Customer Reviews

Free Byrd: The Power of a Liberated Life

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I bought this book because I love baseball and the Lord and because I have much respect for those seemingly few players who are successful both on the field and in their spiritual lives. The book is filled with great stories about Paul's baseball experiences, but what touched me most was how Paul recognizes how his relationship with his earthly father has shaped his view of his Heavenly Father. This is so true in my own life and it is comforting to know that someone as successful as Paul carries some of the same burdens as the rest of us. In this book, Paul writes, "I had spent most of my life imitating my living legacy, Larry the Legend (his father), by being a good, honest, and just person apart from Christ, which is impossible." I couldn't agree more! I too want to live "from Christ." Thank you Paul for sharing your stories, your insights and your life experiences so that we all learn from them. Your Father is proud!

Forget the whole HGH thing! If the publishing world had drug-testing, they'd be checking Byrd for manuscript-enhancing substances. He's that good. Where does this guy get off scribbling out a masterpiece like this between starts for the Indians? In the process of addressing the most relevant issues shared by men today, Byrd combines the candor of J.D. Salinger with the wit of Donald Miller (makes you wonder if Miller has hidden baseball talents?). Most refreshing of all, Byrd's not out to preach or "fix" the reader. He's just sharing (amazing) stories from his life - along with the lessons he's learned from life on the mound. Prediction: Byrd will become the writer for the "Christian everyman" in the new millennium. Baseball was just his warm-up act.

My husband was reading this book and kept saying, "Come here, you have to read this." or "Listen to this paragraph" and he would proceed to read excerpts. So interesting and inspirational were the stories I began to read the book as well, and I am happy I did. Paul Byrd's book is honest, emotional, raw, intelligent, and funny. It's a great read and I can only imagine how much a father and son would get out of this together. Dads get this book for your sons and sons share this book with your father - you won't be disappointed. Thanks Paul for sharing your life with us and helping us learn, grow and laugh with you.

I couldn't put this book down and it had me choking up with emotion time and time again. The reason is because Paul Byrd peeled away all the phony facades too many Christians hide behind and gave a stunningly open, honest, transparent and moving look into the life of a man earnestly struggling to better his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Byrd focuses less on baseball and much more on the journey of what a true, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is supposed to look like. (And is anything more important when you consider the stakes that this game of life holds for us?)

Paul Byrd gets it - nobody's perfect, and yet God loves us anyway, offering His amazing grace, compassion and love through Jesus. Our job is not to try and earn it through sin management or following a list of tips and techniques, but rather ACCEPT God's love and enter into a deep, intimate relationship with Him. And out of that, we cannot help but be transformed into someone new, someone who seeks not sin (even though we'll still fall short sometimes) but rather to walk in lockstep with the One who loves us so deeply and so truly. To be loved, to really allow yourself to be loved in spite of all your struggles and imperfections, to really take Jesus at His Word ... this is what Paul Byrd inspires us to do.

This book is less about baseball and more about the spiritual journey Byrd went on, and how even the trappings and fame of being a famous professional athlete leaves you empty inside if you don't know Christ. Byrd's chilling realization of this came when he won a national title with LSU in 1991 and was like, "That's it? That's all I feel?" moments after the on-field celebration began.

The other thing from this book that continues to stick with me is Paul Byrd's approach to understanding and cultivating a relationship with God. He talks about how so many of us who grew up Catholic or in other denominations try to approach God with strict routines, memorized prayers, formal behaviors, etc. Byrd makes a great point when he says we would never approach our wives or close friends that way. But yet we do it with God, whose deepest desire is to have a close, loving and intimate relationship with us.

Byrd's book is another way God continues to open my eyes toward the TRUTH about what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.

I praise Paul Byrd for his transparency and for leading with his own weakness, because in the end it makes him human, helps me relate to him and glorifies God.

After all, it's the truth about myself - the honest, unperfect truth - that attracts others to me, not all the preaching in the world.

Lastly, Byrd really impresses as a writer. Having written my own Christian baseball novel The King's Game I was so excited to see Byrd's book, and I have to admit I was blown away at how crisp and clear his voice is as a narrator. The book moves at a fantastic pace - a very easy and fast read.

He also had me laughing out loud over and over with his razor-sharp and oftentimes self-depricating wit.

This is a book I'd give to anyone and everyone, Christian or not, sports fan or not, because it is the courageous and moving story of one man's journey toward the most important goal of all existence - knowing and sharing your life with Jesus Christ.

Praise Jesus for his amazing love and blessings on Paul Byrd for this honest, much-needed memoir!

Paul Byrd is living proof that Professional Baseball Players can and do have talent in areas off the field. Christians are not perfect.
They recognized they are sinners deserving hell, they have repented of their sin to God, asked forgiveness, placed their faith in the blood of Jesus as payment of their sin-debt which guarantees their eternal salvation, then asked that God begin to make them into the person He always wanted them to be.
We are real people, in a life-long struggle, fighting real temptations. We are just doing it with the awesome help of The Holy Spirit. Paul doesn't rely on religious systems to guide his Christian walk. He goes right to the source of all knowledge and all the wisdom we need for life in this world and for eternity to come, God's perfect and Holy Word.
Paul, you nailed it. I just hope and pray you keep writing.
Thanks for your testimony.
Tim Billheimer
Alliance, Ohio (Tribe Country)

I attend (and work for) the church where "Counselor Frank" is pastor. As Paul releases the LIFE that we learn more about every Sunday, we are watching him in the Grace lab class. As Frank says, sometimes grace is messy, and Paul doesn't try to put it in a pretty package. His candor is so refreshing, and I'm excited for people to read that loving and being loved by God doesn't mean never screwing up. Instead, it means we know who and whose we are even when we do screw up! Bravo, Paul!

I started reading this book the first day I got it and it was hard to put down. It's very well written and easy to follow.
I am truly blessed to know Paul, and after reading his book, I know now that we are both Fighters and want the same things in life.
I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they are struggling in life with the Lord.
I think everyone should read this book even if you are not a baseball fan, cuz it's really not about baseball at all.
Great Job Brother and look forward to seeing you in the offseason.
God Bless and Thank You for your wonderful words.
God Bless,
Cosmo*

I almost did not get this book... I was thinking -- great another baseball player puts out a book full of the "normal" christian pop culture and how Jesus is great and all that jazz.

But I have to admit... this is an amazing book... it is down right unvarnished in your face... this is my life and how my faith has grown through out the years...

It is one of my top books of 2008... it really is not about baseball but more about life and living an authentic christian life... not a perfect super clean verson -- but a real down in the dirt true christian life.

I totally recommed this book.

I look forward to Paul Byrd's next book...

Reading FREE BYRD is like having a conversation with an old friend. Paul Byrd has written the story of his own pilgrimage with such honesty and transparency that one immediately identifies with the common struggles of virtually every man in our culture. In sharing his own efforts to understand who God really is and what it means to be a man, he helps each of us to come to terms with those same issues ourselves. This is a book that will make you both laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. And in the process, recognize that your own journey is much like his.

...But this one is very inspirational and one that you can refer back to. Paul does an excellent job walking you through the baseball life and the worldly struggles he encounters on his journey. My favorite part about the book was Paul's openness around his struggles and how he's grown in his Christian walk. He mentions that when he was younger he would shout from the sidewalks about Christianity and in turn only get a handful of folks, if that, that would talk to him. He's learned that it's a delicate process and does an amazing job walking you through his growth. I read the book in 2 days - I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it.