By Kayla DeKraker
White Sox pitcher Fraser Ellard is familiar with grief, but he also knows the God who carries him through it.
On the “Sports Spectrum Podcast,” the athlete shared that he was raised in a Christian family, but his dad’s death when he was 13 rocked his world.
“Through that grief, through that pain, I kind of [had to] get honest with myself. I was like there has to be something that, like, this is for, like, there has to be a purpose, right?” he said on the podcast.
During Easter of 2011, Ellard heard a message from Pastor Louis Giglio that touched him greatly.
“[He] was talking about how, like, just painting the picture of the true suffering, and like, what that means for God that comes down and gives you that kind of, like, love and sacrifice and the pain that He went through,” he explained. “So, I was just really struck by that. And so, I gave my life to Jesus when I was 13, there on that Easter service.”
Ellard’s relationship with God was a journey as he navigated grief, but he learned some important lessons about life.
“I think the biggest thing that I learned was…there’s going to be hardship, there’s going to be struggle, there’s going to be…death and things that…don’t make sense from the worldly perspective. But through that all, like, how can we praise God? How can we praise Jesus? Because at the end of the day, like, every drop of like pain that we feel is like an ocean to Him. And so, I think, like wrapping my head around that, like, beautiful picture.”
Now that he is a pro baseball player, Fraser Ellard tries to use his platform as a way to minister to others.
“One of the big things…probably my favorite thing that we do is we pray every time we go to the field…when she [his wife] drops me off, and praying over specific guys that we’ve been trying to witness to, or, you know, couples or people, things that people are going through, things like that,” he revealed.
He added that together, he and his wife are “setting the stage” for God to work, knowing that he is “on a mission to help.”
Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ,” and Ellard does just that.
Though Ellard has endured grief, it has taught him to love others and help them through difficult times, which he does in both personal and professional life.
Read Next: Why Jesus Is ‘Everything’ to This White Sox First Baseman
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +4