As a kid, I loved to watch Michael Jordan play basketball. For me, it wasn’t just entertainment, it was educational. I would watch the way he would shoot his famous fadeaway, the way he would stick out his tongue when he would fly through the air for a dunk and then immediately, I would try to replicate what I just saw him do, emphasis on the word try!

For you, maybe it wasn’t MJ, but is there someone whose fashion, whose music, whose acting, whose life spoke to you, not just gaining your admiration, but someone you wanted to be like? Can you look back and think about the posters in your room, the clothes you wore, the albums you listened to, the way you talked and can you see someone else’s influence on your life?

Those we look up to and look at are often the ones we end up looking like.

One of my favorite passages comes from 2 Corinthians 3:18 where Paul says, “We all who with unveiled faces, beholding his glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory.”

Paul says it beautifully, “as we look at Jesus, we are becoming more like him.”

I have seen this to be abundantly true in our church family this year. I have seen us both looking at Him and looking more like him.

In this years’ account of Ethos Stories, we’ve compiled some stories and stats that help us see how we’re looking at and looking like Him. This account isn’t meant to be exhaustive, fully detailing everything that GOD did among us. Instead, it’s meant to give us an overview, to help us remember that He is so very active among us.

I hope as we look back on this past year that it encourages you, that it strengthens your faith and that together we keep marveling at the wonderful Father we have, fixing our eyes on our Savior and the hope we have of life with him forever.