Life Abundantly: A New Conversation with Darryl Strawberry

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver hopefully compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective.

To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast. I've taken the fame that has come his way because of his incredible accomplishments as a baseball player, and also as a television personality, and shows like The Apprentice. But he leverages these elements to bring the gospel to people, and he stands up without embarrassment or fear, and talks about his faith all the time. I've hung out with Darrell on quite a few occasions, and I've always been impressed by his humility.

He's just a very down-to-earth guy. He takes time for people when they come and want to talk to him or get an autograph, but he always is there encouraging. I remember he came and spoke at our church on one occasion, and afterwards he was meeting people.

He was the last person there on the grounds. And what I loved wasn't just that he was signing autographs and talking about sports. He was praying for people. He was ministering to people. God has put a call in Darrell's life to be a minister now, and he's written a brand new book that is called Turn Your Season Around, How God Transforms Your Life. So, Darrell, thanks for being with me. And you know, when you wrote this book, you probably had no idea that all of us were going to have our season turned around with this coronavirus.

No question, Pastor Greg. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate you.

I really appreciate you taking time out and writing the foreword for me. It really means a lot to me and my family and everything. So I had no idea that, you know, I would be in a season where it would be where I have to turn my season around. I just thank God for all of us that we understand that, you know, going through this process that we would have to go through in 2020, that it would be a year of coming out and how do we come out and what do we see when we come out. And I think the most important thing is really being able to keep our focus on the biblical principles and understanding who we are in Christ. If we lose sight of that, then we will find ourselves chasing after everything else. And I just realized, you know, standing on the platform for God is far greater than standing at the plate facing Nolan Ryan, even though it was hard facing Nolan Ryan. And standing on the platform for God and winning souls and, you know, being able to talk about the good news which is really important. And I think what turning your season, you know, turn your season around was really all about is to be able to help people understand that no matter where you at, you know, your season could turn around you might have the first six months of the year.

That could be difficult, but there's another six months coming. And it's just like a ballgame and like I said facing Nolan Ryan, I may go over to my first two at bats but I still might have a bat at bat coming up in the eighth inning. And what am I going to do, am I going to be ready, or am I going to be thinking about the first previous at bat so I realized that life is the same way and we just have to learn to ride away ride the storm and turn our season around in the midst of it. And you've certainly done that because you've had some rough seasons in your life, especially before you really made that deeper commitment to Jesus Christ struggles with drugs struggles with the law and and all those things that how are you able to get through all of that. Well, it was a process and, you know, you always, you know, have people around you who has been changed and I think the key for me was my praying mother, and I never forgot her friend for me. And then I think about my wife who God had brought into my life when I was in the midst of my addiction, and she never went back she's got 21 years of recovery and I was still out there in the midst of addiction and shooting dope smoke crack and, you know, I lost in $3 million in debt and she was pulling me out of dope houses and she was basically saying that God has a plan for us as well as you and God just leave me here and let me die she said you just not that lucky. So I guess I wasn't lucky because she was strong enough to know that her relationship with God was good and, and I think God is always going to do the same thing just like he uses me, you, he's going to always use people to help people and encourage people. And it wasn't for the encouragement.

You know, I don't think I'll be sitting here today. She's a blessing. And I just thank God for her not giving up on me when everybody else had thrown in the towel and said, Well, his life is over. She said no, your life is not over it's gonna be a new beginning but it's gonna be a process, and you're gonna have to walk through the process so she made me be responsible and take responsibility for the 3 million I was in debt, she made me call all the people that I had to deal with and face and I just had to face things head on. And when I started standing up to that, I started seeing God start to move in my life in a different way.

Wow. You know, in your, your book you talk about people who want to be influencers. And there's so many people that they just want fame well you've had fame you've had fame for years.

I walked through an airport people recognize you from all walks of life. And having experienced all that you weren't against ego in your book ego, and that's an acronym for what for easing God out because that's what we actually do you know when we step into the life of fame and fortune and so many people think the excitement of being famous is a good thing. It's really not I mean because you got a lot of people are going to continue to focus on you and they're going to focus on your struggles, just as well as your good things you know and you could probably do more good things, then your struggles and your struggles are just really part of what life is and most people focused on the struggle of who I was in the brokenness of who I was and, you know, when my life became transformed they never focused on that and you wonder why because it's not important to them, you know, it's, it's different news they don't want to talk about new stuff they want to talk about the old stuff and, you know, the ego was so much I remember God said, If you let me crush your ego, I can usually mightily for me, and I remember that reminded me so much of how great Moses was and the weakness of Moses that had a speech impediment that will lead the Israelites out of Moses but it was the humility of a man and I think God loves the humility of a man when a man can submit himself and not, you know, run wild his ego because I ran wild with my ego for a long time when I played Major League Baseball because you, they tell you, you have to be this way to be great. You really don't have to be that way to be great because I saw one great player on my team Gary Carter who went to the Hall of Fame, but he didn't have a ego he walked with humility he was persecuted because he was drinking milk, and everybody else is drinking alcohol and I just used to look at him and I was so impressed with him, and I wanted what he had, but I just didn't have the guts to go ask him How did you get there.

Wow. You know, meekness has been defined as power under constraint. Sometimes people confuse meekness with weakness. Weakness is what it is weakness you can't do anything meekness is when you could do something, but you choose not to, you know, and Moses is called the meekest man on the face of the earth. And of course he had his little flare of temper to on occasion, kept him out of the Promised Land as a matter of fact when he started whacking a rock, instead of just speaking to it as the Lord instructed him to, but you know it's walking humbly I mean, who was more meek than Jesus but yet, who was stronger than Jesus, the strongest man who ever walked the planet was Jesus, and yet he was meek he described himself as meek and lonely of heart, and what a great quality that is, you know, you have people especially young people today that are filled with anxiety and fear and frustration with all that's going on with the coronavirus.

What advice would you give to someone like that right now. I think the younger people are walking in fear and doubt because they don't understand who they are in Christ. And I think they need to understand the biblical principles I think they need to give the heart to God, not your head, you know, our head is like usually a knucklehead, and it's the heart that God is looking for. And if he can get the man's heart, he can change everything about him and I think that was the difference in me, and I think that's going to be the difference in our younger generation because they live in a society that has to deal with social media, internet and, and that's where all the anxiety comes from from them, who likes me who don't like me, and they don't really know the Bible and that's what the Bible talks about my people Paris because of lack of knowledge, there's no knowledge and understanding of the Word of God and people be saying, well who is God God doesn't speak to me well he doesn't speak to you, if you don't have a relationship with him, you know, it's impossible for him to speak directly to you because you're not lined up with him and I think that's what's happened to our younger generation we need to encourage them that faith is really good, you know, and understanding faith faith is the substance of things hopeful but the evidence of things not seen, you don't see it, you just learn to learn to operate in and live in it and get away from you know all the social media and all the things that are out there for them that brings a great distraction to them so I would encourage them, don't be distracted don't be deceived by what you look on social media and you see celebrities and you see other people doing. It doesn't mean that they have it all together because you see that and they're doing these earthly things so I would encourage kids, younger generation to be more in tune, you know with the biblical principles that follow those I had everything from a worldly standpoint, but I had nothing on the inside. Do how, how is playing baseball helped you to share the gospel and a message of hope with people around the nation.

Well, I think it's helped me as such a practical way, you know, because baseball is a game where your skill set if you understand your skill set and understand who you are, you're able to perform at that level and you're able to perform with the pressure on the line. I think it's the same thing and living life with the gospel of Jesus Christ you know it's a practical way of sharing the good news the love of Christ. The biblical principles without dumping anyone over the head of course you know I love guys like you and Billy Graham because you guys preach the gospel, you know that that really excites me when I see that the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached. And instead of trying to make you feel good I don't want to make people feel good, you know, I made people feel good when I hit home runs, but I don't want to make you feel good about the gospel I want you to come to have a relationship with Jesus so you can live the abundant life that he talks about, you know, he talks about in john 1010 he talks about the thief comes to steal kill and destroy. He says I have come that you may have life and may have been more abundantly. I think, I think abundant life has been washed out the wrong way he's talking about peace, joy, wisdom, knowledge, power, far greater than stuff and I think young people think stuff is going to make them well. I can tell you that that's not going to make you well that's that's going to pass, you know, you can have a bunch of stuff like King Solomon said is meaningless under the sun without God, it means nothing at the end of the day if I don't have this relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yeah, totally true you know, Jesus not only offers us life beyond the grave but he offers us life during life. As you quoted john 1010 Jesus said I've come that you might have life and that more abundantly, and how interesting the contrast is with the devil's plan of the thieves Satan comes only to steal kill and destroy. So here's the devil's plan. Here's God's plan. Satan wants to steal you from God.

He wants to destroy you, and he wants to kill you. Meanwhile, God wants to forgive you show his love to you and welcome you to heaven one day, a pretty clear choice but amazingly people don't see that they see it as the opposite like oh man I'm free, living in sin, having fun and God has all these rules and he wants to wreck my life. It's the very opposite of that because God loves us and his plans for us are better than our plans for ourselves.

No question, Pastor Greg, it is totally the opposite of what people understand, and that's because of lack of knowledge they don't have knowledge to understand, and I think they don't pick the word up for themselves because I, I just wonder that, what took me so long to pick the Bible, it's the revelation of who you are, you know, it's there to bring about new meaning of life and and understanding how to live in, and you don't have to live a sinful life you don't have to practice a life anymore. All you have to do is live by these principles and and you get to taste and see that the Lord is good and how good He is. I mean I tasted everything else. I tasted home runs, I tasted championships, I tasted cars, I tasted home, I tasted money, it never satisfied my soul. I'm here to tell people it never did. I was still always empty on the inside, and that was King Solomon was talking about in the book of Ecclesiastes, he was talking about the fact that how the God shape that's inside of every last one of us is only feel for God himself to fill that empty void on the inside and boy was I empty on the inside.

I had it all looking from an outside perspective, but on the inside, boy I was dying on the inside. I mean literally you've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, actually you've been the t-shirt, you know, and so you can speak authoritatively to this because you have lived these things out of real time and you mentioned Solomon. You know in his day he was the richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world, whatever he wanted basically he had it, and then he comes to the conclusion in the book of Ecclesiastes. I looked at all of these things that I had and it was like chasing the wind, then he sums the book up and he says, okay, here's the conclusion, you know, do what God tells you to do. You know, wow, what a revelation, and I hope people will get a copy of your book, Turn Your Season Around, because folks, Darryl's lived it, Darryl's done it. He's learned a lot of these lessons the hard way, but now he wants to share with you how you can take principles he's learned playing baseball as one of the greatest players of all time, but also lessons he's learned in life as a follower of Jesus now and how you can have these lessons in your life so you can turn your season around. And we're sending you this new book by Darryl Strawberry that I have the privilege of writing the foreword for, and we'll give this to you for your gift of any size that will help us continue to bring the gospel to people and teach the word of God. So whatever you can do, we appreciate it, and Darryl, thanks for your time. Well, thank you for having me, Pastor Greg, I really appreciate you. Bless you guys. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, thanks for listening to our podcast, and to learn more about Harvest Ministries, please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to Harvest.org, and by the way, if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to KnowGod.org, that's K-N-O-W-G-O-D.org.