JULY 13, 2025

  "If trusting God and finding joy in your work means you go 0'fer with 3 strikeouts...then you needed to go 0'fer with 3 strikeouts." - John Melton

PSALM 10-12

1Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.2Everyone lies to their neighbor;they flatter with their lipsbut harbor deception in their hearts.(12:1-2)

ACTS 17:16-34

24“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^b As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^c

29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

JOURNAL 

“If trusting God and finding joy in your work means you go 0'fer with 3 strikeouts… then you needed to go 0'fer with 3 strikeouts.”

That line hit me today. Maybe because I’ve spent too much of my life judging outcomes instead of trusting presence. But what if the point isn’t performance, but presence? What if the "0'fer" is actually the classroom for deeper faith?

Psalm 12 opens with a cry that sounds all too familiar: “Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore.” Deception, flattery, and self-interest are everywhere. It’s a world not unlike ours—a world where faithfulness feels foolish and trust in God seems naïve. But this world is not abandoned. According to Acts 17, the same God who made the world and everything in it has intentionally placed us—me, you, everyone—right here, in this time, in this space, “so that we would seek Him… and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him.” Even when it looks like a strikeout, He is not far from any of us.

I was watching As Good as It Gets again—the broken characters, the crass humor, the unpolished grace. Something about that messy reality strikes me more than any idealized story ever could. Melvin says, “What if this is as good as it gets?” And I used to hear that as depressing. But now I hear it differently.

What if “as good as it gets” means right now, right here, in the middle of imperfection and uncertainty, I’m given the sacred opportunity to live, to breathe, to seek, and to love?

Acts reminds me that God “gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” And that’s not some vague spiritualism—it’s breath in my lungs, people around me, the chance to forgive, to work, to worship. It’s today. That’s the miracle.

The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 turn the whole system upside down. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the mourners, the meek, the hungry. Blessed are those who look around at the world and still hunger for righteousness. Blessed are the peacemakers and the persecuted. In other words, blessed are the ones who don't win by the world’s scoreboard. Blessed are the ones who show up and stay faithful.

So today, this ordinary day, is full of sacred possibility. I’m not promised ease. I’m not promised victory. I’m promised presence. “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” That’s the ground beneath my feet.

If being faithful means I go 0’fer today, then maybe that’s what I needed. Maybe it’s what reminds me that I’m not in control—and don’t need to be. Because I’m already held. Already seen. Already called to live today with courage and humility, to bring a piece of heaven’s goodness into this cracked and hurting world.

That’s what it means to live as an Outpost. Not to escape the hard, but to stand in it, full of light.

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

MATTHEW 5:4-12