As the anticipation for the upcoming race builds, one runner steps out in faith and asks the two girls standing beside her if she can pray for them. Soon after, the gun goes off and the three of them are competing in the 60m at the SEC Track & Field championship. Faith Gilbert, a senior on the Mississippi State Track & Field team, recalls this moment from a year ago. “I just felt the Holy Spirit tell me to pray for the person to my left and my right. There was so much beauty in that moment when I did. To me, I was praying a simple prayer, but I felt the Lord telling me ‘you never know how this could impact them,” Gilbert said. Gilbert speaks about that one step of obedience and how she’s seen her boldness grow. “I can’t say that every time He’s told me to do something like that I’ve always done it - whether it’s fear, not wanting to do it, or not wanting to look crazy,” Gilbert says. “But the more that I’ve obeyed, the more I’ve seen good fruit come from it.” But her story starts at birth, with a family whose focus was on their faith. From church every Wednesday and Sunday, to a dad who was a pastor and a mom who was a first lady, Gilbert grew up with an emphasis on faith. Prayer was instilled at a young age and memorizing verses was a routine. It wasn’t until high school that Gilbert saw a pivotal moment in her life that led her to find faith on her own. “I visited this church that changed it for me. The way that the Word was preached shifted my perspective on things. I was used to it being about religion with a more law-based emphasis. It was like, ‘If you do good, then God is going to bless you,’ says Gilbert. “It wasn’t until I started to hear that a personal relationship with God was possible, which was something that I had never really experienced, where it really changed for me.” Something that Gilbert believes a lot in is prayer. Growing up, she missed the intentionality of it - only praying every now and then or when she felt she needed something. But in high school, as her relationship with God grew, so did her belief in the power of prayer. She believes that the development of a relationship with the Father is through communication with Him. She quotes a statement she loves about prayer, “Prayer is not a monologue, it’s a dialogue,” says Gilbert. “The more that you pray and hear His voice, the more He’ll be able to show you.” One of the things that she felt the Lord speak to her was during Covid. She felt that God was telling her to “Go” about something she had always wanted to do. Gilbert obeyed and she now runs an Instagram account she calls NowFaith. NowFaith, a blog she still runs, found its name from a verse she recalls from childhood. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) The significance of the verse is found in its context. This verse, one of the very first verses her dad told her, has stuck with her since his passing when she was just 8 years old. “I felt like that was the perfect verse and the perfect name to build NowFaith for.” says Gilbert. “I really wanted to do it for encouragement and inspiration while including biblical truth.” Even in the difficult times, Gilbert encourages people to have faith in God, to trust in Him, and believe in Him even when we don’t understand. She looks at her testimony and points to a specific verse. “And we know that all things work together for good...” (Romans 8:28) “I know that’s a verse we tend to use a lot in bad circumstances, but He really does.” Gilbert said. “I’ve seen some of the most tragic things, some of the most heartbreaking things happen in my life and others, but sometimes the lesson and blessing that has come from it is amazing.” Her testimony lies in the heartbreak of the passing of her father. As an 8-year-old, she was angry at God, not able to fully understand why He took him. It was then in high school, when she started to embrace God as her Heavenly Father. She realized that even though her natural father was gone, the Heavenly Father says that He will be “the Father to the fatherless.” (Psalm 68:5) “That was one of the hardest things I had to go through, losing my father, but the blessing in that was for me to draw closer in my relationship with God. For whatever reason, I don’t know why, He had to take him away, I don't know why our relationship was so short-lived, but I still believe that God worked all things together for good,” Gilbert said. “I want to encourage someone who may be going through a difficult time that while you're in it - you can’t really see or think clearly because there’s so many different factors going on,” Gilbert goes on to say. “Like Peter when he was walking on the water, he was fine as long as he was focused on Jesus, but it wasn’t until he got distracted by everything going on around him - the winds and the waves - that he began to sink. (Matthew 14:22-36) So not to say that you shouldn’t acknowledge what’s going on around you, but that you should be intentional about where your focus is.” She says that whenever she feels like she’s sinking, she raises her eyes and fixes her gaze back on Him, and that’s when she can feel Him pulling her back from the place she was drowning in. In the past, Gilbert looked at her testimony and felt as though the importance was dimmed compared to those who’ve walked through the fire. But now she encourages others that every testimony is important. She believes someone else may be in the exact same situation you’ve already walked through and they may need to hear the hope you’ve found in Jesus through that. “Somebody who may not have lost their father might not connect with my story in the way someone who has would,” says Gilbert. “They would understand the void it leaves. And I know that it can be filled by really letting the Lord be your Heavenly father.” “Don’t discredit your testimony and the power of God to save through it. There's somebody God’s going to lead you to who needs to hear it.”

