Behind The Mike Podcast
Behind The Mike Podcast is a Christ-centered show where host Mike Stone dives deep into inspiring stories and profound insights from guests who view life through a biblical lens. Each episode offers hope, encouragement and wisdom to help you navigate life's challenges with faith and purpose.
Tune in for conversations that uplift your spirit and strengthen your walk with Christ.
Send your questions or topics to Mike@BehindTheMike.net
The podcast is also available on YouTube at
https://youtube.com/@behindthemikepodcast
Behind The Mike Podcast
Reds Outfielder Jake Fraley: Faith, Family, & Facing Leukemia
Reds outfielder Jake Fraley gets REAL on Behind The Mike! Go beyond the baseball diamond with Jake as he opens up about:
- The emotional rollercoaster of playing at Wrigley Field while his 5-year-old daughter battles leukemia.
- Balancing faith as a Christian athlete in the demanding world of Major League Baseball.
- The daily grind of being a husband, dad, and professional athlete – and finding success in all areas.
- Staying positive in the face of immense challenges.
This episode is an inspiring story of resilience, faith, and the unwavering love of family. You won't want to miss it!
#Reds #MLB #Baseball #Motivation #Faith #Family #Leukemia #Overcomer
Subscribe for more exclusive interviews with a biblical worldview!
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:58 - Playing at Wrigley Field in Chicago
02:48 - Life in Cincinnati
04:43 - Being a Husband & Father on the Road
12:30 - What Happened in Philadelphia with a Philly Fan?
17:01 - Jake & Angelica Learning of Their Daughter's Leukemia Diagnosis
30:04 - If God is Loving, Why Cancer?
35:58 - Closing Comments
Hey friends, welcome to another exciting episode of Behind the Mic Podcast. Today we're thrilled to have Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jake Fraley joining us In this can't miss conversation. Jake opens up about his journey in baseball, the highs and the lows of being a husband and a dad on the road, and the unexpected challenges that his family has recently faced. Whether you're a diehard baseball fan or just love a great story of resilience and heart, this episode promises to be both inspiring and captivating. Stay tuned as we make a diving catch deep in right field with Jake Fraley right here on Behind the Mic Podcast. All right, well, joining us today, one of my favorite guys playing for my favorite team. It's Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jake Fraley. Jake, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:No, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. So you guys are in Chicago as we are recording this. You had a game yesterday afternoon at the famed Wrigley Field. I can't imagine you I mean I can't imagine walking into Great American Ballpark every day. But Wrigley Field, I mean, there's some history there and you had a good game and scored a run, got a hit. But I saw a highlight reel of you doing something that I can only dream of and that is catching a great. It was a great catch in right field and you had to pull yourself out of the famed ivy at Wrigley Field. Yeah, does that even faze you anymore? I mean, you've been doing this for a little while now.
Speaker 2:What was that like? No, it's. You never get used to getting to go to Wrigley Field and nonetheless, a day game at Wrigley Field is very, very special. I tell all the guys that I have the opportunity of playing alongside that are going to Wrigley for the first time, to just explain to them ahead of time you're getting ready to experience something that's pretty special. Wow, it reminds me of being in the Little League game again as a little kid. When you go out there for day games at Wrigley, it's literally the epitome of baseball. It doesn't get any better than that. You don't get used to it. It's a pretty cool experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure, being a Reds fan, there's a lot of history with the Reds too. You were with the Mariners for a while. What's Cincinnati like for you guys? You guys are living there now. Are you still in Miami or are you, um, also just living in in Cincinnati?
Speaker 2:No, no, we're, we're splitting time between Miami Miami's is is home for us, Um, and then we, uh, and then obviously, we're in Cincinnati during the season, um, but we, we love Cincinnati, uh, I mean it's, it's been an awesome experience um, over you know this being our third year now um, it's been uh, very refreshing. Um, I think is a good, a good word to put to it Um, coming from, uh, a place like Seattle, um, that is very beautiful, very beautiful place and um, but you know there's a lot of stuff over there that me and my family don't quite align with, but it was a good experience. We've built relationships over there that I still hold and cherish very dear to me. But, man, cincinnati has been awesome, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a great city, midwestern, but, man, there's not much that you can't do in Cincinnati and great family atmosphere. Great American ballpark has got to be a joy to play in for your, you know, being your home team.
Speaker 1:So well so I want to. I want to touch on a couple of things I watched. I watched watched a couple of interviews that you did, one with Jim Day, who of course, I'm a fan of as well over the years but it was a video of you with Jim and you were leaving to go to Great American Ballpark, got in your truck and took off with the big spikes on the tires and everything, and Jim talked about that as well. But you know you were going to the ballpark this trip. You actually left your family to go to Chicago.
Speaker 2:What's that like?
Speaker 1:As a traveling guy, leaving family for work that's hard to do, but you have to do that a lot. What's that like for you? Leaving your family? It sucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean leaving your family.
Speaker 1:It sucks yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's no way around it.
Speaker 2:It's my least favorite part of my job, but it's part of it and it's something that I think, along with a lot of other things in life. I think it's something that the Lord has used to really father me and really walk me through some things that are in my heart that I need you know. Fathering to um, so, as much as it sucks, I think it, uh, you know like the Lord uses um, very, very many things that suck and are awful, um, but turn it around for his glory, um, and I've been able to see that, you know, over the years of, uh, you know I've been doing this for a handful of years now, right, and it's been um, there's been a lot of things that have have turned out, of being away from my family and being by myself, for you know we play 162 games and 82 of them are are on the road, right and um, all of that time on the road and spending time as far away as I could possibly go being, you know, games on the West Coast and the time changes and spending.
Speaker 2:You know, when we go on those West Coast trips, I mean by the time the game ends, you know my wife and kids are already fast asleep and then the next morning we wake up and you know I got maybe an hour because, again, because of the time change and I'm talking to him and then I'm right back to the field. And so you know, when you have those long trips like that, there's not very much time to talk and um, but, like I said, it's uh, it's it sucks, it's it stinks, but um, you know, the Lord has really used it to, to really father me in quite a few areas of my heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as a dad, I totally get that and as a dad, you know, I think that for me it helped me to understand how precious my family is, because sometimes when you're around, it takes stuff for granted. You know, even family. But yeah, it's, uh, it's gotta be how. What kind of advice do you have for for other dads that are doing that, or maybe moms too, like, how do you connect?
Speaker 1:with your kids and your wife. You know, especially, like you said, on those West coast trips, where you're, you're hitting what? Three or four ballparks on on one trip series.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, cause I mean, like you just said, I'm not the only one that's having to deal. There's quite a few professions that involve a lot of traveling, in the same instances of what I'm dealing with with my job. I just think that making sure that you this has come up quite a bit in the last week but making sure you have the proper order of things in your life and when I say order I mean just like when you're on the road making sure that you know, at least for me, you know other people's schedules might be different, different, but for me, in the mornings, first things I do is is I get alone in my secret place with the father um to spend time with him with. I do not have the bible with me, to start, I don't have my phone, it's literally just me making sure that my heart is postured at him and my mind is is clear and I don't have any distractions and I'm and I just want to be in his presence. And after I spend that quiet time with him, then I get into the word with him and then after that, you know that being the first thing I immediately, you know, get time with my family, right, whether it's 30 minutes or a couple hours maybe that day I'm fortunate enough to have a couple hours but FaceTime, texting, making sure that I'm spending it's not quality time because you're not. It's not quite the quality time that it would be, obviously, if you're in person, but it's the next best thing, right? So, that being the quality time that's available to me with the situation I'm in, making sure I'm utilizing it.
Speaker 2:So, I think, for those that are traveling, just making sure that again, speaking back to the order, just making sure that you're spending that time with your father and then making sure that you're making time for your wife and kids, because it can get very easy to get sucked into the schedule of being on the road. And the next thing, you know it's like man, I haven't even checked in or asked. You know my wife how she's doing, right? Because, like I know, I'm experiencing all the all of the emotions and the feelings of being away from my family. But you know, my wife is at home taking care of two kids by herself. Oh, and, by the way, for me, she's also handling a little girl that's battling cancer as well.
