Albert Pujols: Putting God first | Forward Progress

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0:47Albert Pujols:Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. Hey, it's Thursday, which means we're coming at you with a short feel-good story from a past guest. Hope you enjoyed the clip. This week, Albert Pujols.

1:08Graham Bensinger:Explain the role that faith plays in your life. Everything, everything. You know, God is everything to me. He has shown me his mercy, his grace, and the best gift that he has given me is salvation. when I got to accepting in my life and knowing that I have eternal life through him, a personal relationship with him. It's not about being a Christian. It's not about being, it's not about religious. It's about having a personal relationship with Christ. But that doesn't make me perfect. I have learned the hard way. I have made mistakes. But knowing that when I come to him, he doesn't judge us. He doesn't look at us.

1:52Graham Bensinger:you know, and be mad at us, he received us with love. And I have learned so much, you know, in my life about how to treat other people the same way that Christ loved. You know, and I believe at the end of the day or at the end of my career, that's going to be the most important thing for me, you know. Yes, the legacy of being a baseball player and great, all that, that's great, man. But being a strong Christian who serve the community, And when I'm facing him or being with him, like, that he can look at me and say, what have you done with the gift that I gave you? The gift is not the$300 million that I'm making again, the three MVP, the World Series.

2:41Graham Bensinger:That's not the gift. The platform, that's not the gift. It's that Bible, man, that Bible. That's the gift that he has given me, you know, his word, so I can spread it and talk about the good news of Jesus Christ. And that's my job. It took me a while to learn it, but I'm at the point that I'm going to quit now. And we have, you know, our chapel this morning, and I'm telling those young guys, you know, we were talking about creation, you know, and, you know, how God has created everything. And I told them, you know, about the last creation that he made. It was us. The Lord made us in his image.

3:22Graham Bensinger:And then what he did after that, he rest. So he said the best thing for last, and it was to give us life in his image. What do you remember from the first time you went to church with your wife, Didi? Oh, I remember, you know, at that time, my English was so, so, so I still had to wear, you know, an earpiece during service so I can get translated in Spanish. So I pretty much just, you know, start asking questions. And, you know, there was like two weeks ago, and I said, babe, you know, what is it? When the pastor at the end of the survey, he made the article and said the prayer of salvation, you know, to give the life to Christ.

4:06Graham Bensinger:And she pretty much explained to me about it. She was like, listen, I'm going to keep it real simple to you because you probably won't understand, but there's a hell and there's a heaven. And I told her, I'm like, well, I don't want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven. So the week after that, we went back to church and Pastor Jeff Adam Grieber, great, great servant, Kansas City Baptist Temple in Kansas City. And he touched me and touched me. And I think, you know, after the service, he did the same thing. And I just woke up with her and surrounded myself to the king and just having to take control of my life.

4:45Graham Bensinger:And that means what? Just accepting, that you're accepting as your Lord, that you're accepting, that you know that he died on that cross for our sin, that he took everybody's sin upon hanging on that cross. And then you know that he gave you that eternal life. And through that, I had learned along my way. And I was a young believer back then, but like having guys like J.D. Drew, Wooden Wheeler, Mike Martini, like the way that those guys were hand on their life, it was more than just going to church. You know, you can see Christ in them, but you can see that the joy. And I was a young believer.

5:31Graham Bensinger:I was like, you're still going to church, but man, you know, I think it was after 2001, 2002, being in St. Louis, Christian Family Day, that they asked me to share my testimony, and I didn't know what to share. And I think that's where my turning point was, man. It was like more than just going to church and do your duty. It was about having a personal relationship with him, you know, with Christ. It was more than just the religious. and you know and it's been great and you know hasn't been perfect but I know that that I won't change a thing.

6:07Albert Pujols:I understand in 2006 when you won the World Series with the Cardinals it wasn't the World Series it was the highlight of your year but rather flying back on a plane with a teammate

6:17Graham Bensinger:and leading him to Christ? Yeah my good little brother Javier Molina we were in San Diego and Rick Horton was, I see Rick Horton by the window. I see Yari and Miro, and then I sit over here, and we left him to the Lord to accept him, to accept Christ. I mean, that you need to turn, you know, from your sins and let the Lord take control and just share with him, you know, the things, you know, that God has done in my life and he has seen it, and just the way that I handle myself. Like I say, it doesn't make me perfect, You know, I have made mistakes many, many times, but knowing that, you know, I have somebody that gets my back all the time and they loves me like nobody else on this earth.

7:06Graham Bensinger:And then when you put hand before your family, before your wife, before your career, you know, like that's the guy that I love. That's it for now.

7:17Albert Pujols:But if you're hungry for more In-Depth with Graham Bensinger interviews, head over to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12 plus years. Thanks again for listening.

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