BraveMen S3E86: Darryl Strawberry - Redemption of a Legend

If there's anyone who knows about redemption through God's grace, it's the legendary baseball player Darrell Strawberry. And today you're going to hear from Darrell up close and personal. You wrote a book called Turn Your Season Around How God Transforms Your Life and I don't think anyone speaks of that better than just his life. Some of the stories he told me Chris, as we went through this, were amazing. You know, and the thing is is that with Christian men's network, we're in over 100 nations around the world. We hear these stories almost every day. Yeah. You know, some man's life who's totally and radically turned around and there's no way for a man to reform, to reframe, to become a better person, to become a new man, then to be following Jesus Christ. Amen. And that's what Darrell found. He did everything that. Yes. And people tried everything in terms of trying to help him. Right? Yes. We're going to get you with this guy, get you with this thing, put you in this program. Dude, they did everything. I mean, every manager he had and what's really amazing is hearing him talk about the managers he had and how great they were to him. But even those guys with their well-meaning things and they're until this man came in touch with Jesus Christ, nothing in his life changed. Yes. And so that's why we do Christian men's network around the world. C-M-N dot men is where you can find the tools to disciple men, tools for your own life, tools to help you grow your family, grow your business. I think of the book Treasure. And then on YouTube right now, for the last year, we've been doing Monday Night Men. Yes. And there's three books on there. Strong men and tough times, the power of potential and then one other one. Yeah, my favorite one. Never quit. Never quit. Because champions are not those that never fail. There are those that never quit. Never quit. Amen. So those 12-part 13-part series are on YouTube on the Christmas network channel or look up Monday Night Men. Yes. Monday Night Men. Bam. Not Monday Night Raw. No. That's wrestling. Yes. Well, we wrestle now with flesh and blood. Wow. Go ahead and preach it. Come on, somebody. Hey, but Darryl Strawberry, you know, it's so anyway, they're C-M-N dot men. Yes. And the things we do and then Monday Night Men on YouTube. And I don't think we talk about some of these things enough, but that series, you take that, get the book, start going through. You can do it on your own. So it's like self-directed discipleship tools. Yes. We've got some churches who actually use it. In fact, we just got a text from a guy, friend of ours, Bobby D who said, man, our Monday Night Men thing, they got 100 guys are showing up. Amazing. You know, watching the video, then seeing the discussion groups praying for each other, it's incredible. Yes. But turn your season around, man. Talk about a guy who turned it around. Yes. You know, Darryl reminds me of that the guy years ago, Yogi Berra said, yeah, we've changed everything. We've done a total 360. Wow. Yeah. The problem is, I mean, you're just the same again. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think Darryl did that a number of times. Yeah. Finally hit a 180 with Christ. Yes. And he definitely did. And his life is a testimony of what true success is. Yeah. Because you see a man that had four world series, man, you know, eight all-star games. Yeah. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame, but he still knew that he was missing something else. And like you said, he found Christ and Christ transformed his life. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it was a game changer. That's what was the missing key. That is the key to success. Jesus. Because you can't do anything in life to its greatest potential without Jesus Christ. Come on, Chris. So with Chris Shields, my name is Paul Cole. And this is the Brave Men podcast. And excited about you meeting Darryl Strawberry today. I had such a great time with him. We talked before and after our time together on Zoom. We do a lot of these interviews on Zoom call. And we're looking at each other and talking to each other. And, you know, sometimes, you know, because it's on Zoom and we're not going to use it. Like they say, my on camera or not, I go, no, we won't use it. And also they're like real casual. But anyway, it was great spending time with him, just talking. And you know, I'd, I, and you look at him and the stuff he was sharing was so real, so personal and really deep. Like he was serious about it, man. It was like he was, he was pretty amazing to see a baseball legend, really. I mean, everybody, in that sense, anybody who's followed any kind of sports knows who Darryl Strawberry is. I told my neighbor, Nikki, she got son who plays baseball, but they're younger couple. And I said, yeah, Darryl Strawberry is not going to be on our podcast coming up. She goes, oh, I know who that is. You know, I mean, again, the guy's legend. So I want to thank Darryl for being with us. And, you know, we just, we honor his wife to in this thing because she was remarkable the way she jumped in and helped his healing process. Excited for you to meet today and brave men, Darryl Strawberry. It's brave men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. I'm talking about Darryl Strawberry and Darryl Strawberry for many of us who are sports fans, is the name we all know. One of the greatest baseball players who's ever played. And, and an icon, if you will, for left-handed hitters. But also Darryl's a story that we all watched. He watched him tumble. We watched him get back up, fall down again, get back up. And Darryl, it's great to meet you. And you've written a new book called Turn Your Season Around, which is about getting back up and staying up, right? Yes, it is, Paul. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate that. Of course, it's the grace of God that keeps us to stay up. When we finally understand. You were in the major league baseball. You were eight-time all-star, four-time world series champion, two-time silver slugger, rookie of the year for the National League, home run leader. And of course, the New York meds Hall of Fame. I mean, it just doesn't get much better than that. It does not. I mean, when I put the baseball uniform on, I was a baseball player. I could do it all. And that's really what it was all about. And that's what my drive was really all about. Because of the brokenness on the inside, that I had to deal with so much throughout my whole career. And it was my pain, who I was, led me to my greatness. And it was my greatness would eventually lead me to my destructive behavior. Yeah, that's what you put in this book. Turn your season around. I wanted to just mention everybody right now. You need to grab this book. In fact, you need to go on and buy two of them. And the reason is you're going to want to read yours. And you're going to want to give one to a young man and particularly an athlete. One of the things we talk about a lot, Gerald, is that your talent can take you beyond your character. And it seems that perhaps that's what happened in your life. Yes, it did. My talent was just a phenomenal talent. But the character who I was, I never really stepped into the man that God had created me to be. You know, I ended up in a lifestyle of being a womanizer, an alcoholic, drug addict center, just to basically say by grace. And you know, for so thankful that God doesn't give up on us, you know, people may give up on you. But the good thing about it is God never gives up on you. And somebody needs to hear that, you know, right where they at that. He's always waiting for you to come back and, you know, to repent and ask him to forgive you. And that's when the journey starts, you know, when you get serious about that and when you no longer want to straddle that fence and be a hypocrite, no more. Well, there you go, man. It's, and that's it. You actually start living what you say you are rather than having the dual thing. And you ended up, you ended up with basically you talk about it a lot, drug addiction, alcohol, but you also had a sexual addiction. Yes, a strong sexual addiction, which most men do have, you know, and we try to kid ourselves, you know, and some might not act out in certain other ways, you know, minds within the public perception women. And some of us hide behind, you know, social media and, you know, chat rooms and getting those and we get stuck and can't get out and you wonder why you keep going there. And it's because you just don't have anything to work with. You don't have a foundation of who you are. We assume that we assume that we're okay just because we can do what we want to do. You know, especially in a lifestyle as an athlete, you know, they figure, well, you could do whatever you want. You're making me as a dollar social tell you know, which is so true. Nobody ever do tell you know and you end up lost and you end up in a very selfish and very sick place. Yeah, very self-centered and it doesn't matter if you're an athlete and making millions or if you're working driving a forklift, you know, making 12 bucks an hour. We can we we have pain in us. And whatever the addiction is, it's it's a way for us to try to deal with that pain and you had pain, you had a growing up pain, grew up in the California, Southern California, actually down San Diego, are you right? Now I grew up in a self-central. Okay. And so out of that, yeah. And what was the issues that because you ended up in a single with your mom raising you and you dedicated this book, turn your season around to your grandmother and her prayers. Where was dad? What was the situation there? Well, dad was nowhere around. So I dedicated that book to my mother because she raised five of us by herself. Yeah. And my father was like a raising alcoholic and he would always come home at night, you know, loud and crazy from time to time. And you know, finally for him for the last time, you know, he came home one night. I was about 14 and me and my brother's woke up and he there he was again and my older brother, Michael told him just get out of here and leave us alone. And he put out a shotgun and said he was going to kill the whole family and ran my brother around me when it's actually running grabbed a butcher knife. I grabbed a frying pan and my mother, she was a little petite woman. She was so sweet and powerful. And she looked at us and she said get out and get out of the house right now. And she wasn't playing. We knew she wasn't playing, but she knew at that moment, you know, things were about to happen. You know, the change of who we were as just little boys came into a very serious place and we were going to kill him that night. Wow. We're going to come back to that. This mother getting us out of that house with a killer. Yeah, thank God for your mom Ruby. And we're going to come back to that in a minute. I want to circle around because there's people here in this story right now who need to discover how you ended up forgiving your dad and what happened in that. And we're going to talk about it in a minute because it's and you talk about it in this book, turn your season around. It's and of course you and your wife have also done books for a marriage. You've got a book for marriage called the imperfect marriage. It's great, great book title. The perfect marriage helped for those who think it's over because we went through everything and our marriage together. You know, we went through financial debt. You know, when we started together and I was three million and debt didn't have a driver's license. We came together and wondered we both came from addiction. She she's got 21 years in recovery. She never went back once she got sobered up and everything and she just started living a different life and she followed Jesus and and she was the signing example for me what Jesus looked like. She was living it and I just really wanted that you know, I wanted what she had and God said, well, you're going to have to do what she's doing and she's spending time with me and I realized that she's rolling out of bed every morning at 530 to go be with God and prayer and everything. So it was just a remarkable way, you know, to see somebody really love God the way she did and and it was an example for me and it just got me going. It got me to the place where I started standing up late at night and started saturating myself and concentrating myself with God and and separate room of the house and man, I see why when you do that, when you turn off the television and you turn off the cell phone and you get with God, man, it's just an incredible revelation that God wants to speak to you about you. Yeah. He loves you. It's not just rules and regulations. Relations. No. He loves everyone. It's just a matter of people in that commitment. Always say, Paul, people, God, you have to be persistent to go after God and then you got to surrender yourself to him. You know, and I think that's the real key for it. You know, that was the key for me as being persistent to go after him because most people say, well, how did you find Jesus? Why say Jesus is not lost? It's us that's lost. Hey, I love the fact that in the in the book, Turner season around on page 10. I mean, you don't mess around. It's not at the back of the book right at the front on page 10. You lead people into a prayer of faith in Jesus Christ. Yeah. Well, because that's the most important thing. I think have we gotten away from the gospel and have we gotten to a place where people are trying to brand themselves and Jesus is the greatest brand. I've never met a brand as great as Jesus, a man that hung on a cross on Calvary and said in his blood for centers like us that we may have life, it may have it more bundling. And then go to the tomb and get up early Sunday morning with all power and be resurrected. So that means that if you just go ahead and die, the laces 220 talks about it. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live in this Christ who live. We got to understand there is nobody like Jesus. You can go and accomplish everything you want from a earthly standpoint. It will never satisfy you like Jesus in the relationship that you come into with Jesus because he's the Messiah. He's the king and he's going to show you why you are here. The creation of you is far greater than stuff. It's far greater than trophies. It's far greater than fame, money. It's a purpose why we were created to be able to follow Jesus and do his great work that he's already laid out for us. Come on, man. This is awesome. Being a baseball fan, Darryl, it's like I know your story and watched it happen. It must be something to live out your life, your story because we all have a story and we all have trajectory and ups and downs. But you lived them in front of millions of people. It was kind of all out there. That was pretty cool to be able to live it in front of millions of people. I didn't know at the time because I would live a broken life in front of millions of people. I would live a successful life as a baseball player. Putting on the baseball uniform just made me a baseball player. It didn't make me a man. It just made me a baseball player. Making millions of dollars didn't make me a man. It just made me a man. Putting on the uniform and performing in front of people and then having the troubles I had in front of people. I didn't understand all that part of it. But I knew my mother was praying for me that God would knock me off my throne and fame for salvation. That came in the past. And the reason why I sit here today is because of God had a greater plan and it had nothing to do with baseball. The baseball part of it was just the platform. Some people say, well, you could have been in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, I probably could have and I probably could have made another 60, 70 million dollars playing baseball, but I wouldn't have never met Jesus. I wouldn't be the man I am today. A lot of people don't understand that. I understand why I had to go through. I understand who I am today because when God brings you and He brings a revelation to you of who you are, He had created you for something far greater than you can ever imagine. I think most guys don't ever get that point because they assume that if I'm successful, everybody's going to love me. No, they don't love you. They pretend they like what you do, but they don't love you. Yeah, well, they want to be around when you're when you're buying bottles. Oh, yeah, say that again. That's right. They do want to be around when you're buying the drinks and you got the women all over the place and everybody's hanging everybody's party and they're around for all that, but you know, when that's all said and done and it's over, I remember when I had nothing and I was in the pit, guess what? Paul, everybody was gone. Wow. They were gone. You have one teammate that prayed for you and most likely till the end of his life prayed for you and then we know him as baseball fans. He was just called the kid. Gary Carter, man, he was the best, he was the best. Everybody thought he was just such a different person and he was different because he loved God. He didn't love the stuff. He didn't love what was around him. He had a straight love for God and you could see that. You knew he was different. He would go out to dinner with us on the road and the rest of us going out to party afterwards, hit the clubs. He said, I see you guys at the ballpark tomorrow. He wasn't out drinking. He drank it, milk. People wonder where he drinks milk. He's too good for us. He just had a life that was really good, really healthy and you could see that and you realized that, man, that's what I really want to be like. I don't really want to be like in his darkness and living this lifestyle and we come to the ballpark the next day. Gary don't condemn anybody. He just felt as I had great time with you guys at dinner and just excited about getting home from the road. He was going, when we come from the road, he's always excited. He's going home to be with his family. It's just, I mean, it's real stuff that people wasn't paying attention to. I was paying attention to who this guy was because I liked what he was living like because I wish I could have lived like that and a lot of other guys wished that too. He was living an authentic life and Gary Carter was a strong follower of Christ. Of course, ended up Hall of Fame and a few years ago this left us too early, didn't he? Yes, he did. But that leads me to, as a baseball fan, I got to go there, got to go there. 86 World Series. You know, I'm in and you actually put it in your book. I thought, man, that's good props. Good for you. It was Gary that hit the single with two outs in this in game six, bottom of the 10th inning, is that right? That's it. I mean, he he didn't want started the rally for us. He was like, I'm not making the last out. He told somebody, you know, he got a base hit and then from there, it just trickled down. You know, it was base hit out the base hit and then the play, you know, Mookie Wilson, Groundball, the ability at first and he boots it and we go on to win that game and yeah, he had his old glove on. I remember him talking about it later saying it was because of the glove that he had as he put it down, it just bent. And you know, this guy, his his a feeling percentage was up in the 90s. Excellent player, you know, regardless of what anybody thought at that time. It was just a play he was trying to see the runner before he picked up the ball and yeah, it's just one under and the way poor poor Buckner, you know, what a great player. Yeah, Boston, Boston, killed him for years. Great man. Years later, he he got his props, but I mean, this is a guy 99 out of 100 times it makes the play, but it's just one of those it's the sports athletics. You know, it's a guy catching his catching the pass on his helmet, right? Yes, it's just it's one of those plays, you know, cannot beat him, cannot not beat him, you know, and that's that's what he was probably thinking. So now this is 86 World Series, you guys were down at this point, it's three games to two, is that right? Three to two, we come back and win game six, tied it up three three and we're going to game seven. Yeah, you were down. Yeah, you were down five to three in the 10th, they scored, you were tied after nine. They scored two runs on top of