Mound Visits, 5/6/19

On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Aristotle) We can create good habits and become “more excellent” if we ask God to help us throughout the day. […]

Mound Visits, 5/5/19

It’s been well chronicled that baseball is very different than other sports. There’s no clock. You play until the last hitter is out. The defense handles the ball. And, you play more games. Major Leaguers play 162, minor leaguers about 140, division l colleges 56. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. No one […]

Mound Visits, 5/3/19

Back during the Big Red Machine era, I was in minor league spring training with the Reds. Pete Rose wasn’t satisfied with the work he was getting in during the big league spring training sessions so afterward he would come to the minor league complex to get extra swings in our batting cages. A few […]

Mound Visits, 5/1/19

Our growth as a Christian is not revealed by how ‘good’ we are, but “it’s revealed by how we think about God, how much we think about Him and how highly we think about Him.” (Sinclair B. Ferguson) “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory […]

Mound Visits, 4/30/19

Recently, in a prayer, a friend of mine asked God to help him “be an answer to someone’s prayer today.” Without even trying, I was being shown what availability and obedience is all about. And, also, how important it is to keep our eyes and ears open to those in need. Perhaps an elderly widow […]

Mound Visits, 4/29/19

In the dugout, if we scored early in the game, almost invariably you would hear a coach or player say, “Score early and score often!” That’s a good formula for winning a baseball game. In our prayer life, we can pray anytime, but it would be a good thing if “we prayed early and prayed […]

Mound Visits, 4/27/19

We should all be on a mission today. The mission should be a relentless search to recognize the things in our lives to be thankful for. God has blessed us all with good gifts. It may be health, it may be knowledge, it may be energy, family, freedom, finances or friends. My challenge for you […]

Mound Visits, 4/26/19

God is not asking you to make a promise you cannot keep. God is asking you to believe a promise that only He can keep. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in […]

Mound Visits, 4/25/19

Many times, the burden of responsibility can be very heavy. One of my former players recently shared with me a prayer that General MacArthur used to pray as he walked the deck at night before battle in the Pacific during WW ll: “Give me, O Lord, that quietness of heart that makes the most of […]