HEELCATCHER

I first heard about Tim Tebow from my parents. They told me about a homeschooler who was lighting up the high school football field near our hometown in FL. They said he was a solid Christian kid who played QB, ran like a fullback, and had a knack for winning…and that he had committed to go to the University of Florida to play football.

I didn’t care too much. I didn’t like the Gators. I was a Florida State Seminole fan–the Gators’ arch-enemy on the football field.

In Tebow’s freshman year at UF, the Gators made it to the national championship game. He was the back-up QB to Chris Leak but already the Gator fans were calling him “Superman.” He had come in sporadically during the season to score touchdowns, what every fan loves. His ability to run, pass, and bust through the line made him a triple threat at the goal line.

I thought that the whole “Tebow  craze” was way too premature. He had barely done anything on the field and the praise seemed to be destined for disappointment. Who can live up to that kind of hype?

Plus I still didn’t like the Gators.

But the next season Tebow won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore and then another national championship as a junior. The Tebow craze in FL was growing rather than diminishing. And just about everyone in my family (parents, siblings, nephews, nieces) was talking about Tim Tebow and wearing #15 Gator jerseys.

At the time, my family lived in NJ and fevered interest in college football rarely crossed the Mason-Dixon line. It’s hard to get into college football when Rutgers is your state team.

But my four boys picked up on the Tebow mania and soon they were wearing #15 jerseys too. I didn’t mind. My interest in Florida State football had waned and I couldn’t help but root for a young man who seemed to have such a passionate and sincere faith in Jesus Christ. What better role model could you want for your kids?

And the more I read about Tim Tebow, the more I liked him. He was down to earth, liked and respected by his teammates, involved in charity and mission work, and a great football player. I had never seen a player with so much passion on the football field…and so much passion for Christ off of it as well.

Sports Illustrated ran a cover story about Tim Tebow in their July 27, 2009 magazine. The title was “You Gotta Love Tim Tebow” with the tag line: “He’s a Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time national champion, but the Florida quarterback will tell you he does his most important and rewarding work off the football field.” http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1158168/index.htm

I read the article and was more impressed. Tebow was using his platform as a college football player to minister in prisons, do charity work overseas, and sponsor community service initiatives on campus. Not only was he involved in ministry himself but he was influencing his fellow teammates and the entire culture at UF in the same direction. No small feat.

I became a fan.

When Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the NFL draft, I listened to all the NFL analysts and pundits critique his ability to play QB and the wisdom of Josh McDaniels (Denver’s coach at the time) making such a move to get Tebow. Many analysts didn’t see Tebow as worthy of any more than a 3rd or 4th round draft selection. “He is better suited to be a fullback or a tight end than a QB” was the standard mantra. But there he was in the first round wearing a Broncos hat with Josh McDaniels vowing to play him as his QB.

Tebow didn’t play much until the end of his first season and by that time McDaniels was fired as coach of the Broncos. It seemed that the “Tebow experiment” would end in Denver and Tebow would pass into the night (no pun intended) as a back-up QB or a converted fullback on some other team.

Then this season happened. A Denver team 1-4 and dead in the water reluctantly gave the reins to Tim Tebow. Many believe that the real intent of the Denver coach and the GM was to watch him fail on the football field so that the Denver fans would come to their senses and stop chanting his name in the stands.The fact that Denver traded away their top receiver (Brandon Lloyd) after Tebow became the starter suggests that they had mailed in the season and were already looking to the next.

But somehow in the first game Tebow won…and then he kept winning even after getting pummeled by the Detroit Lions in his second game.

Every win was ugly…and somewhat miraculous (from a football perspective).

Here is the basic script. For 50 minutes of the game, Tebow looks terrible. He barely makes a first down and completes few of his passes. The critics on blog lines start making Tebow jokes and laughing at the idiocy of Tebow fans. Then in the last minutes of the fourth quarter, Tebow leads a feverish comeback where he runs stronger, completes more passes, and inspires his teammates to a higher level of play. When the final seconds tick off the clock…or when overtime ends…Denver somehow wins.

7-1 as a starter. Six straight wins. From last to first in their division.