the 10th, right? And Major League Baseball, uh, moved all of the champagne and everything into their locker room, right? Then they had it ready. Red Sox win and in fact, it was even went up on the scoreboard for a second. Yeah, they was congratulations to the Red Sox and game six and, you know, we come back and win that game and then we go on and play game seven and we go on and come back, come back from that game and win that ball game. So I mean, it was just an incredible year with our team and who we were that year, you're coming out of spring training day one, our meeting, our first meeting, David Johnson said we're going to win it all and we just believed it and we just never gave up. We just didn't give up in any ball game. We just realized that we could come back and win a ball game regardless of how far we're down, you know, we're down in a series, oh two and we went up to Boston and we beat them up there. So, you know, it was just, it was just the kind of team we had, you know, hard-nosed team that just had the desire, you know, to be successful that year and we go on and achieve that. Yeah, so what that team had, you know, and David Johnson was a great manager from many years, a number of different teams and, uh, but what you had was an identity. You had like an identity, like we're going to push through. We're not quitting. You had an identity. Yes, we did. We had a great identity of ourselves and we did push through and we believed in each other and, you know, even if we had in-house trouble fighting against each other, but we were always had each other back and that's the thing about a team. If you don't have each other back, you are probably not going to win, you know, and you see that a lot with teams that have great talent, you know, it's sports and stuff, but they can't get along in-house bickering and they can't get along and they can't come together on the court or the field and do what they need to do to overcome, you know, some of the issues and I think with us, we were good at that to be able to overcome some of the in-house issues and being able to say, you know, once we strap it on, the enemy is the other guys. We're going to take your business and let's take your business. Yeah, so, so the thing is identity, the story you tell yourself about yourself, that identity is what you dealt with most of your life, your identity. And you, you talk about this in the book, Turn Your Season Around. By the way, I'm, if you got in late, I'm talking with the all-star baseball player, Darryl Strawberry, and he's got a new book called Turn Your Season Around, which is a fantastic book. I want to recommend it to everyone. It's all our friends that are listening and readily available. And Greg Laurie, of course, did the forward, what a great man of God, great evangelist and pastor. But in the book, you start talking about identity and how your identity began to change. And when you found your new identity in Christ, it was then and only then because you had tried to quit drugs, tried to quit alcohol. You tried all these different things, right? I did. You know, what your identity changed is what changed everything. Tell me about it. Yeah, I went to, I went to the different treatment centers and I went to meetings and all those things. I did all those things, but I never changed the identity of who I was. You know, and I think most people would live, well, you know, my wife was like, when are you going to ever take the baseball uniform off and become the man that God wants you to become? Well, now struck me deep in my heart and she was so right. You know, I was identifying myself as Darryl Strawberry, the major league baseball player and achieving all these things. She said, that's over. That's done. You got to move forward and God's got something great for you. But if you don't step into it, you're never going to be able to fulfill the promises over your life. And it was when I took to uniform off when I let it go. And when I stopped, you know, going around baseball and and still looking, you know, for the, you know, speed and games and the fans cheering you on and stuff like that. And so many guys stay around that and they can never get off. They can never get past the uniform. So, you know, when I realized that I was new in Christ, you know, and that's that second Corinthians 517. Therefore, anyone in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things that pass away. Behold all things that become new. You cannot get to the new if you still holding on to the old. Come on. You know, and so many guys be holding on to the old if I could have shudder instead of worrying about the news that God has from each day. God's got some great and new for you each day. And when I wake up, I look forward to, you know, spending time with God because he's got a new revelation every day. It doesn't say the same. It's up to you to step into it and to press into his new revelation each day. Man, I can, I can hear that in your voice, Darryl. I mean, that's, you got the Gary Carter thing on you. Yeah, the kid Carter. I mean, the joy. It was the joy. I mean, I remember the joy of Gary Carter and always smiling and people wonder why it was smiling because he was free. You realize, you realize once you're in Christ, you become free. You're liberated. You're redeemed. You're rescued, redeemed and restored. You know, that's what happens when you come to Christ. You know, it's a process to be able to get there. But you, when you finally get there, you understand, I no longer have worldly desires. I only have kingdom desires. My home is in the Bible. My home is in my worship with God. My home is not here. I know I can't stay here. I know I just need to finish the race here so I can go home and be with the Lord. After this is all over. Finish strong. Finish the race strong brother. Finish strong. Yeah. Hey, this is Chris. I want to take a moment right in the middle of this great conversation to let you know the brave men podcasts as a reduction of the Christian men's network worldwide and the global fatherhood initiative. Christian men's network has helped pastors and leaders disciple men for over 40 years. You can find all the resources for mentoring and fatherhood at cmn.min. That's the Christian men's network at cmn.min. And cmn has created a 12-part training course on how to create a successful ministry to men for pastors and leaders. Check it out. majoringinmen.com which is the solution to men's discipleship because of the generous sponsorship of the Christian men's network partners. What would normally cost $100 is now free. That's the majoringinmen.com. It will help us continue to reach the lives of many men around the world if you would like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to this podcast and share it. That's the Christian men's