- Baseball fans know allabout the Mets' epic comeback

during the '86 world series.

Darryl Strawberry was partof that championship team.

And yet he's quick to say that was not

the biggest comeback of his life.

So what was?

Take a look.

(gentle music)

- [Reporter] Legendary baseballPlayer, Darryl Strawberry

was extremely successfulin his sports career.

He won four World Series titles

and appeared in eight All-Star Games.

But off the field, thisbaseball icon struggled

with addiction, abuse, and even jail time,

until he found trueredemption and restoration

in Jesus Christ.

In his book, "Turn Your Season Around",

Darryl shares how you canovercome life's adversities too

by making small daily decisions.

- You know you got issues,you know you got stuff.

Give it to God and let, become a man.

- [Reporter] To followGod into a life of faith,

health, and freedom.

- Well, joining us now viaSkype is Darryl Strawberry.

Wonderful to have you with us.

Welcome back to "The 700 Club".

- Thank you for having me, Terry.

It's great to be with you guys.

- Well Darryl, we'vementioned your accolades,

All-Star outfielder, Rookie of the Year,

Mets Hall of Famer,

and yet you title achapter in your new book,

Redefine Your Identity.

So what is your redefined identity?

- Redefine your identity iswho God created you to be.

I think we get so consumed

with the fact of all theseearthly things that we achieve,

and at the end of theday, it's meaningless,

just like King Solomon saidin the book of Ecclesiastes.

You know, he was talking abouthow everything is meaningless

under the sun without God.

So what is he saying?

That means everything elsehas gotta pass away, even you,

but God is always gonna still be the same

and he's gonna always do what he does,

and he changes peoples,he transforms their life

into the greatness ofwhat he's called us for

to be able to do great kingdom work,

so, you know, I had everything.

I was privileged my whole life,

lived behind community gates.

My kids were privileged,

but at the same time Ihad the wrong identity.

I had the identity of me beinga celebrity baseball player,

but today, you know,in my book and my life

it's the man of Christ.

That's who I am,

and that's what I always want it to be.

- Your baseball career is usually seen

as the case study in what could have been.

I know there had to be a period of time

where you had regret about that.

How did you move past the regret

to be able to move positively forward?

- Well, I don't think I'veever had regrets about it,

what could have been,because it was supposed to be

what it's supposed to be.

My journey was what it was

because of the brokenness of my life,

and when you're separatedand you're broken,

you live a sinful life

and you're supposed to gothrough some type of journey,

and I went through it.

And what could have been turned out to be

what my mother prayed for.

My mother prayed that God would save me

in the midst of her dying.

She prayed that God wouldbring salvation to me.

And that was the most important thing.

And then my wife, Tracy,comes along in my life

and she leads me back to the Lord.

And there it is.

God sits me for seven yearsand then he transforms me

and then he sends me out to be evangelist,

because I was never equipped.

And the Bible says, "Mypeople perish because of lack

of knowledge and nounderstanding of God's word,"

and that's why I was perishingfrom a worldly standpoint.

- You became a Christian duringa convention back in 1991

but there were stillyears there where you were

a slave to sin that existed in your life.

What was happeningduring that time for you?

- Well, I think what was happening,

I had the experience in theconversion of accepting Christ

like most of us do whenwe come down to the altar,

but do you have the revelation,which is discipleship?

If you don't get discipled, you go back

to the familiar because youhave nothing to work with.

There is no biblical principles,

understanding of theknowledge of God's word

that's downloaded inside of you.

It has to get down inside of you

so you can be equipped to fight the enemy,

and if you don't havethat, you're gonna go back

to the familiar of what life is all about,

so I went back foranother, what, 10, 15 years

or whatever, lost, broken,

until I got pulled out of the pit by God,

and he put me in a pulpit,

and eventually my life wouldbecome what it is today,

to win souls today for the kingdom of God.

- Darryl, I think thathappens to so many people.

They have that point wherethey make a commitment

and they expect their livesto turn right then and there.

And when it doesn't, they get discouraged

and feel like God doesn't love them,

that maybe they're not good enough.

What was the turning point for you?

- Well, that's a good point,

'cause God loves youno matter who you are.

God loves you in all the mess.

You look at all the people inthe Bible, they had issues,

and and God loved them throughit and used them mightily.

Moses' speech impediment, usedhim to lead the Israelites

out of bondage.

And you look at my life.

The turning point in my life

was my wife Tracy coming into my life.

She was strong in herfaith, and I watched her

and I watched her follow God.

And I kept looking at her and I said,

"God, I want what she has," and God said,

"Well, you gonna haveto spend time with me."

And that's when I went intoa consecration with God

and I actually started spending time

and separated myselffrom the worldly things

and the trophies and allthe things I achieved,

and I got into the Bible.

And it's in the word of God, you know.

It's the Bible that liberates you.

God rescued me, redeemedme, and restored me,

but everything...

You come to a place ofliberation when you put the word

down inside of you,download the scriptures.

And that's what Billy Graham said.

Most Christians are not having victory

because they don't know scriptures.

The powers are in scripturesand in the word of God.

And I learned to study the word of God.

I learned to be with God.

I learned to hear from God andI learned to do God's will.

- Yeah, that's so important.

There's a very powerful,poignant moment in your book

where you talk aboutforgiving your father,

but then coming to aplace of understanding.

You needed to ask himto forgive you as well.

Talk about that.

- Yeah, that was a brokensituation for a very long time,

and I kept him out of myentire career and my lifestyle

when I was a professional athlete.

Then God saves me, and I'mgoing to do a men's conference

in California, and God speaksto me on a Friday night.

My father is down inhospital in San Diego,

and he speaks to me about goingand repenting to my father

and asking him to forgive me

for keeping him out of my life and career.

And I was kind of shocked,

but I called my wifeand she prayed over me.

She says, "You need to do whatGod has called you to do."

So I go down there and I seemy father and I asked him.

I didn't talk aboutanything that he did to me.

I said, "Will you forgive me?"

And I come to you

and ask for forgivenessfor all that I've done

to keep you out of my life and my career.

And he shook his hand and said yes,

and a tear came down his eye.

I just lost it.

I lost it, I laid in hislap, I just cried so hard.

Then God said, "Raiseup," and there it was.

In the midst of all the broken pieces,

God was starting toput them back together.

I was leading him to theLord in sinner prayer

and led him to the Lord.

Then a few months later,he goes on and passed

and goes home to be with the Lord.

So God reminded me about forgiveness.

The forgiveness was not for my father.

The forgiveness was for me.

That's why I stayed broken for so long.

- Boy, and obedience issuch a powerful thing.

I mean, when we listen towhat God's telling us to do

and we do it,

it just is widespread in its impact.

Great book, Darryl.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

It's great to see you.

Your new book is called"Turn Your Season Around".

It's available nationwide.

I think you'd all enjoy it very much.

Thanks for being with us.

Great to have you here.

- Thanks for having me.

God bless you guys.

- [Terry] You too.