I am sure it has been done before. There are other QB’s who have engineered fourth quarter comebacks. But something about the Broncos season has captured the attention of the media…and it primarily centers on Tim Tebow. The QB who isn’t supposed to be a QB. The college football player who isn’t supposed to be in the NFL. And ironically the young man who isn’t even supposed to be alive. Tebow’s mom was advised to abort him because he wasn’t supposed to be a normal, healthy baby. It’s a storyline that seems too good to be true…and a storyline that doesn’t excite the pro-abortion crowd who probably wishes that Tebow would just go away.

As a pastor, I try to keep sports in perspective. I know that, from an eternal perspective, winning a football game doesn’t matter. There are almost always believers on both teams and to pray for one team to win over another seems pointless and misguided at best.

But for some reason I am praying that the Broncos keep winning. It is not a prayer on the top of my list by any means…and to be honest I have never truly verbalized it in a prayer to God. It is more of an “unspoken request” :>).

More than anything I want to see Tim Tebow continue to use the platform of NFL football to point people to Christ, to minister to others, and to change the culture of the Broncos team, the city of Denver, and possibly many others in this sports nation.

Is that unrealistic? Is that weird? Is that taking sports too far?

I wonder…if God were to raise up a modern-day Dwight L. Moody or Billy Graham in our culture…if He wanted to use a person to capture the consciousness of the particular American society in which we now live…could He use a sports star, an NFL QB?

Maybe He wouldn’t because it would feed our already out-of-control sports addiction. Or maybe He wouldn’t because it would cause too many people to associate God’s blessing with winning a football game.  But, on the other hand, maybe He would. If God speaks in a language that we can understand, then maybe sports is the only language that many in our culture understand today. Maybe He would use a football player…just like He wants to use a pastor, a policeman, a politician, a plumber, or a parent…to be a powerful witness for Him.

Is it crazy to believe that God could use Tim Tebow to awaken a spiritual desire in the heart of a spiritually dead, distracted, and cynical society?

I can’t say…and won’t say…that God wants the Broncos to win or that He orchestrates plays on the football field to Tebow’s favor. But I can say that God wants His name to be proclaimed and His work to be accomplished and, if Tebow is willing to be used by Him, then God just may bless his efforts and multiply his impact…both on and off the field.

Whether the Broncos win or lose a football game ultimately doesn’t matter. Whether Tim Tebow  succeeds or fails on the football field ultimately doesn’t matter.  Only the life-giving message of Jesus Christ ultimately matters. And those who have a passion for Christ, as Tebow has, should pray that his influence increases, his integrity remains intact, and that his ministry field expands to the glory of God.

So that’s why I care about Tim Tebow.

Because, in Christ, we are on the same team.

I meant to write this post several months ago. I didn’t. So I am writing it now.

My oldest son, Nate, turned 13 this year. Besides making me feel old, it also was a reminder of the great responsibility that I have as a father to my sons. I only get one shot at this…and the time passes so quickly. I want to redeem the time and make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16).

One of the books that inspired and impressed me was Robert Lewis’ Raising a Modern-Day Knight. Lewis is the former pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock and his book detailed some of the “manhood ceremonies” and traditions that he established in raising his sons. Lewis used a knight theme as a way to instill in his sons the ideas of honor, integrity, and bravery. I liked the ideas but just couldn’t get into the knight theme. No offense to King Arthur and his round table but I knew I needed to come up with my own ideas.

Here are the traditions and “rites of passage” that I have started and am doing with my sons. Since Nate is the oldest, he has become the “guinea pig” for them all. So far they have seemed to work and to leave a strong impression on him. Maybe there is something that you can take from them as well.

Yearly Birthday Dinner. About five years ago, I started taking my sons out for a special lunch/dinner on their birthdays. It is just my son and me. I let them pick the place to eat. When they were younger, they wanted to go to Chick Fil-A. Now their tastes are getting a little more expensive. Nate has chosen a Japanese steakhouse the past few years. During the meal, I use the time to hear their best memories from the past year, see how they are doing spiritually, and ask if they have any questions for me or issues with our parenting. Typically nothing major comes up but it at least opens up the door for future communication.

10-Year Old Night Out. On their 10th birthday, I wanted to do something a little more special so I decided to take them away for a night. Nate and I went away to a Christian retreat center (America’s Keswick in NJ) and spent the night there. Keswick has an Olympic size pool and other activities so I figured the two days together would be fun. But when we arrived, I found out that their pool and most of their other activities were closed since they only opened when large groups were staying on site. I thought the time might be boring for Nate but he didn’t mind at all. That night we walked around the lake together. We talked about God, life, sports, girls, and whatever else came up. Along the way, he took me by the hand and thanked me for being his father. I knew at that moment that the night away meant a lot more to him than I could have imagined. The next day we played the only two activities still available–frisbee golf and raquetball. We had a blast. As soon as we got home, Noah, my second son, asked where we were going on his 10th birthday. The precedent had been set.