Warm Up Are you a good singer? Can you hold a tune with the best of them during your shower times? Ha…Are you musically inclined? Have you ever sung in a choir? If not, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I think we can agree that not everyone is gifted with musical abilities. So, should this reality affect how we worship? Many times, the idea of “worship” is attributed to just singing and music at church services or concerts. When we live in that ideology, it’s easy to find ourselves as spectators versus being participators and limiting what worship truly is. What if I told you worship is more than just singing at church once or twice a week? What if I told you worship is more than just listening to K-Love or a Gospel radio station? What if I told you worship is more than just having an amazing experience at a concert? What if I told you that worship is a way of life?... Exercise - Read Romans 12:1-2 Romans 12:9-21 Application Worship is not just a style of music or a moment in a church service, worship is a posture of our heart towards God in how we choose to honor Him every day with our lives. I love how Paul explains what worship looks like in this chapter of Romans. He conveys that our spiritual service of worship is to present(give) our bodies(lives) to the Lord as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. In light of this context, worship is what comes out of us when we surrender our lives to God. When we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into new creations. So, what does it look like practically to live out worship? Recovery During these unprecedented circumstances of this pandemic, I encourage you to posture your hearts towards God and desire to worship and honor Him in EVERYTHING you do: *As a coach, as an athlete, as a spouse, as a parent, as a friend, as a neighbor, and the list can go on… We can live out worship to God everyday in all that we do when we place Him at the center, even in these times of “new normal”. Colossians 3:23-24 “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” #WorshipIsLife

Hebrews 12:2 Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Lesson : Choose joy!!! Have you ever had to make a choice knowing that the process was going to be uncomfortable, painful, or difficult? Would you have joy if you knew it was going to be hard? I admit, I would not be first in line. I am not one that embraces change well. I was recently challenged by this idea of having joy in your circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for this quarantine life to be kicked to the curb. It can be difficult to find motivation to keep moving forward. We like an easy, good, routine life. Our attitude can be if I can have things relatively my way, we are cool. When I look to what we are called to be as followers of Christ, I see a different example. We are to be set apart. Different. When Christ was going to the cross, He did not grumble and complain. Hebrews says Christ had joy before him. He endured what I was supposed to endure because He loves us. He saw the big picture and trusted in the plan with joy. We fall short daily on choosing joy despite our circumstances. If we would only let go of control and allow God to be God in our lives, we would experience a life full of joy daily! Have you wrestled with your comfort level recently? Are you displaying joy in your circumstances? I pray we draw close to the one who understands us, created us, and had joy knowing it was going to be painful for a short time but with eternal impacts. We are all dealing with a new normal! Let’s be joyful!

