October 1, 2025 • 46 mins
This week, we’re opening up the Rev Rx vault to bring back one of our most impactful conversations—an interview with Ben Zobrist, former MLB player and two-time World Series champion.
Ben’s story goes far beyond baseball. In this replay, he shares:
His journey from small-town beginnings to the World Series stage
What it takes to stay grounded in faith when the spotlight is bright
How he’s navigated family, identity, and purpose after baseball
Lessons from failure, perseverance, and trusting God in every season
Whether you’re a baseball fan or just a man looking to live with greater intentionality, this episode is packed with wisdom you don’t want to miss.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Starting to like, doubt even my faith and what, what is my faith
really even about? And, and I went from struggling
circumstantially and then getting sent down in AAA to
struggling with my faith and wondering if God was even there.
Yeah, I, I, I think until you hit those moments, you don't
really know exactly what you believe.
You know, when you hit a moment like that is when the rubber
(00:20):
meets the road and it's between you and God.
And thankfully, Jesus just like scooped me up.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Rev RX Podcast
where we discuss how to thrive in faith, family, and health.
(00:43):
My name is Chad Potts and I'm your host.
I'm so excited today to release this interview that I had with
Ben Zobrist. You may recognize that name.
Ben had a 14 year career in Major League Baseball.
Not just any career though, he had a fantastic career.
He's actually on the Hall of Fame ballot this year for the
very first time. And so I hope and I'm cheering
(01:04):
for Ben to be elected to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame for
Major League Baseball. You'll also note that he was a
three time All Star, A2 time World Series champ and was named
the World Series MVP in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs.
But here's one of the things that I really love about Ben.
He's an outspoken Christian. He's willing to share with
anybody that'll listen the difference that Jesus has made
(01:27):
in his life both on and off the field.
So without further ado, I introduce to you Ben Zobrist.
You're going to want to watch this one all the way to end.
Ben takes us from childhood up until today and the great things
that the Lord's doing in his life.
So enjoy. And if you like this podcast, if
you'll hit, follow or subscribe,you'll be sure to never miss an
episode in the future. Here's Ben.
(01:53):
Ben Zobrist, man, what a privilege it is to have you here
on the Rev RX Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Yeah, Chad, thanks for having me, man.
Looking forward to the combo. Yeah, sure.
I mentioned to you, I followed your career, what 1415 years,
right? Had a long productive career.
But one of the things that I wanted to highlight today I
noticed is that you're on the Hall of Fame ballot for the
first time this year. Well, that's kind of crazy to
(02:15):
me. I mean, I, I, I know Hall of
Fame numbers and I don't think Inecessarily have them, but you
know, I think, I think maybe theriders are being nice to me or
whoever puts people on the ballot.
You know, I, I, I'm not going todownplay my career.
I mean, I think I I had a great career and I feel like like I
was really blessed in a lot of ways because I was on a lot of
(02:35):
good teams. But at the same time, yeah, I
mean, it's a huge, incredible honor to even be thought of in
in the same sentence as some of those guys.
And I can't. I'm just, I was kind of blown
away when I found that out. I was excited too when I saw
that you're always fun to watch because you you would always
approach things the right way and and I don't always get to
(02:56):
talk to some of my baseball heroes out there.
So I just want to take a minute to say man, thanks in the world
that is lacking for male positive influences.
So we can point our boys to people and say, hey, look at how
they approach every day. Thanks for being that guy.
You've always been fun to root for.
Well, I appreciate you saying that it's super kind and it's
hard to accept the same time, you know, because what I know
(03:20):
is, is what was going on in my heart at times.
You know, I think, I do think that, you know, I think the Lord
gifted me with some, some self-control during a lot of
those moments. And I, I, I learned early on
kind of how to, to quell some ofthe emotions that come with it
and kind of can get the best of you at times when you're in the
heat of competition. But I think I also have to thank
(03:43):
a lot of people in my life that that supported me and kind of
taught me to play that way. You know, that you played, you
did things the right way. I mean, we kind of have this
idea of the right way to play a game is a specific way that we
learn. And, you know, I mean, I think
there's some unwritten rules. There's a lot of unwritten rules
in baseball. And I tried to do the best I
(04:03):
could to abide by I am, but it doesn't mean that I was always
doing that well, You know, I, I,I did the best I could for sure.
And, you know, I need to humbly accept the times that I feel
like I, you know, I did well at that, but then also accept the
times that I probably really stunk at it, you know, So, I
mean, I, I'd love to talk about any and all of that if we get a
chance to here, because, you know, it's, it's sometimes it's
(04:25):
hard for people to see the humanside of the, the heroic journey
for, for those of us that got todeliver it.
And that's what I hope I get a chance to share with people.
Yeah, yeah. And that's absolutely the case.
You know, I wanted to start there because you live a very
public life when you're a professional ballplayer.
You'd mentioned you were your preacher's kid, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
(04:45):
You've mentioned there's some people along the way that that
helped you. What was that like growing up as
a preacher's kid? You were playing ball.
And you know, I'm not even sure you you were gonna think about
next level, right? Yeah, and wife didn't.
I mean, Jesus was so good to me at such a young age, just
guiding me through my, my parents, through my upbringing.
(05:06):
I grew up in a small town in Illinois.
And, you know, there's a lot of good people there, a lot of
people that are following Jesus.And then, you know, it's also a
place where you don't get exposed to a lot.
And so life was a little simplerback then.
It was in the 80s and 90s too, you know, which also was a
little bit of a simpler time than when we turned the century.
(05:28):
And, you know, for me, it was assimple as, you know, Jesus did
this amazing work for you, Ben, you know, regardless of whether
you think you're, you know, you deserve it or not, like he did
it, you know, and the focus was always, my dad was a preacher
and the focus always at the end of the messages was about what
Jesus did on the cross for us and the fact that we need it,
(05:49):
you know, like, like we're in need as as human beings and, and
we cannot reach ourselves to God.
We need his help so much. And the Lord has been so good
and kind to me in in kind of planting that seed in my life
and such at such a young age andthen continuing to watch it come
to fruition. You know, my parents bearing the
fruit of what the scripture asked them to do.
(06:10):
And then me and my siblings trying to follow that and seeing
us fumble through it at times, but also try to live it out at
times. And, and God's just been so good
to our family and so good to my parents and the church that
they're involved in there in Illinois.
And, you know, I still go back there every holiday, every, you
know, every time I get a chance,I go back and see my family and
(06:34):
reconnect with, with people backhome.
And you know, that whole area, the area of Central Illinois has
supported me like none other over the course of my career and
the UPS and the downs that I've had.
And I just could, you know, I, Ireally couldn't have asked for a
more idealistic childhood in a lot of ways.
It was idealistic in other ways.I still had a lot of growing up
(06:58):
to do in my late teens and 20s. And I thought when I graduated
high school that I was, I never,I never thought I would ever
play sports ever again. I thought I was done with sports
completely. I had no college scholarship
offers. And it was, it was really a
crazy way that God just opened doors for me so.
(07:18):
We never know what God has planned for us.
We, we don't, we don't. And that's where that's really
where Olivet came into play. You know, we chatted for a
second about Olivet Nazarene and, you know, colleges and
coaches and universities that offer scholarships.
Athletes, when you when you growup as an athlete and you love
what you do and then these doorsstart opening for you.
(07:41):
Sometimes you really don't know which ones to walk through
because some kids have so many options from a very young age.
And right now it's so much more difficult for the younger
people, the teenagers, the parents that are parenting them
and the coaches that are coaching them to try to sift
through all the things that are online, all the options and
opportunities and where they fit.
(08:02):
You know, there's so many comparisons and stuff.
And so we can talk about that ina little bit, but that's that's
really where my heart for the younger athletes has come into
play. How do you help them navigate
the things? I didn't have to navigate a
whole lot because I didn't have a lot of doors open.
I didn't have many opportunities.
There was one door that opened, you know, after high school.
And it just was really clear that that's the direction God
(08:24):
wanted me to go. And thank goodness, my parents
were like, hey, you need to listen to God's will.
You know, if this is God's will,that's what you need to do.
You need to follow that. And I mean, it could have been
really confusing had I been wanting to go to some sort of
State University and have a different college experience.
But my parents really wanted wanted me to have an experience
(08:45):
in the word of God. Like they were like, we would
love for you to go to a Christian School.
And you know, Olivet was a Christian School.
I was going to go to another Christian School before Olivet
came calling. So for those of you who are
young people that might listen to this or parents of young
people, I'd never think it's a bad idea to encourage your kid
(09:07):
to do more in the word of God. That's right.
You know, like you may have built a lot of great things into
them early on in their life, butman, there's no substitute for
God's word and eating that and, and learning to digest it on a
regular basis. And, and I watched my dad from a
very young age, like read through the Bible in a year, you
know, like he still does it. He's doing it this year again,
(09:27):
like he every year he reads through the entire scripture,
even though he preaches through it, even though that's his job.
Like every morning he gets up, reads through his thing.
And so I'm like, like that kind of spiritual heritage and the
belief that God's word is impactful and should change us
and we need to be regularly digesting.
It was something that was such an important part of my
(09:49):
upbringing that I, once I got into college and I was away from
my parents or got into professional sports and I was
away from even Christianity as awhole.
Those things stuck with me. Like I, I, I didn't want to
leave that. And when I felt like leaving
that, I knew it was not, it was not the, the path that Jesus had
(10:09):
for me, you know, so it's hard to look back at.
I mean, that's like a spiritual side of the journey.
But I even athletically, if I look back at the athletic side,
my junior high coach, my favorite coach ever, I say, I
say his name all the time. Coach Curtis was this guy that,
that kept a simple, a simple approach to the game, but we,
(10:30):
we, we learned how to be consistent and he kept it
simple, but consistent and he kept it fun.
And I, and he was like my coach for all three sports, like a
baseball, basketball and track or whatever I was doing at the
time. And you, when you have people
like that in your hometown that are there for 30 years, doing
that for every kid that comes through, you know, those are
(10:52):
the, those are the real mentors.Those are the real like role
models. You know, I mean, a lot of
people say, oh, I'm so glad you're and, and we are when when
you're a professional athlete, you realize you have a platform
and you have to try to live it out on that platform.
And at the same time, like I want the mentors in people's
lives to be the people that theyare regularly interacting with
(11:14):
and seeing that person on a regular basis.
And I saw Coach Curtis and I sawmy coach Gold, who who was my
baseball coach in high school, who was the Christian FCA
sponsor, you know, and I saw my youth group leaders and I saw my
dad and I saw my friends dads and these people that were
pursuing God. And I was like, that's the path.
Yeah, right. That was the path to try to
(11:35):
take. I just had a little bit more of
a unique occupation to pursue. That was something that nobody
in my hometown had ever been involved in before, right?
Right. And what I'm hearing you say is
super important for our listeners to understand, you
know, you don't have to be supersuccessful in the world's eyes
in order to make an impact on this earth, in order to make an
(11:58):
impact in young men and women ona daily basis.
And, and, and Ben, I appreciate you sharing that story because
you know, it's easy for us to look at those we put on
pedestals. That's right.
But it's those people that see us day in, day out that shape
us, don't they? That's.
Exactly right. Yeah, I, I think you, we, we
can't underestimate the power of1 adult that is securely
(12:21):
attached around us that that hasa relationship with Jesus that
shows us the way. Like you can't underestimate
that. There's like look at everybody
that you might look up to. And I guarantee you they had
somebody that in the quiet of their own work ethic or in the
quiet of their own routine, you could watch them that that
(12:41):
person that ended up achieving something great in the world's
eyes was watching that person that did something small in the
world's eyes. But that's what made the impact
for them. Right.
And that. Could be as simple as a parent
just trying to parent. It could be as simple as a
teacher trying to teach or a pastor trying to trying to
preach, but or a janitor trying to clean.
(13:02):
You know, it's, it doesn't really matter how big the the
role is in the world's eyes. It matters.
Are we living out our God's planfor us in an authentic way and
in a way that like we're connecting with Jesus on a
regular basis. And I saw that with people, so
that it made me want that, you know, as I got older, that's so.
(13:23):
Good. And so fast forwarding, you've
got this foundation and that's super, super important because
building that foundation, you know, as a parent now, building
that foundation for my kids is what I'm after.
I want to be able to instill in them and to be able to walk it
out authentically in front of them, which I think is important
too, in order to, you know, whenthey do go their separate ways,
(13:43):
you know, because we can't hoverover them forever that they had
that foundation to draw from, right?
So fast forwarding in your life.So now, you know, you've you've
been drafted, you've made it big, you're in a big leagues,
You know, what were some of those moments you mentioned
earlier kind of hinted at a couple.
What were some of those moments?What were some of those seasons
(14:04):
where really your faith may havebeen tested and you relied back
on that foundation to help you through?
Yeah. Well, I had a few moments during
my career that were really superchallenging in regard to mental
health, I would say. And one of them happened in
2000, right at during the 2007 season.
(14:26):
And you know, there was, there was up to that point,
athletically, whatever level I was playing at, I was achieving
at, I was achieving what I was setting out to achieve it at
some level. I wasn't like the best, you
know, but I, I kind of outplayedeven when I thought I was
capable of doing because I I waslike from a small town and I'm
(14:46):
like playing against these guys that went to the best D ones
when I got into pro ball and I'mlike, well, they're, they're not
that good. Like I thought there was going
to be that much better than me. And baseball has this parody
across different levels of, of college that football doesn't
have. You know, you can have some
really good players at the NAI level, which is what I played,
(15:08):
you know, and compare that to the Division One level.
It's it, there's, there's some really good players at every
level. And so I, when I got into
professional baseball there, thesea of good players was just
greater, you know, and I still was excelling through the minor
leagues. You know, I was finding a way to
exceed, you know, kind of put numbers up.
(15:29):
And I was kind of growing in thefirst couple years of my career.
I got it drafted in 2004. And by the time I reached 2000,
I I was called up to the major leagues and I really didn't
expect to be got with the Devil Rays at the time.
And they, I mean, they, you know, they traded a couple of
veteran players and I was a guy that they were like, let's bring
(15:49):
him up and see what he can do, right.
So I wasn't ready for that. I don't think I was facing guys
like Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera and AL East and and just
like, like eyes wide open. Like I can't believe I'm Derek
Jeter's right there, you know, playing against him, you know,
and and there's these these people that are first ballot
Hall of farmers that I'm just like, whoa, I can't believe I
(16:10):
was just playing in college a couple years ago, right.
Yeah, just. In all, I'm sure.
Yeah, you're. Kind of in awe and like, wait,
can I even play at this level? Well, you know, you fumble
through that when you're not like a star getting to the major
leagues. You're just kind of a a regular
player. I was like overwhelmed.
The pitching in the major leagues is so much better than
it is in the minor leagues. I mean, and and I just say in
(16:32):
regard to not only the stuff, but I think the location a lot
of times. And now, you know, they're
bringing younger guys up a little faster.
But at the time, to get called up at the age of 25 was like,
OK, well, I'm I was a little bitold for a draftee and I got
zoomed to the big leagues. There was some young guys that
spent five or six years in the in the minor leagues before they
(16:54):
got called up, right? You get called up really quickly
playing against these veteran guys.
I failed. I mean, the best way to say it
is I failed. I, I did not play well.
I didn't hit well. I didn't do what I was capable
of doing. And I started spinning.
It was the first time I got toldyou're not good enough, you
know, on an athletic level. They sent me down to AAA.
(17:17):
They said work on some things and my head was just not in a
good place. I, I was starting to doubt
everything about like, should I even be here?
Why am I even doing this thing? You know, it's common, I think
for anybody when you feel like you have a dream and a vision
and God's been so clear about what this vision is going to be,
you're going to be a Major League player.
And that's just your, the plan. And then it starts not coming to
(17:42):
fruition and you're like, you hit some setbacks and I'm asking
God why. You know, everybody asks God why
when things aren't happening theway that you expect them to
happen. Not everybody, but I mean, I was
at the time and I, I think it really did kind of a number on
me emotionally and mentally and spiritually.
And I was trying to, you know, starting to like doubt even my
(18:04):
faith and what, what is my faithreally even about?
And, and I went from struggling circumstantially and then
getting sent down in AAA to struggling with my faith and
wondering if God was even there.Yeah.
And I, I, I think until you hit those moments, you don't really
know exactly what you believe. You know, when you hit a moment
(18:27):
like that is when the rubber meets the road and it's between
you and God. And thankfully, Jesus just like,
scooped me up. It was a couple months of that
and kind of wallowing in that. And then I got injured, which
was a grace for me at the time. I, I, I hadn't been sleeping
very well and I got injured and,and it ended my season early and
(18:47):
I was in AAA and kind of bouncing back and up and down
between AAA and the big leagues that year.
And I still didn't know what my future was.
But it was like God saying, hey,just take a break.
Just take a break. Like you need to just be with
me. Yeah.
And I remember going back home that offseason and, you know,
getting in the word and, and searching through Proverbs, the
(19:09):
Psalms and the Proverbs and, anddigging through that and going,
you know, writing down, taking furious notes about like what
God says about this person and that person and who I want to
be. I want to be the man, that
wisdom and not the, the fool, the foolish man.
And, and I'm writing all these things down.
And to a certain degree, I started to heal and get better.
And I was, I was able to kind ofemotionally and mentally get
(19:31):
back where where I wanted to be.But the problem was while God
was kind of rescuing me from that, I in some way started to
think that maybe because I did these things, because I was
digging in the scripture, that somehow maybe that that was the
key. Like it's spiritually pulling
yourselves up by your bootstraps.
(19:51):
Gotcha. Yeah, and I.
Didn't really do the work the hard work of like understanding
where all of my depression came from.
And I was still kind of under the idea that like mental health
challenges are all spiritual andinstead of being somewhat
emotional and mental, you know, that you might need to work
through. And so, you know, Fast forward
(20:11):
about 9 more years and I, I get back to the big leagues.
Obviously during that time, I become an All Star.
I, I become an established majorleaguer.
I play in some World Series, youknow.
Then I, I get traded to Kansas City, KS.
City's the perfect team is is isabout to win the World Series in
15. I end up helping them win the
World Series in 15, become a free agent time with the Chicago
(20:34):
Cubs who haven't won in 108 years.
And in the first year I get a chance to help the Chicago Cubs
win this epic World Series in a Game 7.
And somehow God wants me to be the World Series MVP at the end.
You know, I couldn't have written that script, nor would I
even have tried to write that script.
(20:55):
I mean, I'm just a role player, You know, I'm a good Major
League player, but I'm not like the star.
We have plenty of stars on the team.
And I'm good with just being oneof the good players, the good,
good guys. And I was hoping that just to
win another World Series with them and be a part of that.
Well, then I get thrust into thelimelight like never before,
like Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien and Disney World on a
(21:17):
private jet and and the 7 million people at the parade in
Chicago, and I got asked to do Saturday Night Live.
I'm really glad I didn't do thatone.
I saw the skits that they did. Yeah.
Now, now, Ben Zobrist is a household name.
You think about this and, and a lot of people would have loved
to take that platform and just make the most of it, you know,
(21:40):
grab every bit of opportunity that they could in that moment.
And within a week or two weeks of kind of riding that wave, I
was done. I was so exhausted from all the
social buzz and my, my agent telling me there's 5000 requests
in my inbox of things that I needed to answer back.
(22:01):
And ultimately it just poured this emotional and mental like
like wave over me that I was like drowning in and I didn't
really know what to do with all the emotion and all the social
stuff that came along with winning.
I mean, despite the fact that, like, I mean, of course, adding
in the fact that we, we just spent ourselves physically that
(22:24):
entire season to try to win thatWorld Series.
I mean, it takes a lot from an athlete to get through a season.
Pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing all the way to the end.
And you you finally win and it'slike it's just rush.
You really need a break. You know, like I didn't get a
break. I went home and jumped right
into all the, the roles, as you know, as dad and all those
(22:44):
things. And man, within a week or two, I
was spinning again. I was, I was just in a dark
place. I started to, to not be able to
sleep. And I'm asking the Lord, like,
what's going on? Like this is all good stuff.
Why, why am I feeling this way? And, and I couldn't rest and my
mind started running and I started being afraid.
Well, what if this happens? What if like I was just being
(23:04):
attacked slow, Like I think the enemy was really, really trying
to get to me seeing with me withthis platform all of a sudden,
like we're now we're going to take him out, you know, and the
enemy really wanted to Take Me Out to the point where I, I was
having like even suicidal ideation and it was dangerous.
(23:24):
And I, I didn't want to tell anybody that because I was so
ashamed of that. But I started seeing a therapist
and, and I start talking to the therapist and started realizing
like, OK, I've repented of everything I could repent of.
Like I'm asking God to heal me and this therapist is just like,
you know, maybe at some level God is really trying to help you
(23:46):
understand that there's a lot ofdifferent factors that go into
mental and emotional health. You know, you even though this
is all good stuff that's been happening to you, it's
overwhelming to your system and your system isn't experiencing
it as good because it's traumatic in a different way.
It's overwhelming and shocking and and over emotional in a
(24:07):
different way. And I started having to look at
like, wow, you know what? I have been living trying to be
a hero in every realm, not just in the athletic realm.
I got I'm trying to be a hero athome, trying to be a hero with
all these requests. I'm trying to meet everybody's
needs right now and I'm avoidingand negating all of my own human
(24:29):
needs. And I was neglecting the fact
that God was saying, Hey, you need me more than anything, Just
get with me. You're saying yes.
And you're busy with all these other things and they are what
is crushing you. You're allowing yourself to be
crushed by all these worldly things when you really just need
Jesus, You really need me. And it took me a couple months
(24:51):
to get back to like, like let the air out of the, the balloon.
And, and I, I got to spring training.
I'll never forget my family wasn't with me and I was at
spring training and I, I was praying so much and asking God
to just like rescue me from, from these feelings.
Like I just didn't want to feel dark anymore.
(25:13):
I didn't want to, I didn't want to deal with any of that.
And I woke up 1 morning. It was like, it wasn't a vision,
it wasn't audible, but I distinctly remember the spirit
just saying to me, enough, enough, enough.
And I like this word just was like being repeated and it was
like imprinted in my line of vision.
(25:34):
And I was just like, what? What does this mean?
And I remember praying to the Lord that morning and saying,
Jesus, like, what? What are you trying to say?
And I remember thinking, are youtrying to say, yeah, enough of
the self pity and just, you know, like you're just wallowing
in yourself pity. Like you got to stop that.
And it was like the Lord, the Spirit at that moment said, no,
(25:55):
that is not what I'm saying. Listen to me.
And ever so gently, the Spirit just said, Ben, like I want you
to know that right now, when youfeel like you're in your worst
place, when you feel like you don't have anything to offer,
when you can't be a hero for anybody.
This is when I chose to love youenough to send my son to die for
(26:19):
you. It's and, and, and for somebody
that has always tried to be a hero, has always tried to be the
best son, the best brother, the best best player, the best
Christian, the best, all these things you're trying to be the
best at every or not even the best, just the best version of
yourself and putting pressure onyourself.
(26:39):
It was like the first time that God really, I really felt Jesus
just saying, just be with me. I don't need anything from you.
I don't need anything from you. Don't go do anything else.
Just be with me. And I, I never felt truly like I
was enough until that moment. I don't.
I knew the gospel intellectually, I believed it to
(27:00):
be true for myself and and for for for heaven someday.
But I also wasn't experiencing that peace because I was so
caught up in trying to do all these good things.
Yeah, which I think, you know, we all can, can, can suffer
with. But it was almost I was almost
at the end of myself until the Lord really rescued me.
(27:23):
Well, and a lot of times that's how it works, reaching the end
of ourselves. And I love that phrase that you
used. What I hear in that story, Ben,
and thank you for your transparency.
That's one of the things that's drawn me to you in these days is
how you're using now your platform to OK, these are the
things I've struggled with and I'm going to help other people
(27:43):
too. And I'd love to talk about that
just a second. But one of the things I heard
you say is that when you were, when you were at rock bottom,
you know, you made it to the majors and you failed.
You were dissatisfied. And people would say, yeah,
obviously. So it's the first time you were
told you weren't good enough, first time you felt you weren't
good enough. But then when you were also on
top of the world, you also were not, you also were not
(28:04):
satisfied. That's.
Right. It didn't change.
Yeah. And and so that shows this,
doesn't it, that our need for Christ is the same regardless of
where our circumstances take us.And I love that illustrated in
your story. There's no.
Question I And honestly, that's Jesus.
Jesus is so readily available tous no matter what the
(28:26):
circumstances are. And we miss, we miss his
presence. We miss getting to experience
him on a regular basis because we're so caught up in what isn't
going well or what is going well.
And until we, until we really just sit with him in both of
those places and let him speak to us, we're not going to
(28:47):
experience those things to the full.
And I mean it, I mean, not just experiencing the height, the
height of the joys and the cell of things we can celebrate in
this world, but I also mean experience the joy of him being
with us when it, it's hard, whenit, when we feel the suffering.
I mean, he's so available. And that's, that's how we can
live heaven on earth right now, because he's there, he's
(29:10):
available to us. And, and we don't have to wait
to start eternity until we're, we're, we're leaving this life
like we get to start it now. That's good.
That's it. Man, we get to start it and why
don't why not start and enjoy his presence Now you know it's I
I know he shows up when we startto when we start to ask him to
(29:33):
He's so. Available to us and I
understand. Like, like I have kids, you
know, and I understand that theywant to live a full life and
they want to experience things in this world that seem fun and,
and we all want to experience beauty and joy that the world
has to offer. But there is nothing more
beautiful and more joyful than being with the Lord and being
close to him and knowing like he's there.
(29:54):
And, and then you get to experience the beauty and the
joy of this world in a, in a fresh and amazing new way, you
know, and, and I think, I think we until sometimes the Lord
shows us how to be dissatisfied with the things of the world.
He doesn't become as we, we can't taste and see how good he
(30:14):
is, you know, as a God, when, when we're so satisfied with
what this world is offering us and we know that those things
are always temporary. They always promise something is
going to last and it doesn't. They're always temporary highs
and temporary things that we pursue and ultimately we're left
(30:34):
wanting, right? But what we have in Jesus is the
ability to like continue to go to the living water in the well
that never runs dry, right? And, and I, I still need that
every day. Like I need to go to it.
I need, I need the scripture. I need my, the church, my
brothers and sisters in Christ that are challenging me to stay
(30:55):
close to him and walk him on a regular basis.
And, and that's where life is, you know, and then then you deal
with the UPS and the downs as they come, but he's there.
He's there. You get those moments of
knowing. One of the words you used was
joy. And a lot of times we think joy
and we think, OK, happiness. And, and you've illustrated
beautifully for us this, we can have joy regardless of what's
(31:18):
going on. And that's only found in Christ.
That's only found in Jesus. And, you know, it's one of those
things where the more that we experience his goodness, the
more we experience the fullness of his presence, the less we're
ever going to find satisfaction anywhere else.
And in a lot of times, you're right, we have to face that
(31:38):
dissatisfaction of, OK, I've gone to this, this didn't
satisfy me. I'm a World Series MVP, that
didn't satisfy me. Now what?
God and and here you know I meanwe like to we.
Like to think the biggest flexesin life are these accolades that
the world thinks are really cool.
(31:58):
Yeah. Like there's a there's a song I
listen to often where it says the joy of the Lord is my
strength. Yeah, I love.
That one it's like. That's the only way that we're
really going to feel strong whenwe know that we can go to the
joy of the Lord at all times andany times, because it's not so
fickle as the world is. You know, it, it stays.
(32:20):
That's the kind of strength thatsustains.
Whereas, you know, you can, you can maybe sustain your, your
muscles for a number of years. You can maybe sustain your
accolades or your achievements for a number of years, but
eventually it fades, you know, and, and you know, I got to play
baseball for a long time, but itends.
(32:41):
It ends for everybody that playsand you're, you're in the
limelight and then you're out ofit.
And at some level, you know, some people achieve a level of
celebrity where they're they're in it their entire life.
And I pray for them because I hope that in their struggles,
because I know it's challenging to be a celebrity, but in their
struggles, I hope that they don't seek and achieve more
(33:04):
comfort and more, more strength on the world standpoint.
But they allow themselves to feel the weakness enough to
pursue the joy of the Lord, because that's where they're
really going to start to feel strong.
And and that kind of brings me to all right, post baseball,
that was your identity for a long time.
You got to do that. But yeah, it's fleeting.
(33:25):
It ends, everything ends. And now one of the things that I
love is champion forward. You're if you want to talk about
that a little bit and how you'rehelping young athletes and
families of young athletes prepare mentally, physically,
emotionally for a lot of what isto come.
Can you talk a little bit about your work with that?
(33:46):
Yeah, Well, I think particularlywith my story being one of I
achieved things that I wanted toachieve and being in a place
where there's a lot of young athletes that that would like to
do that and they're already looking up to me.
They're my people, you know, I, I understand their pursuit and
they understand, they understandthe mutual love we have for
playing sports and for competingand, and everything that it
(34:09):
takes to be great And, and I canhelp them on a lot of different
levels, right. So the question was like, do I
go back into coaching or, you know, and at some level you have
to you, you can't have that level of knowledge and that
level of experience and want to give back and decide, well, I'm
going to give back by doing something completely different.
(34:30):
For me, it was like, it's a little bit too much baseball and
sports knowledge to do nothing in the sports realm.
So as I thought of who do I really want to impact?
Who do I, who do I have the bestshot of not only having
credibility speaking in front ofthem immediately, but also the
ability to speak into their lifebecause they gave me that
(34:52):
credibility? Yeah.
And it's not simply athletes at the younger level, but I think
it's also the parents and the coaches because now I'm a
parent. Now I'm living the parent and
coaching life a little bit. Now I'm understanding it from
the perspective of someone that's outside the game, but
trying to help the players that are still inside the game.
I, I still talk to some players at the Major League level.
(35:15):
I still talk to some players at the college level, at the high
school level. I'm helping because my, my son's
high school. And it's just, I feel uniquely
called to talk to those people, right.
And so the question was, what doI want to talk to them about?
You know, do I just want to share baseball knowledge?
Well, no, it's, that's not enough for me.
Do I just want to talk to them about faith?
Well, no, I think that there's there's this intersection that I
(35:38):
saw in sports where you have Christians, you have faith
people that that love Jesus playing sports and you have
great athletes that aren't Christians.
So like maybe it's trying to share Jesus in sports, but also
there's a bridge there. There's a lot of young athletes
that are dealing with challenging mental and emotional
issues. And so if they're not ready to
(36:00):
have that conversation about Jesus yet, they might be ready
to have a conversation about some mental and emotional
challenges. And because I went through a lot
of mental and emotional challenges during those periods
of depression and then during a challenging divorce situation,
and I was able to work through that and try to build a new
(36:21):
sense of identity outside of being an athlete.
I feel like I want to share those, those emotional Rd. maps,
some of those skills that I wishI would have had when I was
playing sports and going throughall that, that I think would
have helped me kind of maybe experience the mental and
emotional challenges in a, in a healthier way sooner rather than
(36:42):
like having these periods of depression that really almost
took me out. And so I want to give them those
skills. And I also think when you, when
you start to dig into mental andemotional skill development for
athletes, it starts to open up conversations about the soul and
the spirit, something deeper than just being an athlete, you
know, because you're like, I guess maybe maybe winning the
(37:04):
championship, maybe making it tothe next level isn't the only
thing that I actually want. Maybe I.
Actually want a little? Bit more than that, maybe I want
great relationships out of the team that I'm on.
Maybe I want to experience this with my parent or my child or my
coaches in a way that is like going to lead us to like the
kind of relationship I had with coach Curtis or you know, where,
(37:26):
where I I go back and spend timewith him.
You know, like it's a, it's a, it's a great relationship that
we have. And it's like, if you want more
out of the sport than just winning and, and trust me, you
do. I've won and I still wanted more
out of the experience. The only way that you can get
more is if you get a better relationship with yourself and a
(37:48):
better relationship with the people around you and a better
relationship with God. You have you have to pursue
that. The only way to pursue that is
through like asking Jesus to open up parts of you that you
really haven't been open to. I didn't realize how much I
needed to feel like enough for everybody else.
And when Jesus finally opened that door and said, no, no, you
(38:10):
don't need that. What you need to know is that
you're enough for me when you'renot doing anything.
And when I, when I realized that, it like gave me this
reservoir of love and desire to just do things out of love and
not feel like I was obligated todo it.
Yeah, there, there becomes this real sense of performance,
doesn't there? Especially when you're you and
(38:32):
you're an athlete and you're performing on the biggest stage,
you know, the October Classic, the World Series playing for,
you know, I. Were you a fan of the Cubs
growing up? I guess growing up I was.
Actually a fan of the Cardinals but but I watched them all the
time because of WGN. You know they were on TV, right?
Right. But yeah, you know, so you're on
(38:53):
the biggest stage and you're performing and you're doing
well. But yeah, there's this real
sense of if I just perform enough, if I just do this good
enough, then finally I'll find what I'm looking for.
And that's so freeing when we can get past that.
Yeah, it's a lie. It's truly a lie from the enemy.
(39:14):
Because I trust me when you get there, it's not enough.
Yeah. And trust me.
Trust me on this when I say this.
If you get there and you have great buddies and you have great
relationships, you know, but youdon't have Jesus, you're still
going to be searching. You have to Jesus is the one
that makes all the relationshipsmake sense.
(39:34):
He's the one that makes all the accolades make sense.
He's the one that makes even the, the bad things make sense.
And, and he organizes all that in our heart and mind in a way
that's just so beautiful. And I look back and I, I
experienced some really difficult things and, and a lot
of joyful things, but I wouldn'tchange any of it now.
(39:55):
I wouldn't. And the reason why I wouldn't is
because I couldn't have learned the things that I learned unless
God took me there. I think he had to take me to the
brink of self destruction beforeI could actually accept his
love. That had nothing to do with my
performance. And now you.
Could help others that are dealing with the same thing.
(40:18):
And now it's a joy to do that, right?
It's like now when someone's suffering in the ways that I
suffered and they come to me, I am like, it's, I'm sad for where
they're at. But I'm also like, I have the
ability to infuse hope into their situation because I know
what God did. I know what he did in me.
(40:39):
I know what he can do in them. And it's like, I, I'll walk with
you while you're going through this because God, God is so much
greater than our challenges and our struggles.
That alone will preach, my friend.
That's great. Yeah.
Well. Man, I could talk to you for
hours. I'm sitting here just praising
God for for everything he's donein your life.
But when we, as we kind of wrap up here, I wanted to ask you one
(41:02):
of the things when I'm coaching men that we don't often think
about is this idea of legacy. How do you want to be
remembered? And you know, I, I want to ask
you, Ben, I didn't prepare you for this, So sorry.
You know, you had a what 1415 year baseball career.
You're on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, 2 times World
(41:22):
Series champ, World Series MVP. But we've walked through this
story of how you're more than that, right?
But how does Ben Zobrist want tobe remembered?
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind to the next
generation? That's a great.
Question, and just off the top of my head without really
spending too much time thinking about it.
You know, legacy is only truly created by our Creator.
(41:46):
We can try, we can try all we want to be remembered a specific
way, but only, only the Lord, only the Lord can do that.
And like, so to a certain degree, I want, I just want it
want to be remembered as a guy who who Jesus rescued when he
was on the top of the mountain, like he rested me from there.
(42:10):
And your life points to him because of it.
And I. When I came down off the
mountain into the valley, I was in an even better place because
I was with him. Yeah, I carry him with me.
I've never, since that moment in2017 when I felt depression and
felt hopeless, even in all the stuff I went through after that,
(42:32):
I have never felt that level of hopelessness.
I always have felt like God's got it, like he's going to do
something that I can't see rightnow because he, if I was, if I'm
in my worst place, I got him. I got him like, I'm like, I got
Jesus in the valley. And we, you know, a lot of us, a
(42:55):
lot of us don't find Jesus at the mountaintop because it's too
hard to see, you know, because you're so psyched about the fact
that you climb the mountain. But but when I climbed it, it
felt, it felt hopeless to a certain degree.
I couldn't see the beauty because I didn't feel connected
to Jesus in the way that I needed to.
So when he met me there and said, this is what you're
(43:18):
missing, you know, it was like, I'll take you, I'll be with you
in the valley too. Let's go back down.
And as we're as we're back down there in the darkness, like I'm
I'm going to be there just as much as I was up top.
Yeah. You know, and it's like, wow,
that's that's where you start toreally feel safe and vulnerable
and, and where a man can go frombeing a strong athlete that
(43:40):
needs to present a specific thing to the world starts to go.
I don't need to protect that because Jesus has me.
He can be the hero. So I don't have to, you know,
and that's where, where you start to feel free freedom is
pursuing being like Jesus, not being Jesus, you know, to
people. He could be the hero.
(44:01):
He could be the hero. So we don't have to be.
That's right, we. Can just point to him be like
hey I don't have enough for you.But Jesus does, man.
Preach, brother, bring it. Well, that man, this has been so
good. I've loved learning more about
your life. I've loved learning about how
God has been there in the midst of it all.
And I'm reminded at the very beginning of this time to pull
(44:23):
it full circle. You mentioned watching your dad
read through the Bible every year, year after year after
year, and I just want to leave with this.
We can never exhaust God. You know that That word of God
is a living word. It meets us where we are.
And I just want to encourage thelisteners out there to to
(44:44):
understand that Jesus is available to you on the
mountains, in the valleys, and everywhere in between.
He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.
There's nowhere we can be where he's not there also.
So Ben, thank you so much. You were an inspiration.
Thanks for everything you're doing.
Hey, how can my listeners find you and be supportive with
(45:05):
everything you're doing with Champion?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can, you can follow
champion forward on Instagram. It's just championforward.org on
the website as well. You know, I'm on Instagram.
I don't do a lot on there. I honestly, and I, I, I've been
doing a lot of speaking lately. I really enjoy going out and
speaking, whether it's to churches, whether it's to, you
know, schools, colleges, even businesses teams.
(45:29):
I do a lot of speaking. I enjoy that.
It's really exciting for me to try to inspire people in
wherever they are in their journey.
So whether they're needing a little bit of an inspiration to
like, let's get it or they need an inspiration to realize that,
hey, it's, it's rough, but Jesusis with you.
Like I want to, I want to share my story and use it for God's
glory and, and for encouraging people to to keep on keeping on,
(45:52):
you know, in his in his ways. That's awesome you guys check
him out doing great things in the world and just appreciate
you being here with me. Best of luck.
Hey, never know, might see you in Cooperstown one day.
Thanks, Chad. Appreciate you, man.
