I know, I know, I posted a sport-related blog just over a week ago, but some things have to be recorded: on June 28, Domingo German, a mediocre (we thought!) pitcher for the New York Yankees, pitched a perfect game. 27 batters up, 27 batters down. No hits, no runs, no walks, no errors. Only the 24th perfect game in the 154-year history of Major League Baseball, and the first since August 15, 2012. The team celebrated like they’d just won the World Series, and the fans in attendance seemed pretty excited, too, even though they were playing an away game in Oakland!

The top portion of the box score shows the 9 Oakland players each getting exactly 3 at-bats, no hits (H), no walks (BB for base on balls), 9 strikeouts (K). The bottom portion shows the pitcher, German’s, line: 9 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks. 9 Strikeouts. Pitch count: 99.

It’s the same story…it doesn’t matter what happened the last time you went out there:

The first pitcher born in the Dominican Republic to pitch a perfect game, German also became the first player in MLB history to reach that feat after allowing 10-plus runs in his previous start… – ESPN Report, June 29, 2023

And the next time he goes out there, it won’t matter that he just pitched a perfect game… Yep. His next start was July 3, and he was pulled in the fifth inning after allowing 3 runs in the first four innings and leaving men on first and third in the fifth. He had thrown 86 pitches, nearly as many as he did in the entire nine innings of his perfect game.

I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. (Philippians 3.13, TPT)

“I forgot all of the past…” means forgetting failures and successes. And our challenges are more important than a mere baseball game:

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6.10 – 12, MSG, emphasis mine)