What if reaching the pinnacle of fame and fortune left you feeling emptier than ever? In this episode of The Greg Laurie Show, Pastor Greg Laurie sits down with baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, whose journey from World Series champion to redemption reveals the truth about success, addiction, and the deeper purpose behind it all.
A true sports icon, Darryl Strawberry played for the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers, winning four World Series titles and captivating millions. But behind the glory, Strawberry battled brokenness, substance abuse, and the relentless pressures of fame—ultimately finding hope and healing in a transformative relationship with Christ. This honest, heartfelt conversation uncovers the realities faced by celebrities and everyday people alike: Why does the pursuit of wealth and recognition so often leave us searching for meaning? And what does it take to truly find redemption?
Key moments in this episode include Darryl Strawberry’s revelation about the pain that drove his athletic greatness, the pivotal influence of his late mother’s faith, and the turning point when his wife Tracy’s unwavering example led him back to God. Together, Pastor Greg Laurie and Darryl Strawberry dive into the questions that matter: the emptiness of worldly achievement, the dangers of self-destructive behavior, and the simple but profound steps toward restoration.
If you’ve ever wondered where true fulfillment comes from—or how someone can turn their mess into a message—this episode is for you.
Subscribe for more conversations like this, featuring inspiring personal stories and faith-filled insights with Pastor Greg Laurie and remarkable guests.
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 When I Had Nothing, God Was There
02:20 Pain Led Me to Greatness, Pain Is Real
05:05 Handling Fame: Why Getting Booed Matters
09:00 Childhood Inspiration: Pete Rose and Dirty Uniforms
09:34 Mother's Prayers for My Salvation
12:05 The Void Fame and Wealth Cannot Fill
15:19 Tracy Pulled Me from Dope Houses
17:29 Success Impresses, Failure Impacts: True Surrender
18:47 Daily Surrender and Storms of Life
20:34 You Can Pick Sins, Not Consequences
22:15 Proving My Father Wrong by Succeeding
24:18 The Greatest Chapter: Working for the Lord
25:13 Deception of the Enemy and Finding Purpose
27:45 Restoration Requires Doing the Work
28:54 Jesus Rescues, Redeems, and Restores
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Life audio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
When I had everything, everybody was there, But when I
had nothing, he was there. And see and that's because
I made a commitment. How do people get to that place?
You have to be persistent to go after God, and
you have to surrender yourself daily.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Daryl Strawberry is a genuine sports icon. Throughout his eighteen years,
he captured four World Series championships. He played with the Mets,
the Yankees, and the Dodgers. Well, you know, you were
living the dream.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's like there's the expression I've been there, done that
about the T shirt. You were the T shirt. I
mean you were and you are an iconic figure. I
know because I've been in places with you and people
recognize you. You're tall guy, of course, But it's not
that it's like everybody knows who Daryl's Strawberry is. Even
people who aren't maybe big baseball fans, they still know
(01:10):
you because you've been on was that Celebrity Apprentice And
you've been all over the place.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You've been everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Man as Johnny Cash saying, so you literally lived the dream.
So there was a young Daryl who had the dreams,
perhaps to play pro baseball. I heard that you may
have had an interest in basketball as well, that you
were offered scholarships or basketball or Baseball's all right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I had an opportunity to go to college to
play basketball Oklahoma State, but I made a decision to
play baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And why did you make that decision?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I was that young player probably had a dysfunction inside
because of the lifestyle that I grew up in at
home and everything and really broken. And I really never
got to identify myself as that young player. I just
knew that the pain of who I was led me
into my greatness, and then eventually my greatness would lead
(02:04):
me into the destructive be And the reason why I
talk about that because it's so important. Pain is real,
and I think a lot of times we push it
to the side. Being famous is hard, is not easy,
and I think people believe it's the greatest thing to
be famous. But when you reach that point, you're going
to usually stay in the house because everybody's going to
(02:26):
be looking for you. Everybody's going to be pulling at you,
and you don't You never know who's pulling at you
for the right reasons, right, So I experienced that, you know,
from a younger age, growing up in California and the
expectations of becoming this great baseball player. I had people
pulling at me when I was like seventeen, eighteen years
old at the beginning, you know, ages and everybody wanting
(02:47):
me at the time when I was young, and I
would go on to be you know, get drafted and
play Major League Baseball and then the same old things.
You know, the expectations were big, and you know, I
kind of fulfilled the expectations. But at the same time,
it was a lot to deal with because you really
don't have the identity of who you are because of
(03:08):
what everybody else wants you to be.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Right, Well, let me swow you down on that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You talked about fame Derrell, because there's like a whole
generation of young people today that their goal in life
is to be famous. I read a survey that said
the vast majority of young people they want to be
rich and they want to be famous. I think it
was Andy Warhol that said years ago, they'll come a
time when everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. So
(03:32):
you've been famous for longer than fifteen minutes. You've been
famous for years, and you've been there, You've experienced it,
you've had it. All is fame, all that it's cracked
up to be.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, be careful what you asked for. And I think
a lot of people asked about the fame and the
spotlight being on them and they don't realize the pressures
that come with it. The expectations and pressures are real.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, what are they?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think, Well, just being a good person. Learning to
be a good person, because you're going to have to
deal with so many things. Yeah, you're gonna have to
do with learning how to deal playing sports. You're gonna
learn learn how to deal with people that don't like you.
You don't have to learn how to deal with the media.
You don't have to learn how to deal with fans
booing you. Uh, there's a lot that's like to.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Be in the field, to be booed by thousands of people.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I thought it was pretty good. And the reason why
I say that is because I realized that everybody recognized
I'm in the ballpark. So that's the way I kind
of viewed it and everything. And I think so many
athletes have a tendency of taking it in a negative
way and twisting it. And you know why the fans
boring me. They don't boo you if you're not good.
(04:41):
That's one thing I could tell you. You know, playing the
sports a baseball, you know they're gonna boo you, if
they're gonna bull you. That means that you're doing something
good that people appreciate. And also at the same time,
they appreciate when you screw up too. So I had
a lot of screw up. I made a lot of
errors in the outfield, and you know, I struck I would,
you know, type bait situations based situations. But I did
(05:02):
a lot of good too in those situations. So I
kind of realize that you have to balance yourself in
life when you become famous.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And the reason why I say that is you can't hide. Yeah,
you know, and I think a lot of times a
lot of celebrities hide out and they keep this secret
about they have it all together. None of us have
it all together. I could tell you that, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And a lot of times they have an entourage around them,
a lot of people, you know, taking advantage of them.