network in Paul Lewis Cole. Now let's get back to this powerful interview between Paul and Dorel Strawberry. And I mean really when we talk about finishing strong, it's amazing you're alive. I mean you had so many setbacks, so many things and so many places you were. One of the things you talk about in your book turned your season around as the scars that remind you of God's mercy and faithfulness. And that was that in the midst of all the things we're talking about, Dorel, you went through colon cancer. Yes, I had colon cancer twice and lost my left kidney and my second surgery. I ended up in drug addiction. I ended up in a Florida state prison with a T-17169. Scars are real. You know, so our scars and wounds, why are we so afraid to show our scars and wounds when Jesus showed us his scars? Wow. You know, so many of us are afraid, you know, and they're ashamed what people don't think. Well, Jesus hung on the cross showing you his scars and guess what? If you believe in who he is, just like the Bible said, you know, in the book of John, if you come to believe in and all the miracles that he was doing, turning water into wine, feeding 5,000, raises a lot of his wrist from the dead, telling Nicodemus unless one is born again. He cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. He did it all, you know, so that's what he does when he comes into your life. He comes in. He heals all these wounds and scars in you. And so you can be able to show somebody else. He's the healer of all things. Not us, you know, if I can't talk about my scars and wounds, then I can't help nobody. You know, I, you know, I can't help. I can't give somebody a free gift what has been given freely to me by Christ himself. And if I could show you that I've been through some struggles and show you and point you to the cross and show you the man that delivered me and healed me from those scars and wounds, then I'm doing my job. That's the most important thing. I'm not going to sit here and tell you, you know, I did it. Yeah, I had a part to do in it. I had to get up and I had to participate. But at the end of the day, when I participated, guess what? He healed me and set me free from all those scars and wounds. So I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings about a healing. What was your lowest point? Well, my lowest point probably was when I was addicted to the drugs and I was in drug, down in Florida and my wife Tracy was pulling me out of dope houses. I was shooting dope, smoked the crack and she come banging on doors and pulling me out and saying to me, well, God's got a plan for you. If you could just ever wake up, I said, well, I want you and that God just leave me here and just let me die. She said, you're not that lucky. You know, that's awesome, man. I mean, God brought God brought a warrior in your life, man. But you understand, Paul, what, what, what, why I'm saying so people can understand that when they have somebody like that in their life telling you God's got a plan for you and you just not that lucky. It's what God always has done. He's always going to do what he's done before. He's going to use people to help people and he's not looking for people who think they're qualified. It's always those people to unqualified people that he used that come to love him and then he uses the help. When we start thinking that we're qualified and we're better than and we know too much than we're in the wrong business because you know, when you understand that you're not qualified and God wants to use you, that's what's important. You think of Moses, you know, a speech impediment and couldn't talk and, you know, God used him mildly. Why did Moses get used mildly by God to lead the Israel like? Because of his humility, his weakness, you know, the way he walk with God and that's what God calls us to be. I can exhaust you if you humble, but if you're not humble and you know, he goes too big, he goes a three-letter word, easing God out. Wow. It's fantastic, you know, and the Lord is using you in a powerful well. I've got, I want to get into your dad. I'm going to hit a couple quick baseball things because I'm a fan now. You know, I watched, I saw a table, he was playing, saw Willie Mays play, saw all these guys, saw you saw all sorts of people, right? Over the years, go to games. I'm one of those guys that that would that nudged my wife and go, the shortstop just shifted it to center-fielder district and it's an inside pitch. Yeah. You can go so. But I loved all that stuff, you know, I'm not so much into the analytics, but who's the toughest pitcher you ever faced, Darryl? What toughest pitch I ever faced was Dola Ryan. Oh, come on. Dola Ryan was old school and he didn't play around and, you know, he'd look at you like get in the box, you know, and he was just like, don't be digging in, you know, because Dola was old school, you know, if you took too long and you start digging in and thinking it's all about you and the box is all about you, he's going to put one right under your chin. He didn't play. I saw him, you know, he came here with the Rangers for, you know, no reason. So I got to watch him pitch and hear him. I mean, every pitch was a grunt. Yeah. And he was, he was, he was, he was, he's like, he had that, he, he had that kind of thing on him like a, like a wild Clark sort of thing, you know, walk out there across the line, man, and you're on opposite team. I'm taking you out. And, uh, yeah, but don't you think that's the way we also have to be in our Christian faith? I mean, the enemy, the Bible says John 10, 10, the enemy's trying to steal, kill and destroy it. We got to be that way with the enemy. And love question, right? No, no question. You know, we have to be that same way. You have to be, you have to be a rep for us. You have to be bold with the gospel today. Because what has happened you've seen, uh, the church is growing cold, you know, with this, you know, kind of new way, preachers coming in and, you know, just sounding good in the springboard with a lot of words, but no power and the enemy is sitting there and knowing that you don't have power and you're not, you're not full of the Holy Spirit. So, you know, I know I got victory over you. It's just a matter of time before I destroy you. Like you just sit there, John 10, 10, before he comes there and destroy you because that's his whole job is if you're not equipped and you're not in power with the, with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the enemy knows that you're, you're nothing to him. You know, because people don't understand, you know, he was Lucifer at the time and then he got kicked out and he became Satan, you know, and, you know, he's ruling and raining and he's doing what he's supposed to do. I don't, hey, I tell people all the time. Don't knock him. He's on his job