Personal Development on Baseball

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“They Ain’t Learned You to Hit that Curveball…”

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The American Baseball player Moe Berg was more than just a great catcher. Berg had received graduate degrees from Princeton University and the Sorbonne in Paris, knew several languages and later serve...

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Casey at the Bat

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The Pastor's Workshop

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Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 29:23, Proverbs 8:23, James 4:6, Proverbs 16:5, 1 John 2:16, Philippians 2:3, Jeremiah 9:23, Daniel 4:28-33

“Casey at the Bat” has got to be the most well-known sports poem in American history. The “Mudville nine” are down four to two, with one inning left with two outs. Two men wait at second and third bas...

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The Greatest Hitter in the World

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Genesis 50:20, Exodus 4:10–12, 1 Samuel 17:, Matthew 18:1–4 , Romans 5:3–5, Psalm 139:14

A young boy was heard talking to himself as he wandered through his backyard, sporting a full baseball uniform, jersey and cap included, as well as a ball and bat. "I'm the best hitter in the...

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The Only Opinion That Matters

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Most of us have heard of Babe Ruth, but have you ever heard of Babe Pinelli? Pinelli was an umpire in Major League Baseball who once called The Great Bambino (Ruth) out on strikes. When the crowd bega...

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Shoot (or Throw)—Don't Aim

Author

Darren Pollock

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Matthew 16:25, Luke 17:33, Mark 8:35

Whether playing baseball or basketball, one of the first sports lessons kids are taught is the counterintuitive truth that focusing too much on aiming where you want for the ball to go is likely to ba...

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Author

Jerry Bridges

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Because we are sinful by nature, we have developed sinful patterns, which we call habits. Discipline is required to break any habit. If a boy has developed the wrong style of swinging a baseball bat, ...

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Grace and the Spiritual Disciplines

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Dallas Willard

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What is the relationship between spiritual diciplines and grace? Does participation in the spiritual disciplines mean that we are not resting in God’s grace? Dallas Willard shares the analogy of a bas...

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Camels Using P.E.D.’s

Author

Irwyn L. Ince Jr.

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Psalm 8:, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Peter 3:3-4, 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Samuel 16:7

Performance-enhancing drugs are a major problem in the sporting world. Cycling, baseball, weightlifting, football—athletes at the highest levels need something to put them over the top or keep them in...

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The Gift of an Invitation

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

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Isaiah 55:1–3, Exodus 3:1–12, Proverbs 9:1–6, Matthew 11:28–30, John 1:35–39, Psalm 3:4:8

One of the reasons I love a good invitation is that I get tired of being told what to do. As the very responsible oldest daughter of a pastor and someone who entered vocational ministry at a young age...

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The Banshees of Inisherin Movie Review

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Ephesians 4:null

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or. what's a heaven for? " Robert Browning A part of our desire at The Pastor’s Workshop is to help pastors connect the stories in ...

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Holding on to the Extreme

Author

Linda Evans Shepherd

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Matthew 6:19-21, 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Luke 12:15, Matthew 16:26

Have you ever seen an episode of the A&E TV show Hoarders? It’s a show about perfectly normal-looking people who live in perfectly normal-looking houses who become overwhelmed by their possessions...

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Why I’m Here

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J.M. Boice

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There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing i...

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Taking (A Huge) One for the Team

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Exodus 17:10–13, Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:25–37, Matthew 25:34–40 , Philippians 2:3–4, Psalm 103:8–13

On a beautiful April afternoon in 2008, two college softball teams faced off in a decisive playoff game beneath the Cascade Mountains. The Western Oregon Wolves battled Central Washington University, ...

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The Value of Professional Sports

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Bud Wilkinson was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. During one press conference, he was asked, "What contribution does professional sport make to the physical fitne...

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My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Author

Max Lucado

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Scripture

Job 13:15, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 8:28, Isaiah 26:4, Matthew 7:24-25, Psalm 18:2

God’s goal is people. He’ll stir up a storm to display his power. He’ll keep you out of Asia so you’ll speak to Lydia. He’ll place you in prison so you’ll talk to the jailer. He might even sideline a ...