We were talking earlier about Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson
and of course Elvis. You know, he's famous for his
entourage of people and almost like in an altered state
of reality. It's hard to just be a normal person.
On more than one occasion, I've seen someone who's had
a lot of fames say I kind of miss anonymity,
(05:47):
in other words, being able to walk down the street
by a Hamburger, you know, just be a normal person.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Did you ever feel that way?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I never felt that way because I think of growing
up in south central Los Angeles, so I didn't grow
up with fame around me, so I didn't really know
what it was all about. So I really kind of
like wanted to stay and be the same person when
I got there. I mean, my athletic skills actually took
me to a whole different level, and I never looked
at the fact that I needed a bunch of people
(06:15):
around me for what They wasn't there when I was
working out. I think a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You're pretty levelheaded then when you were younger.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, well, because I realized that they wasn't there when
I was doing the hard training and when I was
trying to get to where I need to get. I mean,
of course I have a lot of good friends and everything,
but my dear friends were the guys I was playing
baseball with I grew up with, you know, Eric Davis,
Chris Brown, you know, guys who were like brotherhood, you know,
grew up playing ball together. So we knew each other.
We we knew that we had each other back. So
(06:44):
there's a lot of people that come along and say
they have your back, but they're really there for the ride.
Because I could tell you one thing that's it's a
great ride when you're in the midst of it because
everything is handed to you. I mean, you're millionaires and
you don't have to pay for nothing. I didn't realize that,
you know, playing in New York, that I could walk
in the store and that I was so talented, so
(07:05):
good that they would give me free jackets and free
clothes and suits and stuff like that. And I would
go have dinner and everybody would pay for my dinner.
And I was like, Wow, this is a pretty cool life.
But at the same time, I knew it was a
crazy life.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
You mentioned growing up in South central Los Angeles. It
was ever a point as a young man when you
said one day I'm going to be a pro baseball
player or a pro basketball player, or did you have
dreams that big I did.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I knew that when I was fourteen years old. Yeah,
I had already put it in my heart. Yeah, you
know that I wasn't going to play baseball, you know,
because I used to watch the Dodgers in the Cincinnati
Reds on television and I saw this one player play
for the Cincinnati Reds and his name was Pete Rose.
And I saw him. I saw his uniform and it
was always dirty, and I said, that's what a baseball
(07:51):
player looks like. I said, that's what I want to
do one day. I want to be a baseball player,
and I want to make sure that my uniform is dirty.
Pete Rose wasn't the most talented player on the team,
but he hustled. I would hustle everybody else on the team,
and that's what which is really all about. Can you
out hustle the next player. And I was just thrilled
to be able to see that when I saw Pete Rose,
(08:12):
and I realized that I wanted to do that. So
when I was fourteen years old, I just put it
in my heart and I told my sister one day,
I said I'm going to the pros. She thought I
was like kind of crazy. You know. It's like yeah, right,
you're gonna be playing baseball like those guys on TV.
I said, yes, I will one day be playing baseball
just like those guys.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Did your parents encourage you in this?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
My mother did. My mother raised me right. I didn't
have a father. You know, my father rejected me, and
you know, I was a broken relationship. He left her
family for dead and he was gone. And my mother
raises right, and she raises under good principles. But I
made a decision. I made a decision to live a
heathen lifestyle. She didn't raise me that way. I'm paying
(08:54):
And when she passed away, I was so heartbroken because
I knew this woman raised me right, and why did
I go on and live this life? And I just
always thought it broke her heart. And she wasn't concerned
about my major league career.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
My mother was a believer, was she was a believer.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
She was sold off.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And I think people in heaven may know more than
we think they know on right now. And I think
that your mom is fully aware of your commitment you've
made to Christ and what you're doing for the Kingdom
of God. Because the Bible says every time a sinner
comes to repentance. There's rejoicing in the presence of the angels.
We usually did go it's the angels that are rejoicing. No,
(09:30):
maybe it's actually believers in heaven rejoicing with a full
knowledge of what's going on earth. So I think your
mom may be very aware of what you're doing for
God's kingdom.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I think so too. I mean, I think she always
knew that that would happen, because that was her prayer.
You know, when my sister found a journal under her bed,
she was praying to God save my kids. But she didn't.
She was concerned about Darrell Strawberry baseball players. She was
concerned about my salvation and not God knocking me off
of my throne and my ego and my pride of
(10:00):
being all this. And I thought I was all that
in the bag of chips. Yeah, and Mom was. You know,
they don't think that way. They think of you as
I raise you, and I raise you right. Treat people right.
That's the thing that she gave to us is treat
people the way you want to be treated, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So, Darryl, when people reach this pinnacle that you've been
to and they have wealth, they have fame, they have
it all, and then they're so empty. Why is that?
I think people who have not experienced that fame have
a hard time understanding it.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Tell us why, well, I think the most important thing
is you go along and you accumulate all these things
that you think will make you well, and they're just things.
At the end of the day. You buy a beautiful home,
you live behind community gates, drive the nice car, you
have plenty of money to buy whatever kind of clothes
you need and whatever kind of stuff you need. But
(10:53):
what it does is only satisfied the outside of what
you look like. And I think we don't realize that
the creation for us on the inside was created for
God himself to fill that empty void on the inside
of every last one of us. That's why you see
so many celebrities struggle so much with life, because you know,
we achieve all these earthly things. But at the end
(11:14):
of the day, when I take that uniform all and
I go home, who am I? That's the question I
think a lot of us asked ourselves. Yes, I've achieved
so much fame and fortune, but at the end of
the day, who am I really? And then I think
a lot of times I useduld think that what's the
purpose of my life? You know, because I'm very talented
(11:36):
to play sports, But that's not the purpose of my life.
Because I think we don't realize at the time when
we're playing and we're accumulating all this stuff, that's the
great that one day all this is going to come
to an end. And if you don't identify yourself as
the real person, then you're still lost. You still consume
(11:56):
with all this other stuff, and you stay in this
particular place where you want to be well? But how
do I give well? And I think so many of
us miss that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So what is the purpose of a person's life? Why
are we hearing this earth? Why don't we exist well?
I believe that God had created us all for good.
