{"id":37439,"date":"2021-05-21T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/"},"modified":"2021-05-21T12:08:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:08:00","slug":"grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When 72-year-old Randy Long was cleaning out his garage he came across some practice baseballs he used to toss around with his son and grandson. Thinking a new generation of kids might get some use out of them, the senior took them to a local batting cage, where he left them along with a sentimental note that might just bring even the manliest of men to tears:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Hope someone can use some of these baseballs in the batting cages. I found them cleaning my garage. I pitched them to my son and grandson for countless rounds. My son is now 46 y\/o and my grandson is 23 y\/o. I am 72 and what I won&rsquo;t give to pitch a couple of buckets to them. They have both moved away. If you are a father cherish these times. You won&rsquo;t believe how quickly they will be gone.<\/p>\n<p>God bless,<\/p>\n<p>P.S. Give them a hug and tell them you love them every chance you get.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3569,3908,3967,3968,3971,4091,4245,4358,4395,4567,4853,5020,5066,5159,5160],"tax_ctp_topics":[395,401],"class_list":["post-37439","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-example","tax_ctp_tags-fathers-day","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood","tax_ctp_tags-fathers","tax_ctp_tags-grandparents-day","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-legacy","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-opportunity","tax_ctp_tags-role-models","tax_ctp_tags-sons","tax_ctp_tags-sports","tax_ctp_tags-time","tax_ctp_tags-time-management"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When 72-year-old Randy Long was cleaning out his garage he came across some practice baseballs he used to toss around with his son and grandson. Thinking a new generation of kids might get some use out of them, the senior took them to a local batting cage, where he left them along with a sentimental Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/\",\"name\":\"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-21T12:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-21T12:08:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/grandpa-leaves-free-bucket-of-baseballs-with-touching-note\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grandpa Leaves a Free Bucket of Baseballs with Touching Note - CT Pastors","og_description":"When 72-year-old Randy Long was cleaning out his garage he came across some practice baseballs he used to toss around with his son and grandson. 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