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Blogging Driving Food Geography History Travel

Bartow Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 8 days ago I spent some quality time in historic downtown Bartow Florida. It’s a part of Bartow that’s often overlooked by those just passing through along U.S. 17 and U.S. 98 (north-south) and Florida State Road 60 (west-east). I was with 9 of my Sebring Historical Society friends last Wednesday on a fun fact-finding mission to explore how other museums operate.

We started our fun at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway Avenue which serves as the “zero-point” of the city’s grid. All addresses – north-south and west-east – begin at that intersection.

We enjoyed Lunch at Palace Pizza at 105 East Main Street. I had 2 hot and delicious slices of pepperoni pizza and 3 soft and juicy garlic rolls. #Yum

After Lunch we walked across the street and entered the historic Polk County History Center. It’s located in the former courthouse building at 100 East Main Street. It’s their county museum, and it’s quite extensive on 2 out of 3 floors. The 1ST floor houses all of the exhibits – permanent and temporary – while the 2ND floor houses their archival library. (The 3RD floor is generally not open to the public; although, our group got a nice private tour of it – mostly utilized for storage and more archives.)

The museum is open 5 days a week from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Admission is free.

Fun Facts: The Polk County Courthouse building was built in 1908 and 1909. It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places on August 07TH 1989. The current courthouse is located a couple of blocks away at 225 North Broadway Avenue. Bartow is the County Seat of Polk County. Over 800,000 residents call Polk County home.

We also visited the Historic L.B. Brown House museum less than a mile away along South L.B. Brown Avenue. (It too is on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places.) We were warmly greeted by 2 friendly docents, and they treated us to an extensive tour of the exterior grounds as well as the interior of the house. They shared lots of stories along with historical photos and documents. They were enthusiastic to tell the stories of the man, his family, and the house.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my morning with the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Internet

Welcome To My Blog

Greetings my friends. It is Wednesday April 03RD 2024, and with this special edition I begin a new weekend of blog posts. Normally I publish new posts 3 times per weekend – on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays at 0300 U.S. east coast time. (That’s 0700 in the United Kingdom, 0800 across much of Europe, 1500 in Western Australia, 1800 in Eastern Australia, and 2000 in New Zealand.) Thank You all for checking-in !

Each day has its own unique theme. My Thursday posts center on travel. My Sunday posts center on Scripture and the Gospel. My Monday posts center on current Christian pop music. So my hashtags are #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, and #MusicMonday.

A few times per year I’ll publish a special post on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday. It all adds up to over 150 posts per year. Each post is about a 2-to-4 minute read.

If you’re new here – then welcome to my blog. Thank You for checking it out. You may have clicked on my link on my Facebook, X, Flickr, or Spotify profile. Perhaps Google or Feedspot sent you here awhile back, and you’ve been returning on a regular basis. Maybe you only read my posts on #TravelThursday, or you’re only interested in my Gospel messages on Sundays. Either way I’m glad you’re here. This is a no-judgement zone. This is also a political-free space online. There’s plenty of judgement and politics elsewhere. There’s lots of hate in this world. I try to shine light and bring encouragement and love into this world.

Feel free to comment with relevance on any post. You can also reach out to me on X @ChrisMDay. Some of you have your own blogs that I check out on a regular basis. Keep doing what you do. Keep blogging alive !

I’ve been blogging since 2007, and really I was blogging for 14 years before that via my own dial-up bulletin board system (BBS) and its spinoffs on the early World Wide Web of the late-1990s into the early-2000s. It’s my favorite hobby online.

#TravelThursday is up next in less than 24 hours. I hope that you’ll check it out sometime during the day tomorrow.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 372

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 over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday March 31ST 2024 – the 372ND week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 17 Lead On Good Shepherd
[2ND week @ # 1]
Patrick Mayberry
2 3 6 He Does Brandon Heath
3 2 6 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane
4 7 2 Walk With Jesus Consumed By Fire
5 8 2 God Be The Glory We Are Messengers
6 5 17 Strong Anne Wilson
7 4 14 Hallelujah Anyway Rend Collective
8 6 4 All Because Of Mercy Casting Crowns
9 9 2 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
10 1 Rescue Jordan St. Cyr

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Brighter Days” – Blessing Offor
2021 – “Say I Won’t” – MercyMe
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “No One Like Our God” – Lincoln Brewster
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

SEPH SCHLUETER – I love a debut artist, and Seph is 1 of 2 on my chart right now. (The other are the 2 Shanes.) Seph’s first song on my chart is currently at # 9, but nationally it’s Top 3 at U.S. Christian radio. It’s also a former # 1 smash in Brazil. “Counting My Blessings” is his Thank You song to his Lord + Savior Jesus Christ.

God I’m still counting my blessings
All that You’ve done in my life
The more that I look in the details
The more of Your goodness I find
Father on this side of Heaven
I know that I’ll run out of time
But I will keep counting my blessings
Knowing I can’t count that high

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by heading over to 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 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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday March 31ST 2024, 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.

Today I observe and celebrate my 18TH Easter Sunday with my brothers and sisters of my church family. Before salvation – Easter was just another day of the year. Now it’s the most important day of the year – and the reason why I live today.

As the Bible says in the Gospel According to Mark – Chapter 16 (1-7):

Saturday evening – when the Sabbath ended – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning – just at sunrise – they went to the tomb. On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb ?” But as they arrived – they looked up and saw that the stone – which was very large – had already been rolled aside.

When they entered the tomb – they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said – “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth – who was crucified. He isn’t here !  He is risen from the dead !  Look – this is where they laid His body. Now go and tell His disciples – including Peter – that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there – just as He told you before He died.”

HE IS RISEN !  HE IS RISEN – INDEED !  The Lord has really risen !  He appeared to Peter. (Luke 24:34). He was seen by the Twelve, and the more than 500 of His followers at the time, and by James (the half-brother of Jesus), and by all the apostles, and by Paul. (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

On this day we join our brothers and sisters in Christ – God’s children – all across this great nation of ours – and all around the world – as we observe and celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ – our Lord + Savior.

We join our brothers and sisters of this global church family on this Resurrection Sunday, but we know that every waking moment of every new day is a renewed celebration of Christ conquering the grave, and rising from the dead, and giving us life.

HE IS RISEN !  HE IS RISEN – INDEED !  And since He is risen – we have risen from where we once were.

Jesus keeps His promises – then and now. He does what He says He is going to do. He is who He says He is. He is risen. He is risen – indeed. He is alive. He sits on the throne of Heaven. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He gives us life. He breathes life onto our dry bones. Breath of God – breathe on us !  He makes all things new. He gives us hope. He gives us purpose. He makes us vessels of vibrant living waters.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture  whether it’s part of a sermon, 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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp