"The Decision?"

It is finally over. After months of hype, speculation, and gossip, we now know that LeBron James has decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and go the Miami Heat. ESPN agreed to give a full hour of TV coverage to a program titled “The Decision” so that LeBron could make his announcement.

Really? Is this the decision? Is it really that important?

The ESPN program was an extended example of narcissism as the sports commentators praised LeBron and then asked him simplistic questions which allowed “The King” to tell us over and over again that his decision is all about his “happiness” and his desire to win an NBA championship.

While I wish LeBron no ill will, I do sympathize with the fans in Cleveland who watched LeBron quit on them during the Eastern Conference finals verses the Celtics, and now they have to realize that he has chosen to leave them without achieving his promise of an NBA championship. Even if LeBron wins multiple NBA titles in Miami, his star has lost a lot of luster, simply because we have seen the result of treating a young man like a god – and we probably deserve the resultant selfish, “what’s it in for me” attitude that LeBron and other grossly overpaid athletes display.

We also can learn from his example. We can learn that his decision is really not the decision. What is “the decision”? I believe that “the decision” is actually a whole series of hundreds and thousands of little choices we make about how to live our lives. Will we live our lives primarily for ourselves, our happiness, our goals, our results, our own choices, and our own ego? Or, will we live our lives with a focus upon a higher purpose, service to others, making a difference in the world, leaving a legacy for those to follow, and offering our best and highest for a cause that is worthy? It is a simple but profound choice we make many times a day. It is “the decision” that directs our lives.

I enjoy sports. I will probably watch to see how LeBron does in Miami as he joins other talented NBA players. I will cheer for Cleveland to move on without LeBron. And I will even watch our Indiana Pacers once in a while (although that is a discouraging activity ever since Reggie Miller retired).

More importantly, I will watch to see how regular folks make “the decision” about their lives, and I will honor those who make a choice based upon higher values than those displayed by a 25 year old spoiled basketball player who is not “The King” for me.

I will try to follow the example of the “King of Kings” who lived his life offering healing, hope, and love to others and who sacrificed his life for all of us. Jesus is the true King, the Christ, the Lord, and the One who shows us how to make “The Decision.”