when you're going to be on your job as a Christian. Now that's old school right there. I like that. And I actually have a, I've got a ball, a game ball, Nolan Ryan game ball. And then I've got the two, two, uh, uh, stadiums ago, the original Ranger, Ranger Stadium that Nolan pitched in. I've got a seat from that stadium signed by him. And, and it's always awkward to kind of trucking around the garage and stuff. My wife's always going, why don't we just, you know, do some, I go, no, no, baby, that's another Ryan sign that. And, uh, hey, in terms of managers, because you played, you played for my favorite team as a kid, you played for the Dodgers. For a couple of years, you played with the Giants. Was it one season with the Giants? One season. Yeah. And then you played with the Yankees. You were, you were a man and pinstripes. So tell me about the men who were managers or, or, uh, you know, coaches. Who was it that, that always had a good word for you? It seemed like, man, this guy always had the right word at the right time. Who, who was that kind of manager or coach he worked with? I just think every last one of them that I had an opportunity to play for, um, they all had been around the game a long time. David Johnson, you know, time in the sort of who just passed away. Less is hard. Uh, Dusty Baker was with the Giants. Yeah. And, um, and then Joe Torrey with the Yankees, um, when you look at the list of those managers, those guys understood baseball and they just let you be a player. And I think that's what makes players go. And you know, when you have guys that don't, don't do take for tack, you know, they understand that you're a player and they let you be, and they let you grow out and play because you got to let players be players and they're going to make mistakes. And that's understandable. You pull them to the side when they make a mistake and say, well, you know, you're not supposed to do that. You could do better in a situation. You're a better ball player. And that's what, uh, the kind of managers that I had where we're able to be able to share that with you and not get up in your face and you had to go through things with them. You are a blessed man. Let me give you my quick, Tommy LaSora story. Uh, Franklin Casey was a neighbor and a friend of mine, uh, for a number of years, his daughter, Fran and her husband, Jim were close friends and, and Frank was, uh, uh, was on the, with the Yankees and then he managed the Phillies and Cubs and, and it was here with Texas. But when he was in the Pacific coast, like he was a manager and he was a manager, you know, with AAA, I think. And, uh, Tommy LaSora, when he was coming up as a manager, they managed against each other. Now, forget what city Frank told me about that they were in. And they were both Catholic and so, uh, Saturday night after the game, they were, uh, Lucas, he was in LaSora's town. He said, hey, uh, Tommy, are you, are you going to mass in the morning? And, and Tommy says, yeah, so Frank, Lucas, he says, well, can I go with you? Can you pick me up? So Tommy says, I'll pick you up for mass. So the next Sunday morning, he picks him up. They go to mass and afterwards, a bunch of guys got around Tommy LaSora. You know how he talked and told stories and stuff. And, uh, they got around him started talking to him. Frank, Lucas, he snuck off the side and lit a candle, prayed for his game. Okay. So later that day, it's an afternoon getaway double header. Lucas, he comes out and says, Tommy, I got you today. I got you in both games. Tommy says, what are you talking about? He said, when all those guys were talking to you, he said, I went over lit a candle for the game. He said, I don't care who's on your lineup card. He said, I got you. And LeSora looks at Frank, Lucas, he says, Hey, and you know, he custom out a little bit, you know, he would a friend. He says, Hey, you S O B. I saw you do that. After you left, I went over blue your candle out. That's Tommy for you. And Frank used to tell that story. Now, your dad, you know, when we talk about father figure, your dad, amazing story. You told us the story. What happened to you? Where you wanted to kill him. But near the end of his life and the last year of his life, you would, you would actually try a couple times to get him to, you know, say, Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did. He never did that. No, he never put something on your heart. And you went to him, Darryl. Tell me about this because this is, this is life changing for somebody listening right now. Well, the relationship was broken and we never got back together, you know, and I've seen you from time to time come to games when I was playing, but I'd never really had a real relationship with him because I hated him and I was bitter. And then my life has changed. The Lord has saved me. And I've been ready to do a men's conference down in California on the Saturday morning. And the Lord speaks to me on the Friday night that, you know, go down and see my father in the hospital because my brother had told me he was in the hospital and he was sick, you know. And the Lord speaks to me. It speaks to my heart to go down and see my father. And he says, I want you to go down and see your father repent to him and ask him to forgive you and don't say anything about what he did to you. And I just, I was all confused. And you know, and I called my wife and I said, would you pray over me because this is what the Lord said to me. She said, well, you need to listen to the Lord. So I do that. I go down there Sunday and I see my father land in the hospital bed and I say, how you doing? Had a few words. And I said, you know, the Lord has changed my life. And, you know, I just need to tell you that I'm sorry for keeping you out of my life and my career. And the tear came down his eye. And then I just lost it. I laid in this life. Just I was willing to do it. And I'm sorry, you know, and, you know, and the Lord had me repenting to my father and, and in midst of that, you know, as a lady there, the Lord said, raise up it. Then I raised up and Lord said, now, lean him in the center prayer. I said, you know, Lord has changed my life. Would you like to accept him? Was Lord over your life? And he said, yes. And so you repeat after me and he repeated after me and I let him in the center prayer and then just cry for more. Then the Lord just told me afterwards. He says a couple things you need to know. It's never about you. And he said, the forgiveness was not for your father. The forgiveness was for me. He said, that's why I stayed broken for so long because I would not forgive him. And he said, how dare you not forgive him and I forgave you. Wow. So your forgiving your father wasn't just about him. It was about you. It was about me. I got set free immediately. I mean, I got released. I