Thanks, Ben. Thank you for listening to the
Rev RX Podcast. We hope you enjoyed what you
heard today and if so, we'd loveit if you would hit that
(46:14):
subscribe button so that you'll never miss a new episode from
us. Also, feel free to leave us
reviews and comments as we'd love to hear from you.
Be blessed and be the very best you.
Starting to like, doubt even my faith and what, what is my faith
really even about? And, and I went from struggling
circumstantially and then getting sent down in AAA to
struggling with my faith and wondering if God was even there.
Yeah, I, I, I think until you hit those moments, you don't
really know exactly what you believe.
You know, when you hit a moment like that is when the rubber
(00:20):
meets the road and it's between you and God.
And thankfully, Jesus just like scooped me up.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Rev RX Podcast
where we discuss how to thrive in faith, family, and health.
(00:43):
My name is Chad Potts and I'm your host.
I'm so excited today to release this interview that I had with
Ben Zobrist. You may recognize that name.
Ben had a 14 year career in Major League Baseball.
Not just any career though, he had a fantastic career.
He's actually on the Hall of Fame ballot this year for the
very first time. And so I hope and I'm cheering
(01:04):
for Ben to be elected to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame for
Major League Baseball. You'll also note that he was a
three time All Star, A2 time World Series champ and was named
the World Series MVP in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs.
But here's one of the things that I really love about Ben.
He's an outspoken Christian. He's willing to share with
anybody that'll listen the difference that Jesus has made
(01:27):
in his life both on and off the field.
So without further ado, I introduce to you Ben Zobrist.
You're going to want to watch this one all the way to end.
Ben takes us from childhood up until today and the great things
that the Lord's doing in his life.
So enjoy. And if you like this podcast, if
you'll hit, follow or subscribe,you'll be sure to never miss an
episode in the future. Here's Ben.
(01:53):
Ben Zobrist, man, what a privilege it is to have you here
on the Rev RX Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Yeah, Chad, thanks for having me, man.
Looking forward to the combo. Yeah, sure.
I mentioned to you, I followed your career, what 1415 years,
right? Had a long productive career.
But one of the things that I wanted to highlight today I
noticed is that you're on the Hall of Fame ballot for the
first time this year. Well, that's kind of crazy to
(02:15):
me. I mean, I, I, I know Hall of
Fame numbers and I don't think Inecessarily have them, but you
know, I think, I think maybe theriders are being nice to me or
whoever puts people on the ballot.
You know, I, I, I'm not going todownplay my career.
I mean, I think I I had a great career and I feel like like I
was really blessed in a lot of ways because I was on a lot of
(02:35):
good teams. But at the same time, yeah, I
mean, it's a huge, incredible honor to even be thought of in
in the same sentence as some of those guys.
And I can't. I'm just, I was kind of blown
away when I found that out. I was excited too when I saw
that you're always fun to watch because you you would always
approach things the right way and and I don't always get to
(02:56):
talk to some of my baseball heroes out there.
So I just want to take a minute to say man, thanks in the world
that is lacking for male positive influences.
So we can point our boys to people and say, hey, look at how
they approach every day. Thanks for being that guy.
You've always been fun to root for.
Well, I appreciate you saying that it's super kind and it's
hard to accept the same time, you know, because what I know
(03:20):
is, is what was going on in my heart at times.
You know, I think, I do think that, you know, I think the Lord
gifted me with some, some self-control during a lot of
those moments. And I, I, I learned early on
kind of how to, to quell some ofthe emotions that come with it
and kind of can get the best of you at times when you're in the
heat of competition. But I think I also have to thank
(03:43):
a lot of people in my life that that supported me and kind of
taught me to play that way. You know, that you played, you
did things the right way. I mean, we kind of have this
idea of the right way to play a game is a specific way that we
learn. And, you know, I mean, I think
there's some unwritten rules. There's a lot of unwritten rules
in baseball. And I tried to do the best I
(04:03):
could to abide by I am, but it doesn't mean that I was always
doing that well, You know, I, I,I did the best I could for sure.
And, you know, I need to humbly accept the times that I feel
like I, you know, I did well at that, but then also accept the
times that I probably really stunk at it, you know, So, I
mean, I, I'd love to talk about any and all of that if we get a
chance to here, because, you know, it's, it's sometimes it's
(04:25):
hard for people to see the humanside of the, the heroic journey
for, for those of us that got todeliver it.
And that's what I hope I get a chance to share with people.
Yeah, yeah. And that's absolutely the case.
You know, I wanted to start there because you live a very
public life when you're a professional ballplayer.
You'd mentioned you were your preacher's kid, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
(04:45):
You've mentioned there's some people along the way that that
helped you. What was that like growing up as
a preacher's kid? You were playing ball.
And you know, I'm not even sure you you were gonna think about
next level, right? Yeah, and wife didn't.
I mean, Jesus was so good to me at such a young age, just
guiding me through my, my parents, through my upbringing.
(05:06):
I grew up in a small town in Illinois.
And, you know, there's a lot of good people there, a lot of
people that are following Jesus.And then, you know, it's also a
place where you don't get exposed to a lot.
And so life was a little simplerback then.
It was in the 80s and 90s too, you know, which also was a
little bit of a simpler time than when we turned the century.
(05:28):
And, you know, for me, it was assimple as, you know, Jesus did
this amazing work for you, Ben, you know, regardless of whether
you think you're, you know, you deserve it or not, like he did
it, you know, and the focus was always, my dad was a preacher
and the focus always at the end of the messages was about what
Jesus did on the cross for us and the fact that we need it,
(05:49):
you know, like, like we're in need as as human beings and, and
we cannot reach ourselves to God.
We need his help so much. And the Lord has been so good
and kind to me in in kind of planting that seed in my life
and such at such a young age andthen continuing to watch it come
to fruition. You know, my parents bearing the
fruit of what the scripture asked them to do.
(06:10):
And then me and my siblings trying to follow that and seeing
us fumble through it at times, but also try to live it out at
times. And, and God's just been so good
to our family and so good to my parents and the church that
they're involved in there in Illinois.
And, you know, I still go back there every holiday, every, you
know, every time I get a chance,I go back and see my family and
(06:34):
reconnect with, with people backhome.
And you know, that whole area, the area of Central Illinois has
supported me like none other over the course of my career and
the UPS and the downs that I've had.
And I just could, you know, I, Ireally couldn't have asked for a
more idealistic childhood in a lot of ways.
It was idealistic in other ways.I still had a lot of growing up
(06:58):
to do in my late teens and 20s. And I thought when I graduated
high school that I was, I never,I never thought I would ever
play sports ever again. I thought I was done with sports
completely. I had no college scholarship
offers. And it was, it was really a
crazy way that God just opened doors for me so.
(07:18):
We never know what God has planned for us.
We, we don't, we don't. And that's where that's really
where Olivet came into play. You know, we chatted for a
second about Olivet Nazarene and, you know, colleges and
coaches and universities that offer scholarships.
Athletes, when you when you growup as an athlete and you love
what you do and then these doorsstart opening for you.
(07:41):
Sometimes you really don't know which ones to walk through
because some kids have so many options from a very young age.
And right now it's so much more difficult for the younger
people, the teenagers, the parents that are parenting them
and the coaches that are coaching them to try to sift
through all the things that are online, all the options and
opportunities and where they fit.
(08:02):
You know, there's so many comparisons and stuff.
And so we can talk about that ina little bit, but that's that's
really where my heart for the younger athletes has come into
play. How do you help them navigate
the things? I didn't have to navigate a
whole lot because I didn't have a lot of doors open.
I didn't have many opportunities.
There was one door that opened, you know, after high school.
And it just was really clear that that's the direction God
(08:24):
wanted me to go. And thank goodness, my parents
were like, hey, you need to listen to God's will.
You know, if this is God's will,that's what you need to do.
You need to follow that. And I mean, it could have been
really confusing had I been wanting to go to some sort of
State University and have a different college experience.
But my parents really wanted wanted me to have an experience
(08:45):
in the word of God. Like they were like, we would
love for you to go to a Christian School.
And you know, Olivet was a Christian School.
I was going to go to another Christian School before Olivet
came calling. So for those of you who are
young people that might listen to this or parents of young
people, I'd never think it's a bad idea to encourage your kid
(09:07):
to do more in the word of God. That's right.
You know, like you may have built a lot of great things into
them early on in their life, butman, there's no substitute for
God's word and eating that and, and learning to digest it on a
regular basis. And, and I watched my dad from a
very young age, like read through the Bible in a year, you
know, like he still does it. He's doing it this year again,
(09:27):
like he every year he reads through the entire scripture,
even though he preaches through it, even though that's his job.
Like every morning he gets up, reads through his thing.
And so I'm like, like that kind of spiritual heritage and the
belief that God's word is impactful and should change us
and we need to be regularly digesting.
It was something that was such an important part of my
(09:49):
upbringing that I, once I got into college and I was away from
my parents or got into professional sports and I was
away from even Christianity as awhole.
Those things stuck with me. Like I, I, I didn't want to
leave that. And when I felt like leaving
that, I knew it was not, it was not the, the path that Jesus had
(10:09):
for me, you know, so it's hard to look back at.
I mean, that's like a spiritual side of the journey.
But I even athletically, if I look back at the athletic side,
my junior high coach, my favorite coach ever, I say, I
say his name all the time. Coach Curtis was this guy that,
that kept a simple, a simple approach to the game, but we,
(10:30):
we, we learned how to be consistent and he kept it
simple, but consistent and he kept it fun.
And I, and he was like my coach for all three sports, like a
baseball, basketball and track or whatever I was doing at the
time. And you, when you have people
like that in your hometown that are there for 30 years, doing
that for every kid that comes through, you know, those are
(10:52):
the, those are the real mentors.Those are the real like role
models. You know, I mean, a lot of
people say, oh, I'm so glad you're and, and we are when when
you're a professional athlete, you realize you have a platform
and you have to try to live it out on that platform.
