It was around this time last year that I wrote a blog about the start of the playoffs in NBA basketball.  The blog was about how as a Cavaliers fan there was a chance for a championship.  The team was coming off a season where they had won more games than any other team in the league.  They were the 1 seed in the East with home court throughout the playoffs.  They were healthy.  And after all, they had LeBron James, who was once again the MVP of the league.  It looked like all things were in place to end the misery of the city of Cleveland for its sports fans.

A year later.  LeBron is gone.  He announced in the very public decision he was “taking his talents to South Beach.”  This not only left a bad taste in many’s mouth (mine included…God is teaching me to love and cheer for an enemy, but that is a post for another day), it also crippled the Cavaliers.  They went on to have the second worst record in the league this year.  People who made money from the Cavaliers lost it.  People lost jobs.  Restaurants lost revenue.  Fans lost hope.

Now let’s move from a silly thing like sports.  Look back a your life from a year ago.  How are things different?  How have you grown?  How have you changed?  What is better?  What is worse?  Did you reach that goal?  Did you act on that dream?  Did you start those habits you wanted to add to you routine?  I have been asking myself this.  Where was I a year ago?  Is the man I see in the mirror better than the one that stood there last year?

I know in the last year I have been asking this about the church I pastor as well.  Are we better?  Are we more holy?  more righteous?  more Godly?

What does the last year of your life show?  What will one year from now look like?  Your habits and daily decisions will determine the answers.