JULY 29, 2026

   “Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.” 

― Tim Fargo

PSALM 56-58

 10In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise—

11in God I trust and am not afraid.

What can man do to me?

12I am under vows to you, my God;

I will present my thank offerings to you.

13For you have delivered me from death

and my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before God in the light of life.(56:10-13)

ACTS 28:1-15

1Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

7There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. 8His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

JOURNAL 

There is a kind of death that has to take place if I am ever going to live fully surrendered. It is the death of believing that my plans, dreams, and desired outcomes belong to me. Some of those visions have lived inside me for as long as I can remember. They have shaped how I imagined my future, how I measured success, and, if I am honest, how I often measured my worth. Letting go of them is not easy because it feels like letting go of a part of myself.

But perhaps that is exactly the point. Anything I refuse to surrender has the potential to become my god. When an outcome becomes ultimate, it quietly begins to define my identity. My peace rises and falls with its success. My hope becomes chained to circumstances. My joy depends on whether life unfolds according to the script I have written. That is an impossible burden for any dream to carry because this world is uncertain, fragile, and filled with things beyond my control.

I think about heartbreaking tragedies that occasionally make the news, like the recent family in Michigan. I do not know what happened in their hearts, and it would be wrong to pretend that I do. Yet those stories remind me how devastating life can become when every hope is placed in a single vision of how things must turn out. When our identity becomes inseparable from an outcome, the threat of losing that outcome can feel like the loss of ourselves. God never intended for me to build my identity on anything so fragile.

The invitation of Christ is different. He calls me to a daily death so that I might experience a daily resurrection. The death is not of my gifts or even necessarily of my dreams. It is the death of my ownership over them. The future has never belonged to me anyway. It has always rested safely in God's hands. Surrender is simply acknowledging reality. What dies is not hope but possession. What dies is not purpose but control.

That is why Paul amazes me. He has every earthly reason to become consumed with his own circumstances. He has been rejected, imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, and is on his way to stand trial before Caesar. Yet none of those things become the center of his attention. He gathers wood for a fire. He prays for the sick. He heals. He encourages. He serves. He is completely free because his identity is no longer tied to whether he is released or condemned. His life belongs to Christ, and therefore every circumstance becomes another opportunity to love.

David echoes that same freedom in the Psalms: "In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?" His confidence is not rooted in favorable circumstances but in the character of God. God has delivered him from death so that he might "walk before God in the light of life." That is the invitation before me every morning.

Too often I still catch myself thinking, "When I finally arrive, then I'll be generous. Then I'll be courageous. Then I'll fully obey." But Paul destroys that illusion. Today is the only day I have ever been promised. This moment is the arena where faith is lived. This conversation, this lesson, this practice, this quiet task that no one notices, these are the places where eternity is quietly being built.

Jesus summarized it so simply in Deuteronomy: love God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and let that love fill the ordinary rhythms of every day. Not someday. Today. As I walk, as I sit, as I rise, as I lie down. The Kingdom is built one surrendered day at a time.

So today I choose the small death again. I surrender my outcomes, my timelines, my fears, and even the dreams I have carried for decades. I place them back into the hands where they have always belonged. My identity is not found in achieving my vision of the future but in belonging to Christ today. If I can embrace this day with gratitude, obedience, power, love, and discipline, then I am already living the life I was created for. The harvest belongs to God. My calling is simply to plant today's seeds faithfully.

4Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^a 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9