On this 10th birthday trip, I take the time to have the “sex talk” with my boys. I use Carol Nystrom’s God’s Design for Sex series. We read through Book Two together and talk about it. I want my boys to understand the beauty of sex and God’s design for it. I also want them to know that they can talk to me about any sexual issue or ask any sexual question. The night away affords a great opportunity for this interaction.

13-Year Old Special Trip. While eating lunch one time with a friend, he mentioned that when his kids turned 13 he asked them where they wanted to go in the US and then he took them there for a special 2-3 day trip. The idea struck a chord in my mind. I knew the expense could be a challenge but, at the same time, I knew the potential benefits could be priceless (sort of like the Mastercard commercials). Out of curiosity one night when Nate was around 12 1/2, I asked him, “If you could go anywhere in the US, where would you want to go?” To my surprise, he said without hesitation, “The Grand Canyon.” That resonated with me because I wanted to see the Grand Canyon too!

I looked at my OnePass miles and I had enough for one flight. I checked into flights to Phoenix and the costs were reasonable. I talked with Liz and we decided to go ahead with the plan, knowing full well that in committing to take Nate where he wanted to go we were committing to three more trips with my other three sons.

When I told Nate we were going to the Grand Canyon, his eyes lit up.

Planning the trip with him was almost as fun as the trip itself. I was thinking that we would fly into Phoenix, drive to the Canyon, walk around exploring a little bit, and then come home. Nate had other ideas. He asked, “Can we go whitewater rafting?”

I wasn’t as wild about this idea. I am not an adventure seeker. I have been whitewater rafting on youth trips in Tennessee and in Costa Rica. I went more out of duty than out of joy. The last trip I was on in Costa Rica I was thrown out of the raft. Nothing bad happened as I went down the rapid on my tush but the whole experience made me inwardly vow that that would be my last whitewater trip.

Out of fatherly love I started to research whitewater rafting on the Colorado. I was almost relieved when I saw that there were no one day or two day trips on the Colorado River. But then I found a one-day trip with an Indian tribe called the Hualapai. The more I researched it, the more it looked perfect for what we wanted to do. I made the reservation (no pun intended).

Our trip was phenomenal…and God arranged so many things for us along the way.

We arrived in Phoenix on Monday and drove to Peach Springs, AZ on Route 66. We stayed the night at the Hualapai Lodge. The next day we went whitewater rafting. We were placed in a raft with a family from Northern Ireland. Come to find out they were a Christian family and their teenage children immediately hit it off with Nate. I couldn’t have planned a better whitewater experience…and best of all I didn’t fall out of the boat.

The next morning I planned a “rite of passage” ceremony with Nate. I like the concept of a bar mitzvah and wanted to reproduce it in a small way. I challenged Nate to be a LIGHT–a Leader with Integrity, Grace, Humility, and Truth. I talked about each quality and shared my hopes and dreams for Nate. I read to him what I wrote in my journal when he was born. We cried together and prayed together. I used two candles to symbolize the time. I had him hold his candle in the flame of mine and talked about how in his early years, he borrowed his light from us, his parents. Then I had him pull the candle away. Now as a young adult he needed to personalize his faith and make it his own. As parents, we could help relight his candle for awhile but soon he would be on his own. Together we poured the wax from our candles onto a LIGHT certificate that I made for him. I gave him a leather necklace with a star to remind him of being a LIGHT for Christ in this world.

About mid-morning, we left Peach Springs and headed back toward Phoenix. We stopped and swam at Slide Rock, drove through Sedona, and got to Phoenix in time to watch an Arizona Diamondbacks’ game. We didn’t even know Arizona was playing at home but we saw a billboard when we first got to Phoenix. I looked online, found cheap tickets on StubHub, and got us two tickets a row behind the left field fence. We didn’t catch a home run but at least the Diamondbacks won.

On Thursday morning we flew back to Baton Rouge.

Nate called it the best trip of his life. My prayer is that he will remember it the rest of his life.

I know I will.

Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother (Matthew 18:15).

Matthew 18:7-14 warns us about giving offense to a “little one” either through sinful actions or a sinful attitude. Matthew 18:15-17 deals with our response when we are the ones who are sinned against. Jesus covers both sides of the issue. We can sin against others and we can be sinned against.

So how do we respond when we are sinned against?

1. Have a heart of humility and compassion. The context makes it clear that biblical confrontation begins with a heart broken and humble before the Lord and compassionate and concerned for our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. If this is not there, then the confrontation will be self-serving even if the biblical step-by-step method is followed. Confrontation cannot be pursued as a way to make another person feel inferior to us in their Christian walk. Only when I come to the Lord as a “little one,” poor in spirit, broken over my own sin, hungry for His righteousness, and merciful toward others, can I confront with the right heart motive.

I have always loved and been challenged by this quote by Timothy Keller in his book, Counterfeit Gods:

Even in relationships that are not physically violent, but just unfair, you will not do a good job of confronting and correcting wrongdoers unless you first forgive them in your heart. If you don’t forgive the perpetrator, you will overreach in your confrontation. You will be seeking not justice or change but only to inflict pain. Your demands will be excessive and your attitude abusive. The wrongdoer will see the confrontation as intended simply to cause hurt. A cycle of retaliation will begin. Only when you have the lost the inner need to see the other person hurt will you have any chance of actually bringing about justice, change, and healing. (page 191)

2. See the one who sinned against you as a brother/sister. In the context, Jesus is talking about relationships in the community of believers. When someone outside the church sins against us, then we should still seek forgiveness and reconciliation as much as possible (Romans 12:18) but the circumstances and process may be a lot different. For instance, we shouldn’t go alone to someone who just committed a crime against us. We should take the police! But in relationships between professed believers, we should seek the avenue of peace first and foremost. And we should see them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes whenever another believer sins against us, we immediately doubt their salvation and begin to deride their Christian faith. We forget our own susceptibility to sin and propensity to offend others. We see the speck in their eye and overlook the beam in our own. But biblical confrontation is always in a “family context” seeking peace with my brother or sister in the Lord.

3. Go alone and talk with him alone first. Our first inclination when we are sinned against is to air our grievances to others. We want someone else to hear our pain and sympathize with us….and often agree with us that the other person is just plain evil and insensitive. But if humility is in our heart and reconciliation is our goal, then we go to the person alone and tell them how their actions have gone against God’s Word and hurt us. Practically, this is done with a “spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). Not “I can’t believe you hurt me. How can you be so insensitive?” but rather “When you told my friends that I was dumb, it deeply hurt me and it was not a helpful thing to say (Ephesians 4:29).”

4. Go praying for restoration. I love how Jesus puts it, “If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” It is a financial term. You have made a great profit in your efforts. The richest person in the world is the one who lives in right relationship to God and has right relationship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. We are at a loss, we are in great debt, when we do not have peace with our spiritual family. That’s why we should endeavor (work hard, labor to the point of sweat) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).

Relationships are not easy. I wish that these verses in Matthew 18 were easy to apply but they are not. There will be conflict in the church. There will be conflict in your family. There will be conflict in your marriage. It is a given. What separates a healthy church (or family or marriage) from an unhealthy one is not the absence of conflict but the humility and willingness to deal with the conflict in a Christ-honoring way.

Relationships are hard work but they are worth the sweat.

Lord, may I keep short accounts with my brothers and sisters in Christ. May I have the humility to love them as You have loved me and the courage to confront them in gentleness and truth when needed.

Most people remember where they were on 9/11. I remember where I was on 9/10.

In April of 2001, I got a traffic ticket. No biggie, right? Well, to me it was.

I know every "violator" is innocent in their own mind but this is the story to the best that I remember it…and my wife, who is much more objective than me, can verify it.

My family and I had just dropped off a friend at the airport in Philadelphia. I had my three year old and one year old sons in the back seat. My pregnant wife in the front seat. We were driving back home. It was Saturday night, early dusk, and we were not in a hurry.

About two miles from our house, we came to a traffic light in the little town of South River. It was the intersection of Reid and Main Streets, an exceptionally wide intersection since the two roads that cross there are at a catty corner. The speed limit through the town was 25 mph. I was putting along at this speed.

As I neared the intersection, the light at the beginning of the intersection turned yellow. I was too close to stop so I continued going through. But as I passed under the light at the end of the intersection, it turned red.

