“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an impor- tant official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means ‘queen of the Ethiopians’). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.'” Acts 8:26-29

In Sports Spectrum’s Fall 2014 DigiMag #3, we published a story about former Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals tight end Ben Utecht. The story was about Utecht’s passion for the physical health of the brain and the spiritual health of the mind. For Utecht’s story, we also interviewed a neuroscientist by the name of Andrew Newberg.

Newberg talked about the complexities of the brain and the research he has conducted. One of the many things he talked about was an athlete’s ability to get in “flow states.”

“The really great athletes have gotten in, what they call, ‘The Zone’ because they aren’t concen- trating anymore—it’s flowing through them,” Newberg says.

In Acts 8, we read about the many ways that the Holy Spirit guided Philip in his ministry. Acts 8:29 says, “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it,'” which led to the conversion of the eunuch who was riding in the chariot.

May we condition our hearts and minds in such a way that we are in constant union with the Spirit within. Continual dependence and brokenness before God might allow us to enter “the zone,” as the Spirit animates us and guides us to ministry opportunities we never could have fathomed on our own.