I don't think none of us was supposed to come
here and be bad. I think the door was open,
you know, from the beginning of the Book of Genesis.
I think, and I believe that sets the door for
all of us to fall short. But I think at
(12:25):
the same time he created us to come back to him.
And when we do really truly come back to him
and we surrender ourselves to him, then there's a great
purpose of him using every person every platform because I'm
not gonna be able to reach everybody. You're not gonna
be able to reach everybody, but somebody else will be
able to reach another person if we stand in the
(12:48):
right principles. And I think that's what it was always
created for. And I think we just end up falling short.
And when you end up falling short in that lifestyle,
you get kind of embedded in it and it's really
hard to get.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Out because it gets ugly. Like my lifestyle, it got
real ugly. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I know you've had issues the drugs and you were
arrested and what happened.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I mean, I just had all kind of behaviors. I
turned out to be just like my father. I became
very abusive to my first wife and second wife. I
never abused my kids because I love my kids because
I was abused, but I became an alcoholic. I mean
I became a drug addict. You know, the drugs consume me.
I ended up taking in feto me. He's playing baseball
every day. To be wired out there playing baseball. It's
(13:30):
just so many things that we try to feel that's
on the inside, that's empty with all other type of
things to make us well, and it never makes us well.
It seems like I'm doing well for a period of time,
then all of a sudden, I really still can't get
out of this dark hole, because there is a real
dark hole and a dark tunnel that people go through
and up. You end up becoming that something that you
(13:54):
had said to yourself that I would never become. I
said I would never become like my dad, and guess
what I became Just likely No.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I interviewed Alice Cooper, and his wife basically said to him,
I'm done with you.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
He was, you know, strung out of drugs. He had
a uh he.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Had cocaine the size of a softball, and he was
starting it and he looked in the mirror and he
saw what he thought was blood coming out of his eyes.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
He says, now, I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Know if it was a hallucination from his reel, but
he was messed up and that was his wake up call.
So God used his wife to wake him up. And
God used your wife, was she your wife at the time, Tracy,
to kind of get your attention as well?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, she wasn't my wife at that time, but I
knew she was like putting my life for a reason,
because she was pulling me out of dope houses and
I was shooting dope and smoking crack, and soft thoughterer
she was banging on doors, She's pulling me out, saying,
God's got a plan for you. I says, well, I
want you and that guy just leave me here and
let me die. She goes, You're just not that lucky,
And I thought to myself, Oh, she's crazier than I
(14:56):
am to be able to do that. And then God
would eventually use her to bring me back full circle
into church and be restored. And the reason why I
say use her there was nothing that she really did,
but she was done with me. But her life was
a complete example of living for Christ. She was studying
(15:17):
the Bible every day. She wakes up every morning at
five thirty to go be with God. She rolls out
of that bed, and I mean she did that for
like nineteen years, twenty years that we've been together and
stuff like that, and she never missed a beat, you know.
And boy, I was watching her and I was amazed.
I was like, well, why she knows so much about God?
(15:38):
And God spoke to me one day and says, because
she spends time with me a man. I was just
I went into tears and just cried, and God says,
when are you gonna spend time with me? And that's
when I really realized that I needed to go spend
time and get into a relationship because she was in
a relationship with God, you know. And I was impressed
with the fact that it wasn't about me. It wasn't
(15:59):
about I didn't have nothing anyway when we met. You know,
people need to know that I was three million dollars
in debt. I didn't even have a driver's life. So
what does she want with me? You know? She says
she saw something in me, She saw the good in
me that I probably didn't see in me. And God
would use her eventually and it would bring me full
circle and I would go on to get back in
church and get disciple with her and get my life
(16:19):
transform and change forever.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
So someone was listening to you right now, and they're
trying to fill a hole in their heart with things.
Maybe get a few more followers on social media, maybe
get this object, maybe get this job, maybe have whatever
it is they think is going to fix it. And
you're saying it's all about a relationship with God. Tell
a person watching right now how they can come into
(16:42):
that relationship with God through Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, And I just want to say this first. I
think so many people are impressed with your success, but
they can be impacted by your failures. And I think
my failures was a prime example of because they were
impressed with my success, but my failures would go on
to impact people life because of coming into a real
relationship with Christ. And I'm talking about real surrender yourself
(17:07):
and denying yourself and picking up your cross and carrying
your cross daily, and which is gonna be hard.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
What does that mean? Your cross? What does that that means?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
That means you have to change from all these worldly things.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You have to take a worldly thing to find us?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What worldly thing that drives you? If I'm if I'm
impressed with the car, you know, I need to not
be impressed with the car anymore. If I'm impressed with
the house, I need not to be impressed with the house.
If I'm impressed with my bank account, then I need
not to be impressed with that. Just there, But it
does not drive me. What drives me is having communion
(17:41):
with God, you know, and being in a relationship talking
to God. Waking up my mornings is like such an urgency.
Every time I wake up, I get up and I
put on worship music because I love God so much
and I just want to I just want to tell
them thank you, you know, because of the fact that
when I had everything, everybody was there, but when I
had nothing, he was there and see, and that's because
(18:04):
I made a me me. And how do people get
to that place? You have to be persistent to go
after God, and you have to surrender yourself daily. People
don't surrender themselves daily. They just wake up and think, oh,
it's another day. It's good. Life is good. But I
learned to surrender myself daily because what I start preparing
(18:26):
for the storms of life. Because the storms of life
are real. Either you're in a storm or storms on
the way, or you coming out of a storm. So
I'm prepared either way. If I'm in a storm, I'm prepared.
If I'm coming out of the storm, I'm prepared. If
a storm's on the way, I'm always prepared because I
worship God and I thank God as Lord and Savior.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Now you're a raising Central Los Angeles right if an
older Daryl Strawberry could speak to a younger Daryl, what
would you say to yourself?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Wow, that's a good question, you know, to say, sit
here and know you know the kind of wisdom and
knowledge I have at this point. What would I tell
a younger me is to listen to your mother.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Huh, good advice.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I mean it's plain and simple because when you live
in a household and you come from a broken home,
you only have one parent and mom is usually the
one there. So if you don't listen, you're gonna e
basically be a fly off the wall. You know. It's
just like trying to catch that fly and you're taking
(19:25):
that swater and hitting that and you can't catch it,
you know. And that's the same thing it was for me.
You couldn't catch me because I wasn't listening. And the
way I see life today and what I realized the
importance of what she was telling me, you know, came
the pass of who I am today because had I
listened back then, I could have saved myself for a
lot of headaches. See that, younger person, don't think you're
(19:47):
gonna go through some things. And I always tell young
people you can pick your sins, but you cannot pick
your consequences. There's a real reality behind the consequences that's
gonna come. They're gonna catch up with you. You can
pick your sins all day, do what you want all day.
Say this is the way life is. The consequences are
real when they come.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Dren, What do you think motivates people to want to
be famous? I don't think it's just to see your
name in lights or on a baseball card, in your
case or whatever it might be here you're sung on
the radio, or to have a World Series ring like
you have three of.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
What is it that drives us?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Is this a desire to be seen, to be noticed,
to be affirmed, to be appreciated.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What do you think? I think the desire is that
you see it, and you look at it and it
looks great. You know, it looks great from a standpoint.
You know. When I was a kid and watching Major
League Baseball and television, it's like, wow, you know, that
looks exciting, you know, And then I watch teams win
and watch teams lose and see the guys on the
other side crying, and I was like, I never want
to be on that losing end, because that's a hard feeling,
(20:52):
and I think the desire comes from different backgrounds. I
think some people come from broken backgrounds and they strive
to be better coming out of those situations. I think
for me, I was striving to be better. You know.
I wanted to be better than my father. I wanted
to prove that he was wrong about me, that he
(21:14):
was wrong about my family, because we knew that we
had the sweetest mother and it was just heartbreaking to
see the abuse that she had to go through because
he was an alcoholic and he was raising alcoholic. And
I was like, man, I just I want to take
care of my mother. I don't ever want her to
feel like that, you know. You know I used to
(21:34):
cry at night and I used to lay my head
in the pillow and I said, I'm going to play
Major League baseball, I'm gonna get rich, and I'm going
to take care of my mother. And that's the only
thing I wanted to do. I wasn't concerned about taking
care of myself or anything. I just wanted to take
care of her because she took care of us.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know, the Bible says God has said eternity in
our hearts, and I think from the earliest moments of
our life. We're looking, we're searching, we're hopefully for something
more in life. So my life contrast to yours. You know,
I didn't have a dad growing up. My mom was
married in divorce seven times. She was a raging alcoholic.
So in my case, it wasn't a good idea to
(22:10):
listen to my mother. But there were other role models
in my life that I could look to that appointed
me in the right direction. But it's weird, despite the
fact that it was never really encouraged, you know, to
do this. I had a feeling that one day my
life was going to count and I was going to
make a difference. I didn't put that in me. There's
no reason that should have been in me. I think
(22:31):
God put it in me, and I think God put
it in you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I think God puts it in everybody. You know, everybody's
not going to be a talented athlete and everybody's not
going to be a musician. There's always a gift that
God gives to everybody. And I think he gives you
the gift that he does not reverse it, and he
keeps it there until you're ready to allow the gift
to flourish. And I think a lot of times we
(22:56):
don't know when that's going to happen. Some people never
reach that destiny because I think they get comfortable with
being who they are instead of who He is. And
that's why I see a lot of athletes who could
never get to that place of having a relationship with
Christ because they won't take the uniform all. They want
to wear it, you know, till till they die, I guess.
(23:16):
And then that's the wrong way that that's the wrong
way to see it. You know, you don't want to
wear it till you die. You want to wear it
till you can't play anymore. And you physically remove yourself
from that place. Then you say to yourself, Okay, who
am I now? What is the next chapter of my life?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So who are you now?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
This is the greatest chapter of my life. You know
the privilege that it is to work for the Lord
to know that I'm not qualified, but He qualifies you too,
and he equips you to do his work. It's incredible.
Man cannot do that, passor Greg. You know that man
can say he made you, or he can say this
(23:54):
about you, but he cannot do what God does when
he takes a life and transform it and equips it
for him, because he equips it for him so that
you can go out there and a living testimony so
others can come and have salvation just like you.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
You know, so many famous people in every field turn
the drugs. Sometimes they have drug overdose says. Sometimes they
take their own lives. What would you say to someone
right now who feels like my life doesn't matter, nobody
cares about me, The world would be better off without me.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I don't want to live any longer. What would you
say to that, Well.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I would say that's a deception from the enemy, because
that's what he's clearly here for you, the devil himself.
He's clearly here to deceive us, make us believe that
we don't matter. And that's been a lie from the beginning.
And I think a lot of people fall into that.
And the drugs, alcohol, the women, the lifestyle keeps them
separated from coming in and being turned into what God
(24:52):
created them to be. Because I knew. I think, deep
down inside of ourselves, we know that's not who we are.
But why am I doing this? Because we think, oh, well,
this is just the way life is. But in real reality,
that it's not the way it really is. It becomes
like that because of the expectations, the pressure performing. If
(25:13):
you can't perform anymore, you can't excel anymore at what
you're doing, then you're no good. You start thinking like that,
So you find yourself going into all these different areas
of life and instead of coming back to the real
root cause of who we are and the creation of
who we are. And I think it just goes back
to you know, someone picking up the Bible and allow
(25:36):
someone to disciple them. You know, But you got to
be here because says faith come by hearing, And if
I don't hear it, then I can't operate in faith.
I don't understand faith. I have to hear it before
I understand it.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Right, So, Dell, you've said that your mess was turned
into a message. You are just a picture of a
man who has been redeemed. What does the word redemption
mean to you? Define it?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Well, I think it means that you have come full circle.
You have I'm from a place of really life situations,
trials and trivilations, never giving up, never quitting, never giving in,
and to being restored to wholeness. I think you can't
get there unless you allow yourself to believe the principles,
(26:23):
because you can't get there by yourself. And I think
so many people would love to be restored, But I
could tell you this one thing, pastor Greg. If you
don't do the work, you don't get restored. And I
think that's where most of the people struggle be The
redemption part of who I am was being able to
do the work of learning who God is, learning his word,
(26:48):
understanding scriptures. See the Bible makes it clear about people
whom my people perish because of lack of knowledge. The
reason why I was perishing because I had very earthly knowledge,
but I didn't have Kingdom knowledge. And it wasn't until
I got the Kingdom knowledge and understanding. And that's when
you start understanding who you are. And you think about
all the other people in the Bible that God used.