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Keeping Score

Author

John Ortberg

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All games involve score keeping. The rules of scoring in any game tell the players which achievements count; what to do in order to be a winner. Monopoly players keep score with money; football player...

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How to Hold a Team Together

Author

Bear Bryant

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Scripture

Mark 9:35, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 27:17, Philippians 2:3-4

I’m just a plow hand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team. There’s ...

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The Practice of Indirection

Author

James Bryan Smith

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Scripture

Psalm 119:11, Philippians 4:9, Luke 6:48, 2 Timothy 2:15, Proverbs 6:6-8, Hebrews 12:11

Payton Manning practiced indirection. He was the winning quarterback of Super Bowl XLI. It was a rainy night, and the ball was slippery. Rex Grossman, the quarterback for the losing team, fumbled the ...

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Giving a 110 Percent

Author

Kevin DeYoung

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There are few things in life as unenlightening as the postgame interview. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t always bad. Some athletes and coaches can be quite insightful. I’ve seen real poise and humili...

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Great Coaches Bring out the Best in their People

Author

John Maxwell

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Good leaders are like good coaches. They know how to bring out the best in the people on their team. That’s what John Wooden did. It’s also what legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi did. When he took ov...

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Warming Up

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C. J. Mahaney

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I grew up playing sports, and basketball in particular has always been a favorite. Though I turned fifty-one last year, I often remind my younger friends that I “still have game.” I keep insisting tha...

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When Competition Gets the Best of us

Author

Eugene Cho

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Even after tearing both Achilles tendons and blowing out both knees playing basketball over the years, I still can’t get enough of the sport. As I tell my kids, Jesus is Lord, but Ball is Life. As suc...

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Discipling Football Players

Author

Mark Batterson

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Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:6–7, 2 Timothy 2:2, Proverbs 22:6, Daniel 6:3–4, Matthew 28:19–20, Psalm 78:4–7

The U of C [University of Chicago] has produced ninety-eight Nobel laureates, but I’m not sure any of them left as big an imprint on that university as its famed football coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg. Sta...

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What Business They Were In

Author

Chris Stroup

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Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 25:14-30, Isaiah 43:19, Proverbs 16:3, Romans 12:2

In the late 1800’s, no business matched the financial and political dominance of the railroad. Trains dominated the transportation industry of the United States, moving both people and goods throughou...

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Driven by Demons

Author

Samuel Chand

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 9:10, 2 Corinthians 8:7, 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:18, Galatians 1:10, Psalm 27:10

Brett Favre was a driven man. He explained to USA Today that his father’s message that he was never good enough drove him to become one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history…His dad had also been hi...

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From Mediocre to Super Bowl Champions

Author

Bill Robinson

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Scripture

Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 23:11-12, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Peter 5:2-3, James 1:19, Proverbs 15:1, Philippians 2:3-4

On Monday morning, February 2008, every sports page in the world heralded the New York Giants’ astonishing Super Bowl upset over the undefeated New England Patriots. And the big story within the story...

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Faster, Higher, Stronger

Author

Richella J. Parham

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All kinds of competition are comparisons of the abilities or performance of one person or team to that of another. From elementary school spelling bees to professional sports, contestants compare thei...

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Author

Patricia Fripp

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A team is a group of people who may not be equal in experience, talent, or education but in commitment.

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Getting to the Bottom of the Problem

Author

Max Lucado

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Scripture

Genesis 3:1-15 , Numbers 21:6-9, Isaiah 53:4-6, John 3:16-17 , Romans 5:12-19, Psalm 51:10-12

I love golf. If only it loved me in return. Alas, it is a one-sided romance. My golf swing is the stuff that keeps an instructor awake at night. One kindly compared it to an octopus falling from a tre...

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A Prayer for Those Who Govern

ALL SINGING: (America the Beautiful, first verse) O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grac...

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