I remember commenting to Liz. "Wow, that was a quick light!"

No sooner had I said that when blue lights started flashing in my rear view mirror. For a second, I hoped they would pass by but instead they settled in right on my bumper. I pulled over.

At this point I made the cardinal mistake in any encounter with a police officer during a traffic violation. I claimed innocence.

"What did I do?" I said…with an innocent look and an incredulous voice.

The lady officer shot back her reply. "Sir, you just blew through that light!"

Okay, I have sped up on many occasions to make it through a yellow light.  I know what it is like to "blow through" a light. But this was not one of those cases. There was no hurry. No sense of getting home faster. No angst at the world. I was enjoying the time…until that moment.

The more I stated my case, the more I angered the police lady. And by the end of our friendly conversation, I had a traffic ticket and a court date.

I was not a happy camper.

My first court date was May 14. Then it got rescheduled to June 25. Part of me thought that I should just go in and pay the ticket. End the whole ordeal. But my sense of justice, and my realization of the increased insurance costs, started to get the best of me.

I had to go back and look at that traffic light. I did a few days later. I noticed that it turned from yellow to red incredibly quick. I timed it. 3 seconds. Out of curiosity I timed the other lights in town. 4 seconds.

An internet search led me to an article entitled "A Little Bit of Yellow." It talked about cities changing one light in town to a shorter yellow and then stationing cops nearby. The article concluded with these words, "The short yellow trap is a gold mine for enterprising cities."

I looked at the new South River courthouse under construction up the road and nodded my head in righteous agreement.

The next few weeks and months had me doing internet research, talking to my lawyer brother-in-law in another state, and finding out that I wasn't the first or the last with a traffic violation at that intersection. In fact, as I stood in line to see the district attorney, the person in front of me and behind me had the exact same traffic violation! It was too much to swallow. I was not only standing up for my rights but for all those who had suffered injustice at the intersection of Reid and Main.

I pleaded innocent with the DA and another court date was set for July 30. Then it was rescheduled again to September 10.

By the time the court date rolled around, I had a whole manila folder of information. Pictures of the traffic light…even a video of it if the judge wanted to see it. A diagram of the intersection with my best measurements. And a mathematical formula showing that it was technically impossible to obey the speed limit and make it through that long intersection under a three second yellow. And, best of all, my eight month pregnant wife was ready to testify on my behalf.

I guess I had watched too many court dramas on TV.

Before I could even bring out my diagram, the DA raised about 14 objections to the judge. "Objection, Your Honor, the defendant does not have  a certified survey of the intersection." "Objection! He cannot submit that evidence to the court!" "Objection! He cannot prove those calculations!" "Objection! Objection! Objection!" I was so flustered after about the fourth objection that I could barely speak.

My wife did much better. She has a little more lawyer blood in her veins. But in the end, the judge wasn't impressed. Guilty as charged. Pay the fine. He did waive the court fees as a gesture of kindness for my efforts.

I paid the ticket and went home.

But I couldn't sleep. The whole thing just reeked in my mind. So I got up in the middle of the night and wrote a letter to the editor. I entitled it "South River's Cash Cow" and I couldn't wait to mail it the next day to the little local newspaper.

The next morning was 9/11.

My little crusade against short yellow lights in small town USA suddenly didn't seem important any more.

"Perspective" is the one word that keeps coming to my mind as I think of 9/10 and 9/11/2001. What consumed my mind on 9/10 was shown for what it was on 9/11. Petty. Self-absorbed. Inconsequential. And a waste of my time, thoughts, and energy.

It's sad that it often takes a tragic event like 9/11…or a feared diagnosis…or the loss of a friend or loved one…to get our attention and slap us back to what really matters. We are so drawn to the trivial..the temporal…that we miss the essential…the eternal.

I remember 9/11.

Being in NJ, the whole event is still surreal in my mind. Calling friends who I knew worked in NYC and simply being glad to hear their voice. Joining with my brothers and sisters in Christ for a packed prayer service. Driving to a ferry terminal in NJ to volunteer to help. Being less stressed by the little worries of the day. Hugging my wife and kids longer…tighter. Crying more. Feeling more. Living more. Loving more.

I wish those things didn't fade in my mind so quickly.

I wish I focused more on the priorities of 9/11 than the pettiness of 9/10.