And at the same time, like I want the mentors in people's
lives to be the people that theyare regularly interacting with
(11:14):
and seeing that person on a regular basis.
And I saw Coach Curtis and I sawmy coach Gold, who who was my
baseball coach in high school, who was the Christian FCA
sponsor, you know, and I saw my youth group leaders and I saw my
dad and I saw my friends dads and these people that were
pursuing God. And I was like, that's the path.
Yeah, right. That was the path to try to
(11:35):
take. I just had a little bit more of
a unique occupation to pursue. That was something that nobody
in my hometown had ever been involved in before, right?
Right. And what I'm hearing you say is
super important for our listeners to understand, you
know, you don't have to be supersuccessful in the world's eyes
in order to make an impact on this earth, in order to make an
(11:58):
impact in young men and women ona daily basis.
And, and, and Ben, I appreciate you sharing that story because
you know, it's easy for us to look at those we put on
pedestals. That's right.
But it's those people that see us day in, day out that shape
us, don't they? That's.
Exactly right. Yeah, I, I think you, we, we
can't underestimate the power of1 adult that is securely
(12:21):
attached around us that that hasa relationship with Jesus that
shows us the way. Like you can't underestimate
that. There's like look at everybody
that you might look up to. And I guarantee you they had
somebody that in the quiet of their own work ethic or in the
quiet of their own routine, you could watch them that that
(12:41):
person that ended up achieving something great in the world's
eyes was watching that person that did something small in the
world's eyes. But that's what made the impact
for them. Right.
And that. Could be as simple as a parent
just trying to parent. It could be as simple as a
teacher trying to teach or a pastor trying to trying to
preach, but or a janitor trying to clean.
(13:02):
You know, it's, it doesn't really matter how big the the
role is in the world's eyes. It matters.
Are we living out our God's planfor us in an authentic way and
in a way that like we're connecting with Jesus on a
regular basis. And I saw that with people, so
that it made me want that, you know, as I got older, that's so.
(13:23):
Good. And so fast forwarding, you've
got this foundation and that's super, super important because
building that foundation, you know, as a parent now, building
that foundation for my kids is what I'm after.
I want to be able to instill in them and to be able to walk it
out authentically in front of them, which I think is important
too, in order to, you know, whenthey do go their separate ways,
(13:43):
you know, because we can't hoverover them forever that they had
that foundation to draw from, right?
So fast forwarding in your life.So now, you know, you've you've
been drafted, you've made it big, you're in a big leagues,
You know, what were some of those moments you mentioned
earlier kind of hinted at a couple.
What were some of those moments?What were some of those seasons
(14:04):
where really your faith may havebeen tested and you relied back
on that foundation to help you through?
Yeah. Well, I had a few moments during
my career that were really superchallenging in regard to mental
health, I would say. And one of them happened in
2000, right at during the 2007 season.
(14:26):
And you know, there was, there was up to that point,
athletically, whatever level I was playing at, I was achieving
at, I was achieving what I was setting out to achieve it at
some level. I wasn't like the best, you
know, but I, I kind of outplayedeven when I thought I was
capable of doing because I I waslike from a small town and I'm
(14:46):
like playing against these guys that went to the best D ones
when I got into pro ball and I'mlike, well, they're, they're not
that good. Like I thought there was going
to be that much better than me. And baseball has this parody
across different levels of, of college that football doesn't
have. You know, you can have some
really good players at the NAI level, which is what I played,
(15:08):
you know, and compare that to the Division One level.
It's it, there's, there's some really good players at every
level. And so I, when I got into
professional baseball there, thesea of good players was just
greater, you know, and I still was excelling through the minor
leagues. You know, I was finding a way to
exceed, you know, kind of put numbers up.
(15:29):
And I was kind of growing in thefirst couple years of my career.
I got it drafted in 2004. And by the time I reached 2000,
I I was called up to the major leagues and I really didn't
expect to be got with the Devil Rays at the time.
And they, I mean, they, you know, they traded a couple of
veteran players and I was a guy that they were like, let's bring
(15:49):
him up and see what he can do, right.
So I wasn't ready for that. I don't think I was facing guys
like Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera and AL East and and just
like, like eyes wide open. Like I can't believe I'm Derek
Jeter's right there, you know, playing against him, you know,
and and there's these these people that are first ballot
Hall of farmers that I'm just like, whoa, I can't believe I
(16:10):
was just playing in college a couple years ago, right.
Yeah, just. In all, I'm sure.
Yeah, you're. Kind of in awe and like, wait,
can I even play at this level? Well, you know, you fumble
through that when you're not like a star getting to the major
leagues. You're just kind of a a regular
player. I was like overwhelmed.
The pitching in the major leagues is so much better than
it is in the minor leagues. I mean, and and I just say in
(16:32):
regard to not only the stuff, but I think the location a lot
of times. And now, you know, they're
bringing younger guys up a little faster.
But at the time, to get called up at the age of 25 was like,
OK, well, I'm I was a little bitold for a draftee and I got
zoomed to the big leagues. There was some young guys that
spent five or six years in the in the minor leagues before they
(16:54):
got called up, right? You get called up really quickly
playing against these veteran guys.
I failed. I mean, the best way to say it
is I failed. I, I did not play well.
I didn't hit well. I didn't do what I was capable
of doing. And I started spinning.
It was the first time I got toldyou're not good enough, you
know, on an athletic level. They sent me down to AAA.
(17:17):
They said work on some things and my head was just not in a
good place. I, I was starting to doubt
everything about like, should I even be here?
Why am I even doing this thing? You know, it's common, I think
for anybody when you feel like you have a dream and a vision
and God's been so clear about what this vision is going to be,
you're going to be a Major League player.
And that's just your, the plan. And then it starts not coming to
(17:42):
fruition and you're like, you hit some setbacks and I'm asking
God why. You know, everybody asks God why
when things aren't happening theway that you expect them to
happen. Not everybody, but I mean, I was
at the time and I, I think it really did kind of a number on
me emotionally and mentally and spiritually.
And I was trying to, you know, starting to like doubt even my
(18:04):
faith and what, what is my faithreally even about?
And, and I went from struggling circumstantially and then
getting sent down in AAA to struggling with my faith and
wondering if God was even there.Yeah.
And I, I, I think until you hit those moments, you don't really
know exactly what you believe. You know, when you hit a moment
(18:27):
like that is when the rubber meets the road and it's between
you and God. And thankfully, Jesus just like,
scooped me up. It was a couple months of that
and kind of wallowing in that. And then I got injured, which
was a grace for me at the time. I, I, I hadn't been sleeping
very well and I got injured and,and it ended my season early and
(18:47):
I was in AAA and kind of bouncing back and up and down
between AAA and the big leagues that year.
And I still didn't know what my future was.
But it was like God saying, hey,just take a break.
Just take a break. Like you need to just be with
me. Yeah.
And I remember going back home that offseason and, you know,
getting in the word and, and searching through Proverbs, the
(19:09):
Psalms and the Proverbs and, anddigging through that and going,
you know, writing down, taking furious notes about like what
God says about this person and that person and who I want to
be. I want to be the man, that
wisdom and not the, the fool, the foolish man.
And, and I'm writing all these things down.
And to a certain degree, I started to heal and get better.
And I was, I was able to kind ofemotionally and mentally get
(19:31):
back where where I wanted to be.But the problem was while God
was kind of rescuing me from that, I in some way started to
think that maybe because I did these things, because I was
digging in the scripture, that somehow maybe that that was the
key. Like it's spiritually pulling
yourselves up by your bootstraps.
(19:51):
Gotcha. Yeah, and I.
Didn't really do the work the hard work of like understanding
where all of my depression came from.
And I was still kind of under the idea that like mental health
challenges are all spiritual andinstead of being somewhat
emotional and mental, you know, that you might need to work
through. And so, you know, Fast forward
(20:11):
about 9 more years and I, I get back to the big leagues.
Obviously during that time, I become an All Star.
I, I become an established majorleaguer.
I play in some World Series, youknow.
Then I, I get traded to Kansas City, KS.
City's the perfect team is is isabout to win the World Series in
15. I end up helping them win the
World Series in 15, become a free agent time with the Chicago
(20:34):
Cubs who haven't won in 108 years.
And in the first year I get a chance to help the Chicago Cubs
win this epic World Series in a Game 7.
And somehow God wants me to be the World Series MVP at the end.
You know, I couldn't have written that script, nor would I
even have tried to write that script.
(20:55):
I mean, I'm just a role player, You know, I'm a good Major
League player, but I'm not like the star.
We have plenty of stars on the team.
And I'm good with just being oneof the good players, the good,
good guys. And I was hoping that just to
win another World Series with them and be a part of that.
Well, then I get thrust into thelimelight like never before,
like Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien and Disney World on a
(21:17):
private jet and and the 7 million people at the parade in
Chicago, and I got asked to do Saturday Night Live.
I'm really glad I didn't do thatone.
I saw the skits that they did. Yeah.
Now, now, Ben Zobrist is a household name.
You think about this and, and a lot of people would have loved
to take that platform and just make the most of it, you know,
(21:40):
grab every bit of opportunity that they could in that moment.
And within a week or two weeks of kind of riding that wave, I
was done. I was so exhausted from all the
social buzz and my, my agent telling me there's 5000 requests
in my inbox of things that I needed to answer back.
(22:01):
And ultimately it just poured this emotional and mental like
like wave over me that I was like drowning in and I didn't
really know what to do with all the emotion and all the social
stuff that came along with winning.
I mean, despite the fact that, like, I mean, of course, adding
in the fact that we, we just spent ourselves physically that
(22:24):
entire season to try to win thatWorld Series.
I mean, it takes a lot from an athlete to get through a season.
Pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing all the way to the end.
And you you finally win and it'slike it's just rush.
You really need a break. You know, like I didn't get a
break. I went home and jumped right
into all the, the roles, as you know, as dad and all those
(22:44):
things. And man, within a week or two, I
was spinning again. I was, I was just in a dark
place. I started to, to not be able to
sleep. And I'm asking the Lord, like,
what's going on? Like this is all good stuff.
Why, why am I feeling this way? And, and I couldn't rest and my
mind started running and I started being afraid.
Well, what if this happens? What if like I was just being
(23:04):
attacked slow, Like I think the enemy was really, really trying
to get to me seeing with me withthis platform all of a sudden,
like we're now we're going to take him out, you know, and the
enemy really wanted to Take Me Out to the point where I, I was
having like even suicidal ideation and it was dangerous.
(23:24):
And I, I didn't want to tell anybody that because I was so
ashamed of that. But I started seeing a therapist
and, and I start talking to the therapist and started realizing
like, OK, I've repented of everything I could repent of.
Like I'm asking God to heal me and this therapist is just like,
you know, maybe at some level God is really trying to help you
(23:46):
understand that there's a lot ofdifferent factors that go into
mental and emotional health. You know, you even though this
is all good stuff that's been happening to you, it's
overwhelming to your system and your system isn't experiencing
it as good because it's traumatic in a different way.
It's overwhelming and shocking and and over emotional in a
(24:07):
different way. And I started having to look at
like, wow, you know what? I have been living trying to be
a hero in every realm, not just in the athletic realm.
I got I'm trying to be a hero athome, trying to be a hero with
all these requests. I'm trying to meet everybody's
needs right now and I'm avoidingand negating all of my own human
(24:29):
needs. And I was neglecting the fact
that God was saying, Hey, you need me more than anything, Just
get with me. You're saying yes.
And you're busy with all these other things and they are what
is crushing you. You're allowing yourself to be
crushed by all these worldly things when you really just need
Jesus, You really need me. And it took me a couple months
(24:51):
to get back to like, like let the air out of the, the balloon.
And, and I, I got to spring training.
I'll never forget my family wasn't with me and I was at
spring training and I, I was praying so much and asking God
to just like rescue me from, from these feelings.
Like I just didn't want to feel dark anymore.
(25:13):
I didn't want to, I didn't want to deal with any of that.
And I woke up 1 morning. It was like, it wasn't a vision,
it wasn't audible, but I distinctly remember the spirit
just saying to me, enough, enough, enough.
And I like this word just was like being repeated and it was
like imprinted in my line of vision.
(25:34):
And I was just like, what? What does this mean?
And I remember praying to the Lord that morning and saying,
Jesus, like, what? What are you trying to say?
And I remember thinking, are youtrying to say, yeah, enough of
the self pity and just, you know, like you're just wallowing
in yourself pity. Like you got to stop that.
And it was like the Lord, the Spirit at that moment said, no,
(25:55):
that is not what I'm saying. Listen to me.
And ever so gently, the Spirit just said, Ben, like I want you
to know that right now, when youfeel like you're in your worst
place, when you feel like you don't have anything to offer,
when you can't be a hero for anybody.
This is when I chose to love youenough to send my son to die for
(26:19):
you. It's and, and, and for somebody
that has always tried to be a hero, has always tried to be the
best son, the best brother, the best best player, the best
Christian, the best, all these things you're trying to be the
best at every or not even the best, just the best version of
yourself and putting pressure onyourself.
(26:39):
It was like the first time that God really, I really felt Jesus
just saying, just be with me. I don't need anything from you.
I don't need anything from you. Don't go do anything else.
Just be with me. And I, I never felt truly like I
was enough until that moment. I don't.
I knew the gospel intellectually, I believed it to
(27:00):
be true for myself and and for for for heaven someday.
But I also wasn't experiencing that peace because I was so
caught up in trying to do all these good things.
Yeah, which I think, you know, we all can, can, can suffer
with. But it was almost I was almost
at the end of myself until the Lord really rescued me.
(27:23):
Well, and a lot of times that's how it works, reaching the end
of ourselves. And I love that phrase that you
used. What I hear in that story, Ben,
and thank you for your transparency.
That's one of the things that's drawn me to you in these days is
how you're using now your platform to OK, these are the
things I've struggled with and I'm going to help other people
(27:43):
too. And I'd love to talk about that
just a second. But one of the things I heard
you say is that when you were, when you were at rock bottom,
you know, you made it to the majors and you failed.
You were dissatisfied. And people would say, yeah,
obviously. So it's the first time you were
told you weren't good enough, first time you felt you weren't
good enough. But then when you were also on
top of the world, you also were not, you also were not
(28:04):
satisfied. That's.
Right. It didn't change.
Yeah. And and so that shows this,
doesn't it, that our need for Christ is the same regardless of
where our circumstances take us.And I love that illustrated in
your story. There's no.
Question I And honestly, that's Jesus.
Jesus is so readily available tous no matter what the
(28:26):
circumstances are. And we miss, we miss his
presence. We miss getting to experience
him on a regular basis because we're so caught up in what isn't
going well or what is going well.
And until we, until we really just sit with him in both of
those places and let him speak to us, we're not going to
(28:47):
experience those things to the full.
And I mean it, I mean, not just experiencing the height, the
height of the joys and the cell of things we can celebrate in
this world, but I also mean experience the joy of him being
with us when it, it's hard, whenit, when we feel the suffering.
I mean, he's so available. And that's, that's how we can
live heaven on earth right now, because he's there, he's
(29:10):
available to us. And, and we don't have to wait
to start eternity until we're, we're, we're leaving this life
like we get to start it now. That's good.
That's it. Man, we get to start it and why
don't why not start and enjoy his presence Now you know it's I
I know he shows up when we startto when we start to ask him to
(29:33):
He's so. Available to us and I
understand. Like, like I have kids, you
know, and I understand that theywant to live a full life and
they want to experience things in this world that seem fun and,
and we all want to experience beauty and joy that the world
has to offer. But there is nothing more
beautiful and more joyful than being with the Lord and being
close to him and knowing like he's there.
(29:54):
And, and then you get to experience the beauty and the
joy of this world in a, in a fresh and amazing new way, you
know, and, and I think, I think we until sometimes the Lord
shows us how to be dissatisfied with the things of the world.
He doesn't become as we, we can't taste and see how good he
(30:14):
is, you know, as a God, when, when we're so satisfied with
what this world is offering us and we know that those things
are always temporary. They always promise something is
going to last and it doesn't. They're always temporary highs
and temporary things that we pursue and ultimately we're left
(30:34):
wanting, right? But what we have in Jesus is the
ability to like continue to go to the living water in the well
that never runs dry, right? And, and I, I still need that
every day. Like I need to go to it.
I need, I need the scripture. I need my, the church, my
brothers and sisters in Christ that are challenging me to stay
(30:55):
close to him and walk him on a regular basis.
And, and that's where life is, you know, and then then you deal
with the UPS and the downs as they come, but he's there.
He's there. You get those moments of
knowing. One of the words you used was
joy. And a lot of times we think joy
and we think, OK, happiness. And, and you've illustrated
beautifully for us this, we can have joy regardless of what's
(31:18):
going on. And that's only found in Christ.
That's only found in Jesus. And, you know, it's one of those
things where the more that we experience his goodness, the
more we experience the fullness of his presence, the less we're
ever going to find satisfaction anywhere else.
And in a lot of times, you're right, we have to face that
(31:38):
dissatisfaction of, OK, I've gone to this, this didn't
satisfy me. I'm a World Series MVP, that
didn't satisfy me. Now what?
God and and here you know I meanwe like to we.
Like to think the biggest flexesin life are these accolades that
the world thinks are really cool.
(31:58):
Yeah. Like there's a there's a song I
listen to often where it says the joy of the Lord is my
strength. Yeah, I love.
That one it's like. That's the only way that we're
really going to feel strong whenwe know that we can go to the
joy of the Lord at all times andany times, because it's not so
fickle as the world is. You know, it, it stays.
(32:20):
That's the kind of strength thatsustains.
Whereas, you know, you can, you can maybe sustain your, your
muscles for a number of years. You can maybe sustain your
accolades or your achievements for a number of years, but
eventually it fades, you know, and, and you know, I got to play
baseball for a long time, but itends.
(32:41):
It ends for everybody that playsand you're, you're in the
limelight and then you're out ofit.
And at some level, you know, some people achieve a level of
celebrity where they're they're in it their entire life.
And I pray for them because I hope that in their struggles,
because I know it's challenging to be a celebrity, but in their
struggles, I hope that they don't seek and achieve more
(33:04):
comfort and more, more strength on the world standpoint.
But they allow themselves to feel the weakness enough to
pursue the joy of the Lord, because that's where they're
really going to start to feel strong.
And and that kind of brings me to all right, post baseball,
that was your identity for a long time.
You got to do that. But yeah, it's fleeting.
(33:25):
It ends, everything ends. And now one of the things that I
love is champion forward. You're if you want to talk about
that a little bit and how you'rehelping young athletes and
families of young athletes prepare mentally, physically,
emotionally for a lot of what isto come.
Can you talk a little bit about your work with that?
(33:46):
Yeah, Well, I think particularlywith my story being one of I
achieved things that I wanted toachieve and being in a place
where there's a lot of young athletes that that would like to
do that and they're already looking up to me.
They're my people, you know, I, I understand their pursuit and
they understand, they understandthe mutual love we have for
playing sports and for competingand, and everything that it
(34:09):
takes to be great And, and I canhelp them on a lot of different
levels, right. So the question was like, do I
go back into coaching or, you know, and at some level you have
to you, you can't have that level of knowledge and that
level of experience and want to give back and decide, well, I'm
going to give back by doing something completely different.
(34:30):
For me, it was like, it's a little bit too much baseball and
sports knowledge to do nothing in the sports realm.
So as I thought of who do I really want to impact?
Who do I, who do I have the bestshot of not only having
credibility speaking in front ofthem immediately, but also the
ability to speak into their lifebecause they gave me that
(34:52):
credibility? Yeah.
And it's not simply athletes at the younger level, but I think
it's also the parents and the coaches because now I'm a
parent. Now I'm living the parent and
coaching life a little bit. Now I'm understanding it from
the perspective of someone that's outside the game, but
trying to help the players that are still inside the game.
I, I still talk to some players at the Major League level.
(35:15):
I still talk to some players at the college level, at the high
school level. I'm helping because my, my son's
high school. And it's just, I feel uniquely
called to talk to those people, right.
And so the question was, what doI want to talk to them about?
You know, do I just want to share baseball knowledge?
Well, no, it's, that's not enough for me.
Do I just want to talk to them about faith?
Well, no, I think that there's there's this intersection that I
(35:38):
saw in sports where you have Christians, you have faith
people that that love Jesus playing sports and you have
great athletes that aren't Christians.
So like maybe it's trying to share Jesus in sports, but also
there's a bridge there. There's a lot of young athletes
that are dealing with challenging mental and emotional
issues. And so if they're not ready to
(36:00):
have that conversation about Jesus yet, they might be ready
to have a conversation about some mental and emotional
challenges. And because I went through a lot
of mental and emotional challenges during those periods
of depression and then during a challenging divorce situation,
and I was able to work through that and try to build a new
(36:21):
sense of identity outside of being an athlete.
I feel like I want to share those, those emotional Rd. maps,
some of those skills that I wishI would have had when I was
playing sports and going throughall that, that I think would
have helped me kind of maybe experience the mental and
emotional challenges in a, in a healthier way sooner rather than
(36:42):
like having these periods of depression that really almost
took me out. And so I want to give them those
skills. And I also think when you, when
you start to dig into mental andemotional skill development for
athletes, it starts to open up conversations about the soul and
the spirit, something deeper than just being an athlete, you
know, because you're like, I guess maybe maybe winning the
(37:04):
championship, maybe making it tothe next level isn't the only
thing that I actually want. Maybe I.
Actually want a little? Bit more than that, maybe I want
great relationships out of the team that I'm on.
Maybe I want to experience this with my parent or my child or my
coaches in a way that is like going to lead us to like the
kind of relationship I had with coach Curtis or you know, where,
(37:26):
where I I go back and spend timewith him.
You know, like it's a, it's a, it's a great relationship that
we have. And it's like, if you want more
out of the sport than just winning and, and trust me, you
do. I've won and I still wanted more
out of the experience. The only way that you can get
more is if you get a better relationship with yourself and a
(37:48):
better relationship with the people around you and a better
relationship with God. You have you have to pursue
that. The only way to pursue that is
through like asking Jesus to open up parts of you that you
really haven't been open to. I didn't realize how much I
needed to feel like enough for everybody else.
And when Jesus finally opened that door and said, no, no, you
(38:10):
don't need that. What you need to know is that
you're enough for me when you'renot doing anything.
And when I, when I realized that, it like gave me this
reservoir of love and desire to just do things out of love and
not feel like I was obligated todo it.
Yeah, there, there becomes this real sense of performance,
doesn't there? Especially when you're you and
(38:32):
you're an athlete and you're performing on the biggest stage,
you know, the October Classic, the World Series playing for,
you know, I. Were you a fan of the Cubs
growing up? I guess growing up I was.
Actually a fan of the Cardinals but but I watched them all the
time because of WGN. You know they were on TV, right?
Right. But yeah, you know, so you're on
(38:53):
the biggest stage and you're performing and you're doing
well. But yeah, there's this real
sense of if I just perform enough, if I just do this good
enough, then finally I'll find what I'm looking for.
And that's so freeing when we can get past that.
Yeah, it's a lie. It's truly a lie from the enemy.
(39:14):
Because I trust me when you get there, it's not enough.
Yeah. And trust me.
Trust me on this when I say this.
If you get there and you have great buddies and you have great
relationships, you know, but youdon't have Jesus, you're still
going to be searching. You have to Jesus is the one
that makes all the relationshipsmake sense.
(39:34):
He's the one that makes all the accolades make sense.
He's the one that makes even the, the bad things make sense.
And, and he organizes all that in our heart and mind in a way
that's just so beautiful. And I look back and I, I
experienced some really difficult things and, and a lot
of joyful things, but I wouldn'tchange any of it now.
(39:55):
I wouldn't. And the reason why I wouldn't is
because I couldn't have learned the things that I learned unless
God took me there. I think he had to take me to the
brink of self destruction beforeI could actually accept his
love. That had nothing to do with my
performance. And now you.
Could help others that are dealing with the same thing.
(40:18):
And now it's a joy to do that, right?
It's like now when someone's suffering in the ways that I
suffered and they come to me, I am like, it's, I'm sad for where
they're at. But I'm also like, I have the
ability to infuse hope into their situation because I know
what God did. I know what he did in me.
(40:39):
I know what he can do in them. And it's like, I, I'll walk with
you while you're going through this because God, God is so much
greater than our challenges and our struggles.
That alone will preach, my friend.
That's great. Yeah.
Well. Man, I could talk to you for
hours. I'm sitting here just praising
God for for everything he's donein your life.
But when we, as we kind of wrap up here, I wanted to ask you one
(41:02):
of the things when I'm coaching men that we don't often think
about is this idea of legacy. How do you want to be
remembered? And you know, I, I want to ask
you, Ben, I didn't prepare you for this, So sorry.
You know, you had a what 1415 year baseball career.
You're on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, 2 times World
(41:22):
Series champ, World Series MVP. But we've walked through this
story of how you're more than that, right?
But how does Ben Zobrist want tobe remembered?
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind to the next
generation? That's a great.
Question, and just off the top of my head without really
spending too much time thinking about it.
You know, legacy is only truly created by our Creator.
(41:46):
We can try, we can try all we want to be remembered a specific
way, but only, only the Lord, only the Lord can do that.
And like, so to a certain degree, I want, I just want it
want to be remembered as a guy who who Jesus rescued when he
was on the top of the mountain, like he rested me from there.
(42:10):
And your life points to him because of it.
And I. When I came down off the
mountain into the valley, I was in an even better place because
I was with him. Yeah, I carry him with me.
I've never, since that moment in2017 when I felt depression and
felt hopeless, even in all the stuff I went through after that,
(42:32):
I have never felt that level of hopelessness.
I always have felt like God's got it, like he's going to do
something that I can't see rightnow because he, if I was, if I'm
in my worst place, I got him. I got him like, I'm like, I got
Jesus in the valley. And we, you know, a lot of us, a
(42:55):
lot of us don't find Jesus at the mountaintop because it's too
hard to see, you know, because you're so psyched about the fact
that you climb the mountain. But but when I climbed it, it
felt, it felt hopeless to a certain degree.
I couldn't see the beauty because I didn't feel connected
to Jesus in the way that I needed to.
So when he met me there and said, this is what you're
(43:18):
missing, you know, it was like, I'll take you, I'll be with you
in the valley too. Let's go back down.
And as we're as we're back down there in the darkness, like I'm
I'm going to be there just as much as I was up top.
Yeah. You know, and it's like, wow,
that's that's where you start toreally feel safe and vulnerable
and, and where a man can go frombeing a strong athlete that
(43:40):
needs to present a specific thing to the world starts to go.
I don't need to protect that because Jesus has me.
He can be the hero. So I don't have to, you know,
and that's where, where you start to feel free freedom is
pursuing being like Jesus, not being Jesus, you know, to
people. He could be the hero.
(44:01):
He could be the hero. So we don't have to be.
That's right, we. Can just point to him be like
hey I don't have enough for you.But Jesus does, man.
Preach, brother, bring it. Well, that man, this has been so
good. I've loved learning more about
your life. I've loved learning about how
God has been there in the midst of it all.
And I'm reminded at the very beginning of this time to pull
(44:23):
it full circle. You mentioned watching your dad
read through the Bible every year, year after year after
year, and I just want to leave with this.
We can never exhaust God. You know that That word of God
is a living word. It meets us where we are.
And I just want to encourage thelisteners out there to to
(44:44):
understand that Jesus is available to you on the
mountains, in the valleys, and everywhere in between.
He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.
There's nowhere we can be where he's not there also.
So Ben, thank you so much. You were an inspiration.
Thanks for everything you're doing.
Hey, how can my listeners find you and be supportive with
(45:05):
everything you're doing with Champion?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can, you can follow
champion forward on Instagram. It's just championforward.org on
the website as well. You know, I'm on Instagram.
I don't do a lot on there. I honestly, and I, I, I've been
doing a lot of speaking lately. I really enjoy going out and
speaking, whether it's to churches, whether it's to, you
know, schools, colleges, even businesses teams.
(45:29):
I do a lot of speaking. I enjoy that.
It's really exciting for me to try to inspire people in
wherever they are in their journey.
So whether they're needing a little bit of an inspiration to
like, let's get it or they need an inspiration to realize that,
hey, it's, it's rough, but Jesusis with you.
Like I want to, I want to share my story and use it for God's
glory and, and for encouraging people to to keep on keeping on,
(45:52):
you know, in his in his ways. That's awesome you guys check
him out doing great things in the world and just appreciate
you being here with me. Best of luck.
Hey, never know, might see you in Cooperstown one day.
Thanks, Chad. Appreciate you, man.
Thanks, Ben. Thank you for listening to the
Rev RX Podcast. We hope you enjoyed what you
heard today and if so, we'd loveit if you would hit that
(46:14):
subscribe button so that you'll never miss a new episode from
us. Also, feel free to leave us
reviews and comments as we'd love to hear from you.
Be blessed and be the very best you.
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