Warm Up Where I grew up everyone had a basement. These downstairs living quarters doubled as “man caves,” game rooms, additional bedrooms, or storage space. It shocked me when I moved down south and there weren’t many homes with basements! People’s only reference points as to what a basement was came from horror movies – dark, musty, rooms, in which there was more than likely a dead body. What was the deal? Why was nobody familiar with basements? I found my answer a few years into my time down south: In Mississippi, there is a unique soil base that consists of clay. During heavy seasons of rain, the clay will expand, but during the dry seasons, that clay will shrink. The back and forth of expansion and shrinking leads to foundation movement in the homes/buildings of Mississippi. So, in summary, there’s no potential of basements due to the instability of foundations. There is a spiritual principle here that we can’t miss – all of us are building our lives upon some sort of foundation! We look to this foundation to hold us up, provide stability, and offer comfort. One thing we know for certain is when storms in life come our way, and they will come, we need a foundation that won’t let us down. So, the real question is, how’s your foundation doing? Exercise – Read Matthew 7:24-27 Application There’s an interesting line in our passage we just read: “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house” (7:25). It’s a given that storms will come at us in life revealing the quality of our foundation. It’s been several weeks now since we began to feel the effects of COVID-19. Life as we know it has been altered and the future for the time being is unknown. What this virus has shown us is that much of what we had placed our identity in and much of what we took for granted, could disappear in a heartbeat. Even if this virus hadn’t have shown up, that reality is still so true in sports where injuries, coaching changes, academic challenges, and family problems can affect us overnight. My prayer is that the restlessness we feel now pushes us towards the one who is Eternal, Never Changing, and Always Near. To quote Jesus “everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on a rock” (vs.25). This tells me that building a foundation on Jesus requires two things: 1. Hearing – We have to spend time each day with Jesus personally hearing from him. Block out time to pray, read his word, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you during this time. Don’t rush through this, intentionally block it out. 2. Acting – Put into action all the things you’ve heard the Lord share with you in your personal time with him. It’s one thing to hear some good advice, it’s a whole other ballgame when you take what you’ve heard and then put it into action. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). Let’s allow Jesus to be our foundation!

One summer evening during high school, my friends and I had way too much time on our hands. What could we do for adventure? Our life seemed so mundane, time passing by, yet we felt like we were standing still. We sat around the dinner table enjoying a beautiful sunset when someone said, “Hey let’s TP your neighbor’s house when the sun goes down!” “We shouldn’t, but could we? “ I thought. Toilet papering my neighbor’s yard would give us that sense of adventure. “Why not?” They will never suspect us as the culprits. We finished our dinner, dressed in dark clothing and set out for the exterior decorating. The sun had fallen by now, the sky was dark, and the moon was not lit. We jumped the fence and started tossing the TP rolls back and forth from tree to tree to bush. Thoroughly enjoying our time, we were celebrating our accomplishments. To our surprise, my dad came out jumped in our car, honking the horn and flashing the lights on us. We were busted, our cover was blown. Just when we thought we had our neighbors fooled into thinking it was a peaceful summer night, my dad shed some light on our mischievous situation. We jumped into the shadows of the house column hoping no one would come outside. We sat and waited in the dark for several minutes holding our breath and saying a little prayer. We wanted to stay hidden, it was safe! Read Luke 11:33-36 NLT “If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight is shining on you.” How many times in our Christian lives do we play the part of being in the spotlight yet not wanting anyone to see us in our “dark corners”? God challenges us to be filled with light so that we can be a floodlight for others. Light penetrates the darkness. We can’t be all that God created us to be when we hide the dark corners of our lives. We need to pray about bringing our “dark corners” to the feet of Jesus and asking Him to help us with the issues/attitudes that are not pleasing to Him. He is a God of restoration, life, hope! He wants every part of us… even the dark sides of us we think we can hide and that no one will see. There is freedom in the light! Our prayer is to become a beacon of light for the world to see and ask what is different about them. Hopefully it is the light of Jesus shining through us.

