Why I Care about Tim