got released from what I had inside of me and what I was carrying all those years, even though I was in ministry too. At this time, there was still a burden in my heart. And God believed me from that. He just sent me free forever. And it was just like a freedom that came across and I felt so clean inside it. And I was able to move on and now able to move forward and be able to do the things that God really had called me to do. Yeah. What would you say as somebody's listening right now says, man, I want to turn my season around. You know, you, uh, this, the power forgiveness is so strong. When you forgive others, it's about your health, not just about them, right? John 20, 21, 22 and 23. Jesus said to his disciples, he said, when you forgive others, you release, you release something forgiveness, always opens, unforgiveness closes. What would you say where it would be a couple of scriptures or a couple of things you could tell somebody right now? Hey, here's a way to start on the path of getting life straight. Well, I would just encourage people, you know, wherever you are, you need to know the way. And John 14, 6, Jesus says, I'm the way the truth in life. No one comes through the Father except through me. Jesus is the gateway to everything. He's the gateway to victory over every situation in your life. Not some situations, but every situation if you know the way. And I think so many people don't even know the way. They don't even know where to start. And I always try to tell them start with him knowing that he is the way to everything that you want to be different in your life, the victory that you want to have over, you know, send the victory you want to have over whatever forgiveness or whatever it is. He is the way. And then I go through that Ephesians 3 20 now to him who was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think according to his power that works in us. It's the great power of Christ that works in us that will eliminate any kind of frustration about you and what you think about a society. What are you thinking about? Everything else that is coming against you and where you at is now to him who was able to do exceedingly. When you understand God can do more than you can ever imagine if you release, if you just release all the anxiety and all the things that are coming against you, release them into his hands. Hey, Derral Strawberry, thank you for taking the time to be with me. I can't wait to get you down to to Fort Worth to our new Christmas Network studios that we're building and be able to do one of those long form conversations, you know. Because man, you have not only lived through, you know, amazing years of baseball, but you've gone through the ups and downs of how do you overcome an addiction? I talked to a friend of mine yesterday and he's been sober 28 years and every morning at 8 a.m., you'll find him at his group, you know, his group meeting every morning at 8 a.m. So as I'm free, I'm going to help others stay free and I'm going to keep doing the things that help me stay free, right? So it's not just obtaining, it's maintaining. Yes, maintaining more than anything. What is your, what is your morning like? What is your commitment? And, you know, my commitment is to Jesus every morning, I get up, I'm going to thank God, I'm going to worship him, turn on my worship music. I'm going to enter in with praise and, you know, later on in the day sometime where you have time, you know, I read the word, a resumption to keep me going, to keep me focused on why I'm here. You can't, you can't outrun your habits and the habits of your heart and the habits of your life are going to determine your direction. And we can talk a good game and we can, you know, we can pose to everybody. But man, those daily habits you're talking about right now, bro, that is it right there. I mean, because people, I'm sure ask you all the time, how do you stay sober, you know? Well, it's, it's about action. You got to get into action. You know, people talking, but they never get into action. And, you know, I talked for a long time when I was lost and broken that, you know, I was your father God, but I never got into the action. So, when I finally got into the action, you know, 18 years ago, a lot of guys were talking about, you know, let's see how long this was last was 18 years. And I'm never going back, you know, because I got into the action we got. Yeah, there you go. A lot of people talk about stuff. You know, James 125 says faith without works is dead, man. You can't just talk about it. You can't just go to church and kind of throw in your 20 bucks and go, hey, I'm good. You go live this thing. Otherwise, the enemy is going to try to just, you know, when we talk about the enemy taking somebody out, it's crushing of the dreams because every man has a dream in him that God put there. And when we live that, we change the culture. When we talk about your dad, man, I mean, the issues and, and then you lived some of that stuff yourself with your own children. That's right. Exactly. Those things out. I thank God. Some of those things out, but you know, I don't know the side of all that. You know, the relationship with my children, well, you know, people say, man, your dad was a great baseball player. My daughter's beast like, my dad's a preacher. What are you talking about? So I know I'm living it out now, just like what my mom lived out in front of us. Dude, man, legacy, legacy, legacy. Yeah, thank God for Ruby. Yeah, you know, what you do in life becomes history, but what you put into motion becomes your legacy. Exactly. And Darrell Strawberry, you're putting into motion a legacy of men's lives being changed, wholeness in your family, forgiveness, healing, and it is absolutely attractive, bro. I gotta tell you, and the book is great. The book is Darrell Strawberry. It's two hours, by the way. Or just, I guess you could Google the straw man, maybe. I don't know. But turn your season around. How God transforms your life. And Greg Laurie, who I first met when I was a college student, he was doing a Monday night Bible study at Calvary Chapel. And there were about 300 people there and talked about a faithful man who himself has been through some ups and downs. So he's the best of. Yeah, no kidding, man. And so Darrell, for you and tracing your family, we pray every place you put your feet will be holy ground, everything your hands touch will prosper. And the God will keep you deep within the grip of His love and grace in the days ahead. Darrell, thank you brother for being, you know, for living the story that, man, I don't want anybody to ever have to live this story again, right? No, you don't want nobody to have to go through. But your journey is your journey. So your journey is a journey. But thank you for being honest about it and open and real