Strawberry  

   How's that for a last name? We wonder if Darryl Strawberry faced razzing in elementary school.

   If he did, it was nothing compared to the hell he experienced at home. His father was an abusive alcoholic. He and his brother dealt with fear night after night.  

   Once when he was 14, his father came home drunk, drew a shotgun and threatened to kill the family. Darryl and brother picked up a butcher knife and a frying pan. Their mother encouraged the boys to leave the house, preventing tragedy. 

   Darryl says, "Most people don't understand that brokenness is real and it happens behind closed doors." 

   Strawberry carried pain into professional baseball, hitting 335 home runs for the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees in the 1980s and '90s, and winning four World Series rings. Though successful and popular, he felt broken inside. 

   He tried to cope with drugs and alcohol, getting in trouble with the league and the law. We remember those publicized stories, and our opinion was grand-slam negative. No grace or mercy from us. 

   Darryl recalls, "My pain led me to greatness, and my greatness led me to destructive behavior. I was buying more homes, more cars, more stuff to fill that void inside. None of it ever fills the void. 

   He found himself hiding behind the celebrity athlete. Who was he when the game ended? 

   Reading his late mother's journal, he saw that she prayed for him her whole life. Strawberry struggled with faith until he met Tracy, whom he married in 2006. He fully realized he had to take off the "uniform" and discover who he really was as a man. 

   Darryl now appreciates his childhood trauma, incarceration, addiction, cancer and other obstacles. "My life has changed dramatically because of my faith," he says, "operating in it and living it. Not just talking about it, but actually living it."

   He preaches the gospel across the country 250 days a year, focused on mentoring young people. 

   Strawberry's latest book is, "Turn Your Season Around." It includes biblical principles and practical steps. "Every day can be a new opportunity to succeed, develop and grow even in the midst of mistakes and failures." 

Source: The Epoch Times

      Jimmy