(27:09):
They was all broken people, but they finally committed themselves
their heart. Memory said, David is a man after my
own heart. It's the heart of a man. And I
think that's what God looks to be able to bring
about redemption is you give him your heart and you
have the heart like him, and he restores you to holiness.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So this is the Daryl that God was creating. And
all those phases you went there are leading it up
to this. But this is who God has made you
to be. And I think there's someone watching right now.
They've been a mess out of their life. They've screwed
this up, They've ruined that. I think it's all over
for me. I can't fix it.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Is that true?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's not over, baby, That's the way you got to
look at it. Yeah, And as each day as you
get up, you start to make it a new day.
And like I said, you have to participate in God
changing you, you know, because what is what was Jesus
brought here for? You know, he was brought here to rescue, redeem,
(28:08):
and restore, Yes, And that's what he does. He does
it in that order. He rescues you from your sinful ways.
He redeems you with his blood, and he restores you
with his grace. And you know, it's a three parts
that you have to walk out. And when you learn
to walk it out and not be in a hurry.
I think I was in a hurry a lot of
times and I had to go through that process. And
(28:28):
when you go through that process, then the redemption part
of you come when you go through that,
Life audio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
When I had everything, everybody was there, But when I
had nothing, he was there. And see and that's because
I made a commitment. How do people get to that place?
You have to be persistent to go after God, and
you have to surrender yourself daily.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Daryl Strawberry is a genuine sports icon. Throughout his eighteen years,
he captured four World Series championships. He played with the Mets,
the Yankees, and the Dodgers. Well, you know, you were
living the dream.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's like there's the expression I've been there, done that
about the T shirt. You were the T shirt. I
mean you were and you are an iconic figure. I
know because I've been in places with you and people
recognize you. You're tall guy, of course, But it's not
that it's like everybody knows who Daryl's Strawberry is. Even
people who aren't maybe big baseball fans, they still know
(01:10):
you because you've been on was that Celebrity Apprentice And
you've been all over the place.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You've been everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Man as Johnny Cash saying, so you literally lived the dream.
So there was a young Daryl who had the dreams,
perhaps to play pro baseball. I heard that you may
have had an interest in basketball as well, that you
were offered scholarships or basketball or Baseball's all right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I had an opportunity to go to college to
play basketball Oklahoma State, but I made a decision to
play baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And why did you make that decision?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I was that young player probably had a dysfunction inside
because of the lifestyle that I grew up in at
home and everything and really broken. And I really never
got to identify myself as that young player. I just
knew that the pain of who I was led me
into my greatness, and then eventually my greatness would lead
(02:04):
me into the destructive be And the reason why I
talk about that because it's so important. Pain is real,
and I think a lot of times we push it
to the side. Being famous is hard, is not easy,
and I think people believe it's the greatest thing to
be famous. But when you reach that point, you're going
to usually stay in the house because everybody's going to
(02:26):
be looking for you. Everybody's going to be pulling at you,
and you don't You never know who's pulling at you
for the right reasons, right, So I experienced that, you know,
from a younger age, growing up in California and the
expectations of becoming this great baseball player. I had people
pulling at me when I was like seventeen, eighteen years
old at the beginning, you know, ages and everybody wanting
(02:47):
me at the time when I was young, and I
would go on to be you know, get drafted and
play Major League Baseball and then the same old things.
You know, the expectations were big, and you know, I
kind of fulfilled the expectations. But at the same time,
it was a lot to deal with because you really
don't have the identity of who you are because of
(03:08):
what everybody else wants you to be.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Right, Well, let me swow you down on that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You talked about fame Derrell, because there's like a whole
generation of young people today that their goal in life
is to be famous. I read a survey that said
the vast majority of young people they want to be
rich and they want to be famous. I think it
was Andy Warhol that said years ago, they'll come a
time when everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. So
(03:32):
you've been famous for longer than fifteen minutes. You've been
famous for years, and you've been there, You've experienced it,
you've had it. All is fame, all that it's cracked
up to be.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, be careful what you asked for. And I think
a lot of people asked about the fame and the
spotlight being on them and they don't realize the pressures
that come with it. The expectations and pressures are real.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, what are they?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think, Well, just being a good person. Learning to
be a good person, because you're going to have to
deal with so many things. Yeah, you're gonna have to
do with learning how to deal playing sports. You're gonna
learn learn how to deal with people that don't like you.
You don't have to learn how to deal with the media.
You don't have to learn how to deal with fans
booing you. Uh, there's a lot that's like to.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Be in the field, to be booed by thousands of people.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I thought it was pretty good. And the reason why
I say that is because I realized that everybody recognized
I'm in the ballpark. So that's the way I kind
of viewed it and everything. And I think so many
athletes have a tendency of taking it in a negative
way and twisting it. And you know why the fans
boring me. They don't boo you if you're not good.
(04:41):
That's one thing I could tell you. You know, playing the
sports a baseball, you know they're gonna boo you, if
they're gonna bull you. That means that you're doing something
good that people appreciate. And also at the same time,
they appreciate when you screw up too. So I had
a lot of screw up. I made a lot of
errors in the outfield, and you know, I struck I would,
you know, type bait situations based situations. But I did
(05:02):
a lot of good too in those situations. So I
kind of realize that you have to balance yourself in
life when you become famous.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And the reason why I say that is you can't hide. Yeah,
you know, and I think a lot of times a
lot of celebrities hide out and they keep this secret
about they have it all together. None of us have
it all together. I could tell you that, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And a lot of times they have an entourage around them,
a lot of people, you know, taking advantage of them.
We were talking earlier about Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson
and of course Elvis. You know, he's famous for his
entourage of people and almost like in an altered state
of reality. It's hard to just be a normal person.
On more than one occasion, I've seen someone who's had
a lot of fames say I kind of miss anonymity,
(05:47):
in other words, being able to walk down the street
by a Hamburger, you know, just be a normal person.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Did you ever feel that way?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I never felt that way because I think of growing
up in south central Los Angeles, so I didn't grow
up with fame around me, so I didn't really know
what it was all about. So I really kind of
like wanted to stay and be the same person when
I got there. I mean, my athletic skills actually took
me to a whole different level, and I never looked
at the fact that I needed a bunch of people
(06:15):
around me for what They wasn't there when I was
working out. I think a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You're pretty levelheaded then when you were younger.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, well, because I realized that they wasn't there when
I was doing the hard training and when I was
trying to get to where I need to get. I mean,
of course I have a lot of good friends and everything,
but my dear friends were the guys I was playing
baseball with I grew up with, you know, Eric Davis,
Chris Brown, you know, guys who were like brotherhood, you know,
grew up playing ball together. So we knew each other.
