On this day in 1924, Frank Carauna became the first person to bowl two successive perfect 300 games.

The dream of every serious (and even the not-so-serious) bowler is to bowl the perfect game. That means throwing not one, not two, but 12 consecutive strikes. So imagine how Frank Carauna must have felt back in 1924 when he became the first to bowl two perfect 300 games—24 consecutive strikes in one afternoon. Amazing!

Perfection, particularly in sports, has always been a benchmark of the truly talented. For example, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score of 10 in her sport during the 1976 summer Olympics. And she earned not just one 10, but seven. Of the thousands of pitchers who have come through the major league pipeline, only 17 have ever pitched perfect games, allowing no base-runners, no runs, hits, errors, hit batsmen, or walks over nine innings.

There’s no doubt. Perfection, whether in sports, school, or other areas, is hard to achieve. And when it comes along, people take note.

So what does it mean when Jesus says, “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)? Perfect? How can anyone be perfect this side of heaven? God knows that we will never be flawless in this life. But we are to aspire to be as much like Jesus as possible. That means we need to mature as Christians. We need to keep growing in our faith through Bible study, being with other believers, prayer, and loving others as Jesus does. It also means keeping ourselves away from sinful values and activities and doing all we can to keep growing as Christians.

How can we do that? Thankfully, we don’t need to rely on our own strength. Through the Holy Spirit, God gives us the power and the energy to keep growing in our faith.

Perfect!

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ (Colossians 1:28, New International Version.

To Do

Think of one task that you face today or this week. How could you use God’s power and strength to face it? Ask him for help right now!

Also on this day . . .

1770—”The Boston Massacre” took place, when British soldiers fired on a crowd of people in Boston, MA, killing five people.

1845—The U.S. Congress appropriated $30,000 to ship camels to the western U.S.

1994—The world’s largest milkshake was made, containing 1,955 gallons of chocolate, in Nelspruit, South Africa.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.