Shattered: Struck Down, But Not Destroyed

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Frank Pastore stepped onto the mound in Dodger Stadium to throw another fastball--something he'd done thousands of times since childhood. But this time was different. The batter connected and the ball came rocketing back to the mound, shattering not only Frank's pitching elbow--but also his dream of getting "rich and famous" through Major League Baseball.(TM) As he walked to the training room, Frank found himself asking a God he didn't believe in, "Why is this happening to me?" There was no answer--at least not then. It was this injury that sent Frank, a lifelong atheist, on a journey that would change not only his mind but also his whole life--as a husband, father, friend, and troubled son. We all know the pain of shattered dreams. We've all wondered how to pick up the broken pieces after a crisis. We've all wondered, "Where is God?" when life hurts so bad. This is a story of how the fragments of broken dreams can be reassembled into even bigger and better things. A story of how, when life's disasters and difficulties knock us down, they don't have to destroy us. This is a story that shows how all of us can come to know we're in God's good hands. Even when we're shattered.

For the past six years, Frank Pastore has been the host of the most-listened to live Christian talk show in the country, heard weekday afternoons in Los Angeles from 4-7pm on 99.5 KKLA. For the past 31 years, he’s been happily married to his bride Gina, and they’ve got two adult children, a boy and a girl, and one grandson, Michael. For seven years, he pitched in the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds, before going to seminary at Talbot, and then later on, he did another master’s degree in political philosophy at Claremont Graduate University. He’s logged over 150,000 miles on his motorcycle (he gets to ride to work every day)... And maybe you’ve seen him on the food and travel cable channels for his exploits at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo? For the past 21 years, until just recently, he’s held the world-record for eating their steak faster than anyone else, in just 9 and a half minutes - a 72-ounce steak!