Speaker 2:And so when you add in the things that life throws at you that everybody else is dealing with as well. Right, Because everybody's going through some type of extreme darkness. It's just that extreme darkness looks different, right, For me and my wife. It's my daughter battling cancer and then for someone else it might be a divorce, it might be a death, it might be a porn addiction. Whatever it may be, everybody's battling it.
Speaker 2:So I think for me to be able to put myself into that proper order and making sure that I'm checking in with my wife to make sure that she's okay how is she feeling in with my wife to make sure that she's okay, how is she feeling? Making sure that she feels seen and heard, and then giving her that time for us to be able to just talk and discuss how the day's gone, how the coming days are going to go, what the plans are, just to kind of keep that intimacy alive between us, the same way that you want to spend that time with the Lord when you wake up. Right, because that's that intimacy that you have with your Father, and when you have that intimacy, it's everything right. That's what Scripture is telling, that's the heart of the Scripture. Jesus wants that intimacy, seeking that intimacy with us. So just making sure that you have that order properly set out for you and then making sure you stick to it.
Speaker 1:Boy. That's great advice. Great advice. I want to shift gears here. You mentioned your daughter.
Speaker 1:We want to talk about that because that's been something that you didn't ask for. That Nobody does, but we want to, especially for those who are maybe not Reds fans. You had an incident that I want to talk about. That I think a thing that a lot of people who are not Christ followers have this erroneous idea that we're supposed to be or that we think we're perfect. You had a not-so-perfect night in Philly a while back and I heard you also talking about this as well.
Speaker 1:But I want to make this clear to those who are listening who find that conflicting how can he do that if he's a Christian? I want to be the first to say none of us are perfect. None of us should be claiming to be perfect, because that's why we need Jesus. But I want to give you a chance here on the podcast to just briefly touch on that. I know that you're always being heckled by fans. Every game I've ever gone to somebody's being heckled. But yeah, it got personal for you. Can you talk through that and why? I don't want to say that was, that was acceptable, but, um, I want to give you a chance to just talk to that and and explain yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Um, you know you, you do have heckling at every single game, especially in the big leagues. You know, I had it in college. And then it's, um, you know the same thing. In in the big leagues, Some cities are worse than others. I think Philly is up there as probably one of the worst, if not the worst. I've been into that stadium more than a handful of times in my career.
Speaker 2:It's always the same thing, the heckling, you know, standard as far as talking about you, talking about your career, your performance, how your night's going, Um, and then they'll go a step further and they'll they'll talk about your wife, your sister, your mother, um, you know normal stuff. Um, you know normal stuff. And, uh, that particular night, um, you know I was hearing all the normal things and then, you know, somebody had mentioned something about my kids, Um, and they went a little bit more personal and said something directly about my kids and I don't know, I just I saw red and I kind of just lost it in the moment and it's kind of. You know, all of us have, especially as men and as fathers, right, you have something that is instilled in us from the Lord of being the protector of your family Absolutely. And I think that instinct just kind of flared up in me and I think, in that moment, you know, you do something that is, um, that you feel is necessary, but then, like you had mentioned, you get to the backside of the situation and it's done and over with and it's like I don't know if that was quite acceptable behavior on the fact of, uh, you know, given the situation, um, right, Because it's not like, it's not like your, your kids are put in direct harm, or anything like that.
Speaker 2:You know, these are just words that are being said and so I think in the moment, you know, it felt like the protective side of, you know, being a father kind of came out. But again, like when you're looking back on it, um, you know, you, it's not something that I haven't been used to or, uh, it was something new to me at the time. You know, it's something that I've dealt with my entire career. As far as the heckling side of things and, um, you know, I think it's just again like what you said. It's uh, you know, none of us are perfect and and we all have moments, um, where you, you kind of struggle with a certain situation and and sometimes things you know, actions come out of the other side, that that again, like you said, aren't acceptable, um, but they still happen, Right and um. I just think that you know that was just one of those situations for myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I want to say too, as a Reds fan, as a uh, a lover of sports, um, you know, I want to say too, as a Reds fan, as a lover of sports you know I've had the chance to talk to NASCAR drivers and some other people that you guys are in a fishbowl, and that's right off the bat. That's a little bit unfair, because Jake Fraley, sitting in Chicago, doesn't see what my day was just like or what I just did. Jake Fraley, sitting in Chicago, doesn't see what my day was just like or what I just did. I'm not happy about some of those things either, but I'm not on national TV.
Speaker 1:You guys are on Fox today or tonight you know for the nation to see and that's a bit unfair that you are under the microscope, but it comes with the territory, I guess, and I don't get to catch balls up against the Ivy and Wrigley though either.
Speaker 2:So I want to do.
Speaker 1:I appreciate your response to that because I know a lot of people do feel like you know we're supposed to be perfect or we think we are, and I think most of us that really are true believers would admit that that's exactly why we're believers is that we need Jesus every minute of the day, so thank you for that, jake.
Speaker 1:Jake, jake, I want to. I want to talk about what you brought up previously. So last fall, I believe, the season was over you were looking forward to just probably heading back to Miami and spending some off season with your family. Didn't go as planned, though, and can you? Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, didn't go as planned, though, and uh, can you, can you talk about that? Yeah, um, so we had, uh, about a month, last month of the season, um, we had noticed, uh, it was just one day out of the blue my, my daughter, was walking and it was kind of like she was dragging her foot a little bit, but it wasn't extremely drastic by any means. I mean, honestly, if somebody was watching her that wasn't me or her mother, I don't think you would have really noticed. But the fact that we obviously are around her, we see how she walks, we see how she carries herself, it was something that we immediately picked up on and it was just kind of something that we noted and was like, hey, let's keep an eye on this, it's kind of weird. And it got to a point where, maybe a week later, she started complaining about, you know, her foot hurting, and then it was like part of her leg was hurting and about a week of that kind of went on and then we went on a road trip to New York.
Speaker 2:Angelica and the kids went back home and Angelica was doing something in the kitchen. There was a blanket on the ground at our home and Avery basically just walked over the blanket but the blanket um kind of like slipped out from under her so she kind of had like a little banana peel fall and um, you know, it wasn't anything crazy, like she wasn't, you know, jumping off of anything or coming down from. You know, it was just a normal walking, there was no height involved and uh, she basically, you know, banana peeled, fell on her tailbone and um, you know, she did what any other kid would do and she cried and you know, uh, kind of the situation came and passed and, um, she went and was put on the couch and from that point on, like I think she said, she said you know she needed to go do something and she needed angelica because she didn't want to walk.
Speaker 2:And then, from that point forward, it was just like boom, like she was just like I'm not walking anywhere, like she was like I can't walk, I'm in too much pain. And uh, from that point forward, um, we started getting, you know, very concerned. I mean I it wasn't a you know crazy fall, but you know I'm I'm guessing this fall was maybe worse than we, than we thought. I guess she kind of hit her bone at a certain point, certain angle, and then I guess it maybe did something. And we went to a pediatrician in in Cincinnati and, um, we had x-rays taken and they took like one angle of the x-ray and it wasn't a very clear picture and he just kind of deemed it as you know there's nothing wrong with her she's fine, like she'll be okay in a couple weeks.
Speaker 2:And a couple weeks went by and she still wasn't walking and she was just in a lot of pain. And even when she was like trying to walk, like her gait was like super messed up. I don't know if you know what I mean when I say her gait, but like her hip alignment was like super off and really weird and she couldn't even barely take one step cause she was in so much pain. And you know, fast forward, season ends and we go back home and at this point we're like trying to figure out like okay, like what are we going to do? Um, and we we got some suggestions of different styles of chiropractors. So we took her to a couple different chiropractors.
Speaker 2:Um, she seemed to get like a little bit of relief, um, with one of the chiropractors for like maybe a day after seeing this man, but nothing, you know, was really helping. And so we eventually took her to the Children's Hospital in Miami and we were able to see the head of the orthopedics there and he was a spine surgeon. And so we went in, saw, saw him. They ended up taking multiple angles of x-rays. Uh, finally, um, and also ordered an mri, so mri came back like it was a complete mri, of her whole body.
Speaker 2:Mri was perfectly fine, there was nothing that was abnormal and the x-rays of the different angles came back and they said you know, we think we might see there's like a little bridge, like a little gap in her l5. Um, that could be like a micro fracture and it's low enough to where that is probably the area that she landed on when she fell. Yeah, um, and they're like, look like this kind of makes sense, with her having a fall and having pain walking, and they're like we're going to give you a back brace and basically just have her wear this back brace. Um, and it should start to clear up in the next two weeks and she should, you know, start slowly walking again. So we went back home and she uh, started wearing this back brace. She started wearing this back brace and after about five days of wearing the back brace she started getting these debilitating back spasms and so we started getting freaked out by that. Took her to the emergency room. Emergency room didn't really do much, basically, just kind of reiterated everything that the orthopedic doctor said. We went back home and they gave us muscle relaxers for her to try and help with the back spasms and we kind of gave it.
Speaker 2:I think it was like maybe two or three days after that and the back spasms continued, but they got worse. She would be waking up in a dead sleep in the middle of the night and she'd knees shoot to her chest, screaming, and it would be like an hour-long session until we could finally get her knees to drop back down and her straighten back out and be okay. I remember me and her getting to a point where it was so bad and I was like you know what I was like put her on the bed and turn her, me and her getting to a point where it was. It was like so bad and I was like you know what I was like. I was like put her on the bed and turn her over on her stomach and I want to, I want to watch her back. And so we took her shirt off, put her on her stomach and, within like 30 seconds of putting her on the bed, like it was so bad.
Speaker 2:The back spasms were so bad that, like it literally looked like spiders were running through her back, like her whole back was just contracting like non-stop, and so after that happened, I was like we're going to the hospital, I was like we're going back to the emergency room, and so I I had a connection with um, a person that was on the board of the children's hospital.
Speaker 2:So when we got there, we didn't have to wait, we went right into the er.
Speaker 2:The room was waiting for us, the orthopedic surgeon was already there waiting for us, and we get in there and they're still talking about her back, um, her, her, what was considered a micro fracture, right, and at this point they were talking about, like you know, I think we should put her in a uh, basically like a, a hard cast from her waist down, so like she was basically going to be like her legs were going to be like kind of like pushed out and she wouldn't be able to move or walk for a couple weeks.
Speaker 2:And I was like that's a little drastic. But I was like you know what? I was like we've tried everything, we've looked at everything, but there's only one thing that we haven't done this whole time. And I was like we've tried everything, we've looked at everything, but there's only one thing that we haven't done this whole time. And I was like we haven't done any blood work, wow, and they kind of gave us a little pushback and they were like I don't think we need to do any blood work. I don't know why we would need to do blood work and I'm like look, I was like it's the only thing that we haven't done.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like we're going to do blood work and I was like and if this blood work comes back, fine, I will be all ears for your you know idea for this cast thing.
Speaker 1:And like she's five, right? I mean she's like five years old, is that right? Yeah, she's five, yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow. And so they went ahead and they later and they were like, yeah, she has leukemia and that was the reason for everything that she was experiencing.
Speaker 1:Wow, what do you do in that moment as a mom and a dad, even with the things that were going on? That had to be the furthest thing from your mind. Was something that serious? I mean, as far as you guys knew, she, she took a spell, a spill on the floor and things happened from there. But obviously, it was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was, those were symptoms. Yeah, I mean, we had, we had. You know, we both were thinking that, and more my wife than than really me um, we're were thinking that something wasn't right with her body, just because even before the fall, she was starting to show very weird symptoms of again, her hip, her gait being messed up, the dragging of the foot, the foot, um, the foot pain, the leg pain, the hip pain, um, and even more so, uh, you know, we, looking back on it, you know, once we got, you know finally, the diagnosis and and walking through it, initially, we were kind of like looking back on everything and you know, she was sleeping an abnormally amount, like her body was showing signs that something wasn't right. So, I mean, I feel like we had something in the back of our minds. We just obviously didn't want to accept that it was something, you know, as drastic as that, sure.
Speaker 1:So Did you guys question God at that point?
Speaker 2:No, we didn't.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember, um, them pulling us into the room Cause obviously they didn't want to say it in front of her, cause I mean, she's young but she, you know, she still can understand things. And they pulled us into a back room and or the first they came in and they were like hey, like uh, the doctor wants to see you in in another room. And we were like, I mean, and at this point Avery is still having debilitating back spasms, she's very uncomfortable and I'm like, no, the doctor can come in here, I'm not leaving Avery in here by herself and she's going to freak out as soon as we leave the room. And I was like, just have the doctor come in here. And she was like, no, I think you need to go in the other room. And at that point I think me and angelica kind of knew that this was something that was very serious. So we were like, all right, let's go to the room.
Speaker 2:Um, and I remember walking back to the room and, uh, you know, as soon as he told us, you know, I just pulled her into me, we listened to what he said, we said all right. And then I remember walking back to avery's room and I remember, you know, holding her hand and just looking at her and just being like, you know the Lord, the Lord has this. You know he's gonna walk us through this and I remember being in that moment and just because that's where relationship comes in, right, that's where, um, that's where that intimacy comes in, with knowing the father, um, because if I don't know who my father is in that moment, that's where the confusion comes in. Um, you know, it's kind of like if I were to tell my son to do something that he didn't understand, um, that was something very drastic or, you know, whatever it may be, you know, I think in that moment, if my son didn't have a relationship with me as his father, you know it would cause a lot of confusion in him, right, To put it in practical terms.
Speaker 2:And, um, and I see that a lot like day to day, like I tell my son to do things all the time and he looks at me like I have three heads on me, but he still does it, and the reason why he does it is because he has a relationship with me.
Speaker 2:He knows that what I'm telling him is the truth. He knows that what I'm telling him is not to hurt him, it's to give him strength, it's to give him guidance, and it's no different than that with with our father. And so I think in that moment it was, um, you know, definitely, obviously the scariest moment of me and my wife's life, but also the most comforting part of our lives, I think, because you're not able to receive comfort unless you're going through something tough. And I think in that moment, having going through the toughest part of our lives to that point, was when we were able to experience the most comfort that we've ever felt from the Lord, was when we were able to experience the most comfort that we've ever felt from the Lord. And again, you're not able to receive or feel that comfort if you don't have that intimacy and that relationship with the Father.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's so good, and I think that really puts into perspective the question that so many people ask believers and unbelievers is why, god, why are you doing this to me? And we live in a fallen world, you know, and that's really what it comes down to is we're not supposed to, as believers, expect that God's going to create this nice, easy path for us and bless us every day. We're in this for the long haul and it's a fight. This is a spiritual battle and, man, that was good Jake. I think that that really helps, especially you and your son. That analogy there. It was so great to be able to help us to see that from a different angle, so really good stuff.
Speaker 2:I love what you said there about that we live in a broken world, because that's been a very common thing, as I've walked through this with the Lord Right, because there's such a—and we can call it what it is.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's no reason to bounce around it, and I'm sure you've seen it quite a bit too. There's a lot of confusion, I feel like in the church and in the body of Christ, as far as a real understanding of who God is and the world that we live in. There's a huge question that is always a question that is proposed with people who are not believers, but as well as people who are believers that don't really know, who the Father is and don't know the Scripture.