and authentic. And this book, man, turn your season around. This thing, you guys, you guys killed it on this. All right, this is a grand slam right here. Right. Thank you. That's for the kingdom. Yeah, it's for the kingdom, man. It's the best theme to be on. So God bless you. It's great to meet you, Darrell. Lord bless you too, Paul. Thank you, buddy. God bless you. I love the scripture when it comes to transformation, Romans 12 2, where it says, be not conform to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And that is the reality of what is happening in this story. Turn your world upside down. Yeah, it's a it's a remarkable story. You had mentioned at the outset that that he's in the Hall of Fame. It's the Metz Hall of Fame. He was nominated Hall of Fame. The thing about Darrell is that he knows he won't be in the Hall of Fame because of what happened in his life. Yeah. You know, there are there are results to our actions. You know, and and he's had to live through some of those. Yeah. And as he looks back now and into the wonderful thing and talking to him is is how he has been able to become back close to his children. Yes. How he's got a marriage that's gone 14 years now. You know, the different things that Christ has done in his life. Yes. That cocaine tried to destroy. And think about how great he would have been. Yep. This guy is doing cocaine and going out and hitting home runs. You know, winning World Series, being how many times was he an All-Star? Eight. Eight times in All-Star, dude. You know, just getting to the major leagues in the first place. Yes. Is incredible. Because there's millions, think of the millions of people to play baseball, then they move up, then they play college, okay, or or grow directly from high school into some sort of minor league deal. But there's hundreds of thousands in the minor leagues. There are men who are incredible athletes who never make it. Yes. To the major leagues. Yeah. So to get to that level and then be one of the 40 or 50 best players in the world, he's in the Metz Hall of Fame. Yeah. Right? Because he's one of the greatest, in fact, a lot of commentators would say he's the greatest Metz New York Metz player there we've played. Yeah. Man, it's a lot of great players. That's really something to say. And yet we still live with the results of actions in our lives. Yes. That's why every day I think we have to have wisdom. And that's what Darryl was talking about, how he gets up every day, prays over things, has to have the wisdom to walk through that day. And you know, it's his world's reframed. He doesn't talk the same. He was the most humble guy now. Well, you know, it was it was pretty amazing to spend time with him. And I just pray blessing on him. I know he's trying to help a lot of people with rehab places, places that he had gone to that some of which he, you know, by his own admission. Hey, I didn't do very well when I was there, but I was all on me. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And then his wife basically just grabbing him by his collar. Right? Pull him out of a drug house and going, uh-uh. He goes, yeah, just leave me here to die. She says, you should be so lucky. Whoa. Right? Yeah. I mean, that's that's gnarly, man. That's love, right? That is love. Yeah. And so thank God for Darryl Strawberry. This is why we do what we do with Krishnamann's network is to help men get discipled, help men get saved free. That their life does go into 180. Yes. Not a 360, not a tailspin. That they have a future, that they have a hope, that they have a place they believe they're going. And, uh, man, Jesus changes everything. Yes. And that's why we do what we do with Krishnamann's network. Yes. And, you know, just to mention the book again, turn your season around. This is and, you know, I love the title because we see this in action. You know, this is a book that is not just a book that goes on your bookshelf. It is a walking testimony of a man that decided to change his season, you know, and that's why I highly suggest you get your hands on this book. Well, it's a good thing to give to someone and get to a young person. Yes. And, you know, as you're discipling your son, as you're discipling your daughter, these are the kinds of tools you put in your hands. And, you know, my sons were nine and 10 years old when I sat down with them to strung men and tough times and begin to disciple them at our kitchen table every Saturday morning at 9 a.m., which apparently was too early because they were not happy. They're nine and 10. I go, Hey, you're getting up. I don't care. I'm still at nine and 10. I can still take you. Yes. And when they were 12 and 13, it was a, there's a different deal. But, but the point is is that is that teaching, uh, training, that's what we do for the next generation. Yes. And that's our role as fathers, as mentors. If you're a single man, there's people in your life that need your help. Yes. There's single moms who are heroes. There's single moms and single dads who need your help. Yes. And particularly with single moms, if you're a young man in a church, find another, find a young man, find a single mom who's got a kid, take them out, play baseball, do stuff. Yes. You know, she needs that help from Christian men. Yeah. But you as a single, you need that help too. Yeah. Because it inspires you to do better when you have young eyes looking at you, watching your lead. You don't have to strive for protection, but be excellent. You know, be excellent. What you do, because that young man looking up to you makes you want to do better every day, makes you look at your priorities. Okay. Do I go play baseball with them or do I just go sit at home and do something else? Yeah. You know, it allows you to have a, a perspective that you wouldn't have by just worrying about yourself. Yeah. And you say that as a single man who does mentor younger men. Yes. And so that's super important. Yes. And I think that's, you know, here's the deal. Christian men is now where it's cmn.men. Those are the tools you can get. There's a whole bunch of tools under the book courage for young men. It's great. Right on your shorts is a great chapter. Yes. And that was the guy that was having sex with his girlfriend. Yes. That I can't stop. You know, I keep repeating the scripture. And my dad said, well, they'll write the scripture on your shorts. Great insight. Great insight. Hey, thanks for being with us today again on the Brave Men podcast. They ministry outreach of the Christian men's network and global fatherhood initiative. Remember hope is alive. Hope has a name. Hope's name is Jesus. Jesus. And as I always say, I love my wife. Amen. You just experienced Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian men's network. Connect with Paul at cmn.men or write to him at Paul at cmn.men.