We we knew that we had each other back. So
(06:44):
there's a lot of people that come along and say
they have your back, but they're really there for the ride.
Because I could tell you one thing that's it's a
great ride when you're in the midst of it because
everything is handed to you. I mean, you're millionaires and
you don't have to pay for nothing. I didn't realize that,
you know, playing in New York, that I could walk
in the store and that I was so talented, so
(07:05):
good that they would give me free jackets and free
clothes and suits and stuff like that. And I would
go have dinner and everybody would pay for my dinner.
And I was like, Wow, this is a pretty cool life.
But at the same time, I knew it was a
crazy life.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
You mentioned growing up in South central Los Angeles. It
was ever a point as a young man when you
said one day I'm going to be a pro baseball
player or a pro basketball player, or did you have
dreams that big I did.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I knew that when I was fourteen years old. Yeah,
I had already put it in my heart. Yeah, you
know that I wasn't going to play baseball, you know,
because I used to watch the Dodgers in the Cincinnati
Reds on television and I saw this one player play
for the Cincinnati Reds and his name was Pete Rose.
And I saw him. I saw his uniform and it
was always dirty, and I said, that's what a baseball
(07:51):
player looks like. I said, that's what I want to
do one day. I want to be a baseball player,
and I want to make sure that my uniform is dirty.
Pete Rose wasn't the most talented player on the team,
but he hustled. I would hustle everybody else on the team,
and that's what which is really all about. Can you
out hustle the next player. And I was just thrilled
to be able to see that when I saw Pete Rose,
(08:12):
and I realized that I wanted to do that. So
when I was fourteen years old, I just put it
in my heart and I told my sister one day,
I said I'm going to the pros. She thought I
was like kind of crazy. You know. It's like yeah, right,
you're gonna be playing baseball like those guys on TV.
I said, yes, I will one day be playing baseball
just like those guys.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Did your parents encourage you in this?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
My mother did. My mother raised me right. I didn't
have a father. You know, my father rejected me, and
you know, I was a broken relationship. He left her
family for dead and he was gone. And my mother
raises right, and she raises under good principles. But I
made a decision. I made a decision to live a
heathen lifestyle. She didn't raise me that way. I'm paying
(08:54):
And when she passed away, I was so heartbroken because
I knew this woman raised me right, and why did
I go on and live this life? And I just
always thought it broke her heart. And she wasn't concerned
about my major league career.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
My mother was a believer, was she was a believer.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
She was sold off.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And I think people in heaven may know more than
we think they know on right now. And I think
that your mom is fully aware of your commitment you've
made to Christ and what you're doing for the Kingdom
of God. Because the Bible says every time a sinner
comes to repentance. There's rejoicing in the presence of the angels.
We usually did go it's the angels that are rejoicing. No,
(09:30):
maybe it's actually believers in heaven rejoicing with a full
knowledge of what's going on earth. So I think your
mom may be very aware of what you're doing for
God's kingdom.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I think so too. I mean, I think she always
knew that that would happen, because that was her prayer.
You know, when my sister found a journal under her bed,
she was praying to God save my kids. But she didn't.
She was concerned about Darrell Strawberry baseball players. She was
concerned about my salvation and not God knocking me off
of my throne and my ego and my pride of
(10:00):
being all this. And I thought I was all that
in the bag of chips. Yeah, and Mom was. You know,
they don't think that way. They think of you as
I raise you, and I raise you right. Treat people right.
That's the thing that she gave to us is treat
people the way you want to be treated, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So, Darryl, when people reach this pinnacle that you've been
to and they have wealth, they have fame, they have
it all, and then they're so empty. Why is that?
I think people who have not experienced that fame have
a hard time understanding it.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Tell us why, well, I think the most important thing
is you go along and you accumulate all these things
that you think will make you well, and they're just things.
At the end of the day. You buy a beautiful home,
you live behind community gates, drive the nice car, you
have plenty of money to buy whatever kind of clothes
you need and whatever kind of stuff you need. But
(10:53):
what it does is only satisfied the outside of what
you look like. And I think we don't realize that
the creation for us on the inside was created for
God himself to fill that empty void on the inside
of every last one of us. That's why you see
so many celebrities struggle so much with life, because you know,
we achieve all these earthly things. But at the end
(11:14):
of the day, when I take that uniform all and
I go home, who am I? That's the question I
think a lot of us asked ourselves. Yes, I've achieved
so much fame and fortune, but at the end of
the day, who am I really? And then I think
a lot of times I useduld think that what's the
purpose of my life? You know, because I'm very talented
(11:36):
to play sports, But that's not the purpose of my life.
Because I think we don't realize at the time when
we're playing and we're accumulating all this stuff, that's the
great that one day all this is going to come
to an end. And if you don't identify yourself as
the real person, then you're still lost. You still consume
(11:56):
with all this other stuff, and you stay in this
particular place where you want to be well? But how
do I give well? And I think so many of
us miss that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So what is the purpose of a person's life? Why
are we hearing this earth? Why don't we exist well?
I believe that God had created us all for good.
I don't think none of us was supposed to come
here and be bad. I think the door was open,
you know, from the beginning of the Book of Genesis.
I think, and I believe that sets the door for
all of us to fall short. But I think at
(12:25):
the same time he created us to come back to him.
And when we do really truly come back to him
and we surrender ourselves to him, then there's a great
purpose of him using every person every platform because I'm
not gonna be able to reach everybody. You're not gonna
be able to reach everybody, but somebody else will be
able to reach another person if we stand in the
(12:48):
right principles. And I think that's what it was always
created for. And I think we just end up falling short.
And when you end up falling short in that lifestyle,
you get kind of embedded in it and it's really
hard to get.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Out because it gets ugly. Like my lifestyle, it got
real ugly. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I know you've had issues the drugs and you were
arrested and what happened.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I mean, I just had all kind of behaviors. I
turned out to be just like my father. I became
very abusive to my first wife and second wife. I
never abused my kids because I love my kids because
I was abused, but I became an alcoholic. I mean
I became a drug addict. You know, the drugs consume me.
