Train the Brain

New York Jets quarterback, Josh McCown, has had a uniquely remarkable football journey. He’s on his 10th NFL team and after being out of the league at one point, his career has had a positive resurgence. Last year at the age of 38, he had career highs in passing yards, completions, and touchdown passes while leading the Jets to surprising wins. The Jets still spent their top draft pick on Sam Darnold as their future franchise quarterback, but McCown continues to do his best at staying sharp and improving in all aspects. ESPN.COM wrote a fascinating article that reveals McCown's secret to late-career success is focusing on brain training. The article explains the process he’s already gone through and the technical work he continues to do. He’s using neurocognitive brain training while relying on psychology and clinical neuropsychology to strengthen and maximize his mind. Based on the challenging career he’s had, McCown provides an introspective explanation for why he's needed this help: "What I learned the most is that I carried negativity and losses and the weight of these situations with me. Throughout the course of my career, I've been the in-between guy. I've been in several situations with a new head coach or they're rebuilding, starting over with the young guys. When you're in those situations, it's tough because the outcomes might not be great. "I believe it had a negative effect on me to where I just allowed one negative thing to be bigger for me. It put me in a bad place. The 'here-we-go-again' mentality, over the course of a lot of years, can be harsh. Going into this last year, I wanted to go in with a clean slate. I don't know if 'reset my brain' is the right , but I wanted to reframe everything that had happened in the previous 15 years and attack it in a different way." Clearly, there are benefits of “brain training” for an NFL quarterback, but there are also similar strategies we can use as followers of Jesus to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Most of us can relate to the “'here-we-go-again' mentality” that Josh talks about when we let our mind go to negative places as soon as life gets tough. But, how we think and what we think about tremendously impact our view of life moving forward. We need to ask ourselves how often we are meditating on scripture...and if we're careful about the thoughts dominating our mind...and if stress and worry are a result of what we’re dwelling on. As Josh put it, we have to “reset our brain,” “reframe everything” and “attack it in a different way.” The Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 (ESV), “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Paul encourages us with these words in Philippians 4:8 (ESV): "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” God gave us a brain to think wisely and for our thought lives to honor Him. Today, let's not allow our minds to race toward negativity or focus on the wrong things, but instead train our brain to be a valuable asset. I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpack that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I recognize how important my mind is and ask that You renew it so I can think clearly and understand Your will. I pray I would have a passion to meditate on scripture and think about the things that honor You. I need Your strength to win the battle of the mind. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.