Speaker 2:But understanding that question of if God is is so good, why does he allow all these things to happen? And that's right, it's, it's. I mean, it's a very common question and, as the body of christ and as believers, we need to understand that, yes, like our God is the creator of the universe, the Alpha, the Omega. He is able to do anything and everything, far above our ability to fathom or wrap our minds around what he's capable of. But at the same time, we live, like you said, in a broken world. We live, like you said, in a broken world. We live in a world that is full of sickness and sin and death and just nasty things.
Speaker 2:Yes, he does stick his hand in on things and he does ordain things, but at the same time, we live in a world where we have free will choice. Right, because if he was just going to stick his hand and ordain absolutely everything and make it exactly how everything he wants it to go, like it would be a dictatorship. There would be no source of love. Right, and that's the biggest thing, because when we as believers can live in a world like that but yet still cling to the father, like that's where that love is created, that's where that love is established and um, you know, and it's crazy because like you read through, you read through, um, you read through the new testament. You hear jesus tell us, you know so many times that you know you're gonna have trouble in this world that's right, it's like he, I mean he.
Speaker 2:I mean it's very straight, it's right in front of your face and, um, I think that we, as believers, like really need to take that to heart, like it's something that's not easy to swallow, but we need to swallow it, the same way that you know, when jesus was in the garden, like and, and he was like Lord, can you, if you, if you will take this cup away from me, but no, let your will be done and it's like I don't want to experience this, but I want to because it's with you, yeah, and, and I think that's everything, and I think that, um, when we can understand that it's freeing, right, like the truth will set you free in a way, right, and absolutely
Speaker 2:and, and it's crazy because when you can finally understand kind of the way it all operates with our world and with our father, um, it brings us to that place of just uh, of just complete comfort and knowing that like it doesn't matter what situation I'm in, it doesn't matter, god did not give my daughter cancer, it's just again, it's the world we live in. But God is able to turn her situation of sickness into His name being glorified.
Speaker 2:That's right, and that's amazing, and even more so. That's the only thing that matters. His name being glorified is the only thing that matters. Yeah, and I don't think you get to that place unless you get alone with him. You get to know who he is, you have that intimacy with him, you learn about his character and when you do that, you're able to put yourself in a situation where it doesn't matter what you are going through in your life I mean, I don't care what situation you are going through, even as bad as your daughter having cancer and this cancer, you know, could kill her but yet I know that I can still walk in joy, peace and happiness, despite the circumstances. That's right, and that's what it means to be a believer. That's what it means to live out the good news. That's what it means to live out the Scripture in your life and what Jesus is seeking for in that relationship with us as his adopted children.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a sermon right there. You ever thought about going into?
Speaker 1:preaching A lot of guys go into broadcasting. I think maybe you should look at down the road when it's time to retire. Man, that is good stuff and I think that really is. It's a big question that most people have believers or unbelievers, and I think a lot of unbelievers. That's why they throw that one out right away is, if God's so loving, why? And fill in the blank, and I think you nailed it right there. It's very, very true. Wow, Jake, thank you so much. I honestly love talking to you.
Speaker 1:You I know that you have got a bus leaving and and uh, you got a game to play, uh, work to do this afternoon and this evening and we'll be watching on fox, um, but uh, listen, uh, we. Thank you so much for your time. I would love to have you back anytime, yeah um and and invite angelica um, maybe sneak a peek at your kids and say hi to them.
Speaker 1:But we will be praying for you and so many of you on the team and you know 20-plus other teams that are doing the same thing all the time leaving their families behind that God would protect them, god would give you all a peace that he's with them and he's watching over them. And thank you for what you're doing, thank you for not shying back from the word, the gospel, and for living it out. And even those times when we mess up, I love that you're just transparent and you're honest and that you're so willing to just share the love of God. So, um, yeah, jake, thank you for for being on. Um, we look forward to maybe having you back sometime. I predict, uh, a sweep in Chicago for the reds and I think even tonight on Fox I. I think tonight Jake Fraley is going to have a big night. So, um, box, I think tonight Jake Fraley's going to have a big night.
Speaker 1:So I'll be watching and we'll see what the Lord does there. So thanks so much, Jake. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, thank you.