I ended up taking in feto me. He's playing baseball
every day. To be wired out there playing baseball. It's
(13:30):
just so many things that we try to feel that's
on the inside, that's empty with all other type of
things to make us well, and it never makes us well.
It seems like I'm doing well for a period of time,
then all of a sudden, I really still can't get
out of this dark hole, because there is a real
dark hole and a dark tunnel that people go through
and up. You end up becoming that something that you
(13:54):
had said to yourself that I would never become. I
said I would never become like my dad, and guess
what I became Just likely No.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I interviewed Alice Cooper, and his wife basically said to him,
I'm done with you.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
He was, you know, strung out of drugs. He had
a uh he.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Had cocaine the size of a softball, and he was
starting it and he looked in the mirror and he
saw what he thought was blood coming out of his eyes.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
He says, now, I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Know if it was a hallucination from his reel, but
he was messed up and that was his wake up call.
So God used his wife to wake him up. And
God used your wife, was she your wife at the time, Tracy,
to kind of get your attention as well?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, she wasn't my wife at that time, but I
knew she was like putting my life for a reason,
because she was pulling me out of dope houses and
I was shooting dope and smoking crack, and soft thoughterer
she was banging on doors, She's pulling me out, saying,
God's got a plan for you. I says, well, I
want you and that guy just leave me here and
let me die. She goes, You're just not that lucky,
And I thought to myself, Oh, she's crazier than I
(14:56):
am to be able to do that. And then God
would eventually use her to bring me back full circle
into church and be restored. And the reason why I
say use her there was nothing that she really did,
but she was done with me. But her life was
a complete example of living for Christ. She was studying
(15:17):
the Bible every day. She wakes up every morning at
five thirty to go be with God. She rolls out
of that bed, and I mean she did that for
like nineteen years, twenty years that we've been together and
stuff like that, and she never missed a beat, you know.
And boy, I was watching her and I was amazed.
I was like, well, why she knows so much about God?
(15:38):
And God spoke to me one day and says, because
she spends time with me a man. I was just
I went into tears and just cried, and God says,
when are you gonna spend time with me? And that's
when I really realized that I needed to go spend
time and get into a relationship because she was in
a relationship with God, you know. And I was impressed
with the fact that it wasn't about me. It wasn't
(15:59):
about I didn't have nothing anyway when we met. You know,
people need to know that I was three million dollars
in debt. I didn't even have a driver's life. So
what does she want with me? You know? She says
she saw something in me, She saw the good in
me that I probably didn't see in me. And God
would use her eventually and it would bring me full
circle and I would go on to get back in
church and get disciple with her and get my life
(16:19):
transform and change forever.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
So someone was listening to you right now, and they're
trying to fill a hole in their heart with things.
Maybe get a few more followers on social media, maybe
get this object, maybe get this job, maybe have whatever
it is they think is going to fix it. And
you're saying it's all about a relationship with God. Tell
a person watching right now how they can come into
(16:42):
that relationship with God through Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, And I just want to say this first. I
think so many people are impressed with your success, but
they can be impacted by your failures. And I think
my failures was a prime example of because they were
impressed with my success, but my failures would go on
to impact people life because of coming into a real
relationship with Christ. And I'm talking about real surrender yourself
(17:07):
and denying yourself and picking up your cross and carrying
your cross daily, and which is gonna be hard.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
What does that mean? Your cross? What does that that means?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
That means you have to change from all these worldly things.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You have to take a worldly thing to find us?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What worldly thing that drives you? If I'm if I'm
impressed with the car, you know, I need to not
be impressed with the car anymore. If I'm impressed with
the house, I need not to be impressed with the house.
If I'm impressed with my bank account, then I need
not to be impressed with that. Just there, But it
does not drive me. What drives me is having communion
(17:41):
with God, you know, and being in a relationship talking
to God. Waking up my mornings is like such an urgency.
Every time I wake up, I get up and I
put on worship music because I love God so much
and I just want to I just want to tell
them thank you, you know, because of the fact that
when I had everything, everybody was there, but when I
had nothing, he was there and see, and that's because
(18:04):
I made a me me. And how do people get
to that place? You have to be persistent to go
after God, and you have to surrender yourself daily. People
don't surrender themselves daily. They just wake up and think, oh,
it's another day. It's good. Life is good. But I
learned to surrender myself daily because what I start preparing
(18:26):
for the storms of life. Because the storms of life
are real. Either you're in a storm or storms on
the way, or you coming out of a storm. So
I'm prepared either way. If I'm in a storm, I'm prepared.
If I'm coming out of the storm, I'm prepared. If
a storm's on the way, I'm always prepared because I
worship God and I thank God as Lord and Savior.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Now you're a raising Central Los Angeles right if an
older Daryl Strawberry could speak to a younger Daryl, what
would you say to yourself?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Wow, that's a good question, you know, to say, sit
here and know you know the kind of wisdom and
knowledge I have at this point. What would I tell
a younger me is to listen to your mother.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Huh, good advice.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I mean it's plain and simple because when you live
in a household and you come from a broken home,
you only have one parent and mom is usually the
one there. So if you don't listen, you're gonna e
basically be a fly off the wall. You know. It's
just like trying to catch that fly and you're taking
(19:25):
that swater and hitting that and you can't catch it,
you know. And that's the same thing it was for me.
You couldn't catch me because I wasn't listening. And the
way I see life today and what I realized the
importance of what she was telling me, you know, came
the pass of who I am today because had I
listened back then, I could have saved myself for a
lot of headaches. See that, younger person, don't think you're
(19:47):
gonna go through some things. And I always tell young
people you can pick your sins, but you cannot pick
your consequences. There's a real reality behind the consequences that's
gonna come. They're gonna catch up with you. You can
pick your sins all day, do what you want all day.
Say this is the way life is. The consequences are
real when they come.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Dren, What do you think motivates people to want to
be famous? I don't think it's just to see your
name in lights or on a baseball card, in your
case or whatever it might be here you're sung on
the radio, or to have a World Series ring like
you have three of.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
What is it that drives us?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Is this a desire to be seen, to be noticed,
to be affirmed, to be appreciated.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What do you think? I think the desire is that
you see it, and you look at it and it
looks great. You know, it looks great from a standpoint.
