Today, I didn’t represent MMA4AM the way I should have. While playing basketball, I was getting fouled, grabbed, and frustrated—and I allowed my emotions to get the best of me. MMA4AM has been received extremely well at that gym, but today my actions didn’t reflect the discipline, character, and self-control that this community stands for. I’m not sharing this to beat myself up or make excuses. I’m sharing it because leadership requires honesty and accountability. We can build the brand, wear the shirts, encourage others, and speak about discipline—but we must also live it when our emotions are tested. Shoutout to OJ and Jeff for checking me and reminding me of what we’re building. That’s what real community looks like. Sometimes we need brothers around us who aren’t afraid to pull us back into alignment. Today showed me that there is still work to be done in me—and I’m committed to doing it. “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.” — Proverbs 16:32 We don’t have to pretend we’ve arrived. We just have to remain accountable, keep growing, and get back in alignment.

What are you feeding? When we want to lose weight, build muscle, or become healthier, we change our diet. We become intentional about what we put into our bodies because we understand that what we consume will eventually show up in how we look, feel, and perform. The same principle applies spiritually. We cannot continue feeding our flesh all day and expect our spirit to be strong. What we watch, listen to, scroll through, entertain, and allow into our minds is shaping us—whether we realize it or not. You can train your body every day, push yourself toward greatness, and remain disciplined physically—but if your spiritual diet is filled with lust, negativity, gossip, temptation, and distractions, your spirit will become weak while your flesh grows stronger. A physical transformation requires changing what you eat. A spiritual transformation requires changing what you consume. Feed your spirit with prayer, Scripture, worship, truth, and the right people. Stop giving your flesh unlimited access to the very things you’re asking God to deliver you from. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” — Romans 8:5 Be intentional about your diet—physically and spiritually. What you continuously feed will eventually lead.

Your relationship with yourself cannot be built entirely around improvement. At some point you have to become someone you’re allowed to enjoy being. You get to be proud of who you are in the present moment.

DON’T STOP DOING WHAT WORKED. Think about physical recovery. You get injured, so you commit to the process—physical therapy, stretching, strengthening, changing habits, doing the exercises at home. Week after week, you do what’s required. Then one day, you’re healed. But imagine immediately abandoning everything that helped you recover and going right back to the habits that contributed to you being broken. Spiritually, we do this all the time. We seek Christ when we’re hurting. We pray when we’re struggling. We open the Word when we need direction. We remove distractions when they’re destroying us. We become disciplined because we desperately need healing. Then God restores us…and slowly we return to the life He brought us out of. Don’t stop doing what worked just because you’re feeling better. Christ isn’t just our recovery plan. He is our life. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 Christ didn’t restore you so you could become strong enough to return to what broke you. You are a new creation. Don’t go back to living like the old you. The goal was never just to get healed enough to go back. The goal is to get healed and walk differently. Meet Me at 4AM. Keep showing up. Keep doing what worked. 🙏🏾