters – may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Paul’s Benediction is similar to his Greeting at the start of his letter. He wanted God’s grace to be with this church family. The Galatians needed that in order to get closer to God rather than turning away from Him. We need that too, and we have it. We have God’s grace. And here’s the Good News: God’s grace – it’s available for everyone out there.

That’s a great blessing to take out there into the world. Just substitute “brothers and sisters” for someone’s name. Make it personal for him or her. As an example: Dear Betty – may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

After Paul wrote to the Galatians he wrote to the church in Thessalonica. You know Thessalonica is a big modern city today. It’s the second-largest city in Greece with over one-million residents in its metro area. It’s an old port city on the Aegean Sea that was founded in 315 B.C. When Paul visited the city – it was already about 365 years old. That’s when he established the church there. His missionary friends – Timothy and Silas – they helped to build it up.

In his first letter to the Thessalonians – Paul encourages the new Christians with exhortations and teachings. What’s an exhortation ? It’s an urgent command.

Just before his Benediction Paul gives his final exhortations, and they are:

• Honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. (5:12)
• Show them great respect and wholehearted love. (5:13)
• Live peacefully with each other. (5:13)
• Warn those who are lazy. (5:14)
• Encourage those who are timid. (5:14)
• Take tender care of those who are weak. (5:14)
• Be patient with everyone. (5:14)
• See that no one pays back evil for evil. (5:15)
• Always try to do good to each other and to all people. (5:15)
• Always be joyful. (5:16)
• Never stop praying. (5:17)
• Be thankful in all circumstances. (5:18)
• Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. (5:19)
• Do not scoff at prophecies. (5:20)
• Test everything that is said. (5:21)
• Hold on to what is good. (5:21)
• Stay away from every kind of evil. (5:22)

You know I don’t really have to add anything at all to those exhortations – those urgent commands. They are all very self-explanatory – just the way they are. Paul was very specific and intentional in what he wrote to the new church. And they are all still very relevant today – in the 21ST Century church. Can you imagine what the church – and this world – would be like if everyone did all of those things ?

(To be continued next week.)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord – and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Career Church Commerce Driving Food Geography God Home Life Military Ministry Travel

Homestead: The Finale

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 5 weeks ago I wrote about my Flag Day / Father’s Day Weekend road-trip to and from my old homestead – Homestead Florida. It was my 36TH trip to Homestead since I bought my new home near Sebring Florida in February 2023. This week I’m writing about my 37TH and final trip to Homestead. That took place at the end of June – on Sunday June 29TH.

I departed home at 6:35 AM (right at sunrise), and I arrived at my former home church near downtown Homestead at 9:58 AM. As always it was a great church service led by our Worship Pastor Ben and our Lead Pastor Bob. Living Waters Full Gospel Church was my home church for 8+ years, and I served as an Assistant Pastor there. I received my ministerial credentials there. I preached over 60 sermons, and I led 79 Communions. I’ve been a guest there over these past 2½ years, and I’ll continue to be a guest there in the future whenever the Pastor wants me to fill-in for him.

A small group of us went out to lunch at Texas Roadhouse post church service. After that I checked-in to my hotel for the night.

The next morning – Monday June 30TH – I head northward – actually northeastward up U.S. 1 over to Dadeland to a Real Estate Attorney’s office. That’s where I signed all of the paperwork to officially close on the sale of my longtime home in Homestead – a home that I rented for 6 years (1995-2001) and owned for 24 years (2001-2025). I lived in it for 28 years (1995-2023), and over these past 2½ years I had been moving my most treasured personal belongings one trip at a time from my old home to my new home. I moved into that old home on June 13TH 1995, and my final walk-through was on June 14TH 2025 – a timespan of 30 years and 1 day.

So – for the first time since 1987 – I am neither a resident nor a property owner near or in Homestead Florida – from age 20 to 58 – 65½% of my entire life.

Like most cities Homestead has evolved and “grown-up” over time. It went from a sleepy farming community with a large military (active and retired) population before 1992 – to total devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew – to a small town struggling to recover for 10 years after that – to one of the fastest-growing cities (of its size) in the nation – to a thriving and bustling big suburban city with big suburban city amenities and problems.

Personally – Homestead was a place that I rarely visited in my early-20s, as I lived on an Active-Duty Air Force Base several miles outside of town. And then it became my home in my late-20s, and I embraced it and loved it into my 30s and 40s. As I entered my 50s and I began thinking about retirement I realized that I couldn’t afford to live there as a retiree. It had become too expensive, too noisy, and too crowded. I had outgrown it. I looked elsewhere, and I eventually found Sebring Florida 3½ hours up the road.

Facebook is littered on multiple local group pages with mostly disgusting and racist and hateful comments and diatribes about how Homestead is today compared with the way it was 40 or 50 years ago. Most of these comments are from people who moved away 40 or 50 years ago and visited once or twice recently and didn’t recognize the small town that they once called home. They don’t realize that they themselves are probably being discussed negatively where they live today by many longtime residents who don’t appreciate having them around. Change is inevitable, and it’s painful for a lot of people.

YES – even here in still small-town Sebring – some longtime residents don’t appreciate all of the new people (like myself) that have migrated here from South Florida, and Tampa, and Orlando, and pretty much everywhere else. We’ve ruined the Sebring of the 1970s and 1980s !

I enjoyed a good life from my early-20s to my late-50s in Homestead. I made good money in my Air Force career – 36 out of 39 years in Homestead. I wish Homestead the best. I pray for safety and security and comfort and peace for all of my friends, neighbors, and fellow residents that I left behind. I leave with mostly good memories, and although my future visits to Homestead will be less frequent now – they will still occur. I will always appreciate Homestead for what she was, what she is, and what she will be. Thank You for being my hometown for 36 years.

Next #TravelThursday I’m heading somewhere – outside of Florida – that I haven’t been to in exactly 10 years, and I’ll write about it for the next 3 weeks. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp