grandparents

A Family Resemblance

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IMG_0591At some time in your life you’ve probably met someone, and heard them make the comment: You sure are mirror image of …………your dad or your mother.

Through the years I’ve had some people say that I favor the Lacy side of my family.  More than once, I’ve heard it said:  “You’re a chip off the old block.”  When you look at a photo of either my grandad or his dad, it’s obvious that we share the same DNA.

When John wrote his first letter, he spoke about the importance of a family resemblance: “See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.  Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.  And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure (I John 3:1-3).”’

An important question to answer isn’t:  Who do you look like?  It’s:  Who do you act like?

When your life is observed, can people see a family resemblance?  Are your actions, and mannerisms a mirror image of the life of Jesus?

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

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Before the advent of the personal computer, summer days were spent at Graham Park, Skelly School, or some other ball diamond.  Those were days when baseball was undisputed as Amercia’s favorite game.

I enjoyed the games of “work up,” homerun derby, or whatever as long as it had a bat and a ball.  The many years I spent coaching my son through his little  league years were time consuming but very enjoyable.

As Papa, I am now watching my granchildren, and my advice to them is the same as it was to my children:  Keep your eye on the ball!  I had to remind a grandson of this a couple of weeks ago when a basketball rebounded off of his eye.  “Carson,” I said, “that is not what I meant when I said keep your eye on the ball.”

Over the years I’ve talked to some of the better hitters about technique.   Almost without fail, they have said the secret to getting consistent hits is vision:  You have to see the ball.

Seeing the ball means focusing on the seams of the ball and recognizing the spin.  Pitches can be identified by recognizing the rotation.  To help explain this, you can see a graph at this link.

One way to learn how to identify the curve ball is to stand behind a batting cage and watch a pitcher throw fastballs.  This may sound strange, but identifying what it isn’t helps you learn to identify what it is.

This is the technique Paul used when he was warning the Christians at Galatia.  They had been given the standard of truth, and Paul said they were to measure the “different” gospel against the pure doctrine.  They were to study and recognize the fastball theology they had been taught, so they would not be led astray by the strange spin of a curveball.

A comment by Joe Garagiola can serve as a thought to keep you thinking:  Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curveball straightened out.  Was Joe putting a spin on his words or was he just stating a fact?