You know. When I was a kid and watching Major
League Baseball and television, it's like, wow, you know, that
looks exciting, you know, And then I watch teams win
and watch teams lose and see the guys on the
other side crying, and I was like, I never want
to be on that losing end, because that's a hard feeling,
(20:52):
and I think the desire comes from different backgrounds. I
think some people come from broken backgrounds and they strive
to be better coming out of those situations. I think
for me, I was striving to be better. You know.
I wanted to be better than my father. I wanted
to prove that he was wrong about me, that he
(21:14):
was wrong about my family, because we knew that we
had the sweetest mother and it was just heartbreaking to
see the abuse that she had to go through because
he was an alcoholic and he was raising alcoholic. And
I was like, man, I just I want to take
care of my mother. I don't ever want her to
feel like that, you know. You know I used to
(21:34):
cry at night and I used to lay my head
in the pillow and I said, I'm going to play
Major League baseball, I'm gonna get rich, and I'm going
to take care of my mother. And that's the only
thing I wanted to do. I wasn't concerned about taking
care of myself or anything. I just wanted to take
care of her because she took care of us.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know, the Bible says God has said eternity in
our hearts, and I think from the earliest moments of
our life. We're looking, we're searching, we're hopefully for something
more in life. So my life contrast to yours. You know,
I didn't have a dad growing up. My mom was
married in divorce seven times. She was a raging alcoholic.
So in my case, it wasn't a good idea to
(22:10):
listen to my mother. But there were other role models
in my life that I could look to that appointed
me in the right direction. But it's weird, despite the
fact that it was never really encouraged, you know, to
do this. I had a feeling that one day my
life was going to count and I was going to
make a difference. I didn't put that in me. There's
no reason that should have been in me. I think
(22:31):
God put it in me, and I think God put
it in you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I think God puts it in everybody. You know, everybody's
not going to be a talented athlete and everybody's not
going to be a musician. There's always a gift that
God gives to everybody. And I think he gives you
the gift that he does not reverse it, and he
keeps it there until you're ready to allow the gift
to flourish. And I think a lot of times we
(22:56):
don't know when that's going to happen. Some people never
reach that destiny because I think they get comfortable with
being who they are instead of who He is. And
that's why I see a lot of athletes who could
never get to that place of having a relationship with
Christ because they won't take the uniform all. They want
to wear it, you know, till till they die, I guess.
(23:16):
And then that's the wrong way that that's the wrong
way to see it. You know, you don't want to
wear it till you die. You want to wear it
till you can't play anymore. And you physically remove yourself
from that place. Then you say to yourself, Okay, who
am I now? What is the next chapter of my life?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So who are you now?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
This is the greatest chapter of my life. You know
the privilege that it is to work for the Lord
to know that I'm not qualified, but He qualifies you too,
and he equips you to do his work. It's incredible.
Man cannot do that, passor Greg. You know that man
can say he made you, or he can say this
(23:54):
about you, but he cannot do what God does when
he takes a life and transform it and equips it
for him, because he equips it for him so that
you can go out there and a living testimony so
others can come and have salvation just like you.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
You know, so many famous people in every field turn
the drugs. Sometimes they have drug overdose says. Sometimes they
take their own lives. What would you say to someone
right now who feels like my life doesn't matter, nobody
cares about me, The world would be better off without me.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I don't want to live any longer. What would you
say to that, Well.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I would say that's a deception from the enemy, because
that's what he's clearly here for you, the devil himself.
He's clearly here to deceive us, make us believe that
we don't matter. And that's been a lie from the beginning.
And I think a lot of people fall into that.
And the drugs, alcohol, the women, the lifestyle keeps them
separated from coming in and being turned into what God
(24:52):
created them to be. Because I knew. I think, deep
down inside of ourselves, we know that's not who we are.
But why am I doing this? Because we think, oh, well,
this is just the way life is. But in real reality,
that it's not the way it really is. It becomes
like that because of the expectations, the pressure performing. If
(25:13):
you can't perform anymore, you can't excel anymore at what
you're doing, then you're no good. You start thinking like that,
So you find yourself going into all these different areas
of life and instead of coming back to the real
root cause of who we are and the creation of
who we are. And I think it just goes back
to you know, someone picking up the Bible and allow
(25:36):
someone to disciple them. You know, But you got to
be here because says faith come by hearing, And if
I don't hear it, then I can't operate in faith.
I don't understand faith. I have to hear it before
I understand it.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Right, So, Dell, you've said that your mess was turned
into a message. You are just a picture of a
man who has been redeemed. What does the word redemption
mean to you? Define it?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Well, I think it means that you have come full circle.
You have I'm from a place of really life situations,
trials and trivilations, never giving up, never quitting, never giving in,
and to being restored to wholeness. I think you can't
get there unless you allow yourself to believe the principles,
(26:23):
because you can't get there by yourself. And I think
so many people would love to be restored, But I
could tell you this one thing, pastor Greg. If you
don't do the work, you don't get restored. And I
think that's where most of the people struggle be The
redemption part of who I am was being able to
do the work of learning who God is, learning his word,
(26:48):
understanding scriptures. See the Bible makes it clear about people
whom my people perish because of lack of knowledge. The
reason why I was perishing because I had very earthly knowledge,
but I didn't have Kingdom knowledge. And it wasn't until
I got the Kingdom knowledge and understanding. And that's when
you start understanding who you are. And you think about
all the other people in the Bible that God used.
(27:09):
They was all broken people, but they finally committed themselves
their heart. Memory said, David is a man after my
own heart. It's the heart of a man. And I
think that's what God looks to be able to bring
about redemption is you give him your heart and you
have the heart like him, and he restores you to holiness.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So this is the Daryl that God was creating. And
all those phases you went there are leading it up
to this. But this is who God has made you
to be. And I think there's someone watching right now.
They've been a mess out of their life. They've screwed
this up, They've ruined that. I think it's all over
for me. I can't fix it.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Is that true?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's not over, baby, That's the way you got to
look at it. Yeah, And as each day as you
get up, you start to make it a new day.
And like I said, you have to participate in God
changing you, you know, because what is what was Jesus
brought here for? You know, he was brought here to rescue, redeem,
(28:08):
and restore, Yes, And that's what he does. He does
it in that order. He rescues you from your sinful ways.
He redeems you with his blood, and he restores you
with his grace. And you know, it's a three parts
that you have to walk out. And when you learn
to walk it out and not be in a hurry.
I think I was in a hurry a lot of
times and I had to go through that process. And
(28:28):
when you go through that process, then the redemption part
of you come when you go through that,
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