Despite having a reputation as an intense competitor during a 14-year big league career, former MLB all-star Paul Byrd was also known by many as the “nicest guy” in the game.
But since retiring after the 2009 season, Byrd, who was once chosen by the Writers Association for the Steve Olin Tim Crews Good Guy Award, has taken on a few new endeavors in his life.
Not only has he gone on to become an Emmy winner for his on-camera work for Fox Sports South broadcasts of Atlanta Braves games, but he and his wife, Kym, have responded to a calling God placed in their lives.
The Byrds are now providing a space that allows people in the Atlanta area with any number of emotional, mental or relationship struggles to overcome them by spending time with horses.
“I had a reputation for being an intense competitor on the field because I wasn’t that good.
“And then when I would come off the field, I just felt like I needed to take every interview and I had to treat people with kindness,” the 48-year-old right-hander told The Christian Post in a recent interview.
“I wasn’t better than anybody else because I threw a ball past the guy that held the stick. And at times, I didn’t even do that. I just always tried to be kind [to people]. And I think that was part of when I became a Christian it’s what changed inside of me.”
Being married for 25 years, the Byrds responded to their call from God to help others by launching Byrdhouse Ministries out of their farm in Milton, Georgia. On the property, a team of therapists help people through Equine Assisted Psychotherapy to deal with trauma, anxiety, fear and other issues that are be plaguing their lives.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is a unique counseling experience based on experiential work that uses horses in conjunction with licensed mental health professionals to help increase awareness of people’s thoughts and actions. EAP can be an alternative for people with needs who don’t do well in typical counseling sessions.
“[T]he Lord just kept pressing on my heart that there was something that I was being called to do but I didn’t know what,” Kym Byrd told CP.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith
BCNN1 WP 