Warm Up Have you been on social media lately? Have you called relatives to see how they’re processing our current global pandemic? What’s the tone you’re hearing in the voice of other athletes and coaches right now? If you’re like me, you’re seeing/hearing a lot of despair, wild guesses, panic, boredom, and people searching for identity. What are people looking for? HOPE… if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, may I remind you that you have the greatest message of HOPE the world has ever encountered. It’s what we refer to as the Gospel . What is the Gospel ? This isn’t a trick question, but for those who have grown up in Church your whole life, chances are, you go numb to the great message of the Bible. Simply put, “Gospel” means good news. So, the Gospel is the message of good news about humans and the rest of creation. The great virus called sin had infected all of creation and created a gap of separation between the infected, and ultimate healer and designer, God. The good news is that while we were born without HOPE, God sent his son Jesus into the world to sacrificially take the virus of sin on his shoulders and die in our place. However, he did not stay dead, but defeated death and rose to life. His life, death, and resurrection signaled the beginning of a new kingdom being launched that wasn’t of this earth. Light invaded Darkness, Righteousness defeated Evil, and Despair turned to Hope. HOPE can be found when we place our faith into the work of Jesus: he declares us righteous, gives us new life, and calls us to share that message with others. Exercise – Read John 19 Romans 5:8 Application The message of our faith is that while we were without HOPE, Jesus saved us. It wasn’t our church attendance that saved us. It wasn’t the fact that our parents or grandparents taught us good manners. It wasn’t the fact that we disciplined ourselves not to curse too much that saved us. We were a mess in our sin and yet we were so loved by God. HOPE had nothing to do with our works and everything to do with His work. If that message is true in our hearts, it begins to invade every aspect of our lives. What starts as a reality in our hearts, makes its way through our speech and through our actions. It’s not just that we’re positive people, or optimistic, or friendly; it’s the fact that though we were once blind, now we see. You have HOPE, so don’t keep it to yourself. Here’s a few ways to convey that message of hope this week: 1. Text or call teammates, coaches, trainers – many people are having a tough time processing the last few weeks. Reach out with no agenda other than catching up, asking questions, and laughing. Encourage them with the HOPE that you have. 2. Post something on social media that can encourage somebody in their faith – Share a verse, sermon, song, or a lesson that God has been teaching you. Somebody else may need to hear it. 3. Partner with your local church – Right now, most local churches have a strategy to help serve the elderly or those with immune disorders. Look to partner with their strategy.

Warm Up In sports culture we understand the theme “Love for the Game”. We know that coaches and athletes sacrifice a lot to do what you do. It’s reflected in your wholehearted commitment to training and preparation for each season of competition. Oh, what many would give to have the opportunity to be back in action in the sports world right now! When you truly love something, it motivates you to give…: Time, Resources, Attention, etc. When your heart is fully engaged, you demonstrate your love by giving the best of what you have, which is YOURSELF. When it comes to demonstrating true love and how it motivates, God set the standard by what He gave for mankind. Exercise Read Ephesians 2:1-10 Application The reality is that God went all in to demonstrate His love for us. He made the greatest sacrifice and gave the greatest gift by giving His son, Jesus Christ, to be put to death on a cross and raising Him from the dead to save anyone in the world that would believe in Him and receive this free gift of salvation. Responding to that love and accepting Jesus in our hearts is the only way to receive that gift. It’s not something we earn or work hard for. In response to His love, we simply give a gift in return…Ourselves Recovery My encouragement to you, during these times when our schedules are not as hectic, is to consider if you’ve truly ever responded to the love that God has for you. When you have truly responded to that love by surrendering your heart and giving your life to Jesus Christ, it drives and motivates you to demonstrate your love back in how you live and function every day through a life of worship to Him. Romans 12: 1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51: 10 Anyone else keeping track of days in “self -isolation”? Some of us are resisting compliance to our “new schedule”, we are in denial. Our thoughts float to what life used to be longing for it to return quickly. We are mourning the loss of comfort, ease, routine. “This won’t take long” we tell ourselves. Some of us on the other hand have hunkered down, made a schedule and are checking it off. We get up each day ready to tackle the new way of life. Wherever we are, our hope is that Psalm 51:10 reigns in our heart. Whether we are struggling to adapt or embracing the change easily, our prayer is for God to create a clean heart and steadfast spirit within us. What does a clean heart look like? The word “clean” in the dictionary states something to be free of dirt, marks, or stains. Another definition is to be morally uncontaminated, pure or innocent. Are our hearts clean? Do we have an attitude that reflects God’s goodness despite the circumstances? When handling life’s new adjustments, can we honestly be thankful for the time God has allowed us to shift our focus? God desires us to be in relationship with Him, to desperately see that we can’t do life without Him. He is our hope, He is steadfast, unchanging. He loves us with an eternal love that nothing in this world can match. Take some time today and ask God to give you a new heart for today. We can’t control any of the future, but we can control our attitude and how we approach each situation. So, when we don’t get our way, instead of shaking our fists and burning with anger let’s go to God with a postured heart. God, give us a clean heart and steadfastness today we pray! Let us fix our hearts on you, for you alone are what we need! Amen

Warm Up Is it possible to be religiously active and yet intimately disconnected from Jesus? Talk about gut punching question! We have all had a little more downtime than normal due to a virus that has shut down much of life, including athletics. In my downtime, the Lord has been teaching me something great: get intimately connected with MY HEART. This may be religious jargon to some, so another way to say this is, don’t just go through the motions of religious activity, but spend real relational time with the Lord. I can be guilty, like others, of going through the motions in my faith. Sure, I read my Bible, listen to worship music, go to church (or now stream the service), and talk Christian. But if I’m really pressed, my motives aren’t always right, I’ve simply learned how to “play Christian”. It’s not so much my Love for Jesus that’s driving those actions as much as it is upholding public appearance. Where does this come from? I’m a rule follower. Like many of us inside the athletic community, I’ve learned how to work hard, be disciplined, be a good teammate, and follow the vision of a coach. The rules inside the athletic system are meant to develop us as athletes/coaches and help us as a team reach full potential. But can we be honest, following these rules isn’t necessarily a sign that we care about the other people inside the program. Since only you know your own motives, you can honestly say that you often “play the game” out of obligation. You want playing time, you want to please other people, you want recognition, or maybe you want a promotion. We go through the motions, with impure motives. I don’t want that to be a reality of my walk with the Lord. I don’t want to simply conform to a set of religious behaviors. I want a heart that has been transformed by the goodness of Jesus. I want to operate out of a Love for Jesus, not an obligation. Our time in isolation is a great time to push beyond the rules and into the intimacy. Exercise – Read Luke 11:37-44 Galatians 5:16-26 Application Throughout Jesus’s ministry, a major teaching point was to push the religious leaders beyond the surface level commands (the technical term for this was The Law) and towards intimacy with God. When people talk about The Law in the Old Testament, they often speak about it as nothing more than a bunch of rules that God gave Israel. This oversimplification actually misses what God’s intent of The Law was: it was his covenant with Israel, designed to draw them towards intimacy with Him. He was always after relationship, not just rule following. The religious leaders of the day not only missed the intent behind The Law, they actually began adding to The Law additional rules so as to prove their credibility (see Luke 11:42). On the surface they looked great, but on the inside, they were a mess. Can you relate? I can – It’s easy to change the outside to appear religiously active: Speak this way, do this thing, wear this, tweet this. But Jesus didn’t just come to clean our outward appearances, he came to heal our hearts. For Christians, the gift of the Holy Spirit means that we now have the presence of God living inside of us, transforming us from the inside out. In the list provided in Galatians 5, we see the fruits of the Spirit that become evident as we fellowship with the Father. These aren’t outward appearance things that we can change overnight. These are attributes that come through daily fellowship. So how can you tell if you’re going through the motions? Here’s some things I look for in my life that are indicators: 1. Am I the same today as I was 3 months ago? Where have I seen growth? 2. Am I able to love people who see the world differently than I do? 3. Am I able to see beyond people’s surface level decisions, and serve their hearts? These questions don’t push me towards shame, but actually draw me closer to the Lord. It’s in my shortcomings, that I find the freedom to run back to the Father and ask him to grow me. The same can be true for you! Let’s use our free time well, grow in our love for Jesus, and remember - 1. Spend time each day with Him – I like to do this first thing when I wake up 2. Transformation works inside out – Let the Holy Spirit change you at the heart level 3. Your personal time with Jesus should affect every aspect of your life – Jesus came to heal every part of your life; nothing is off limits. Recovery Evaluate your relationship with the Lord and ask yourself “do I follow/obey out of obligation, or is it an overflow of my relationship with Jesus?” Is my understanding of God based on my denominational upbringing or is it based in my personal relationship with Him? Now, spend some time talking to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to grow you, not just in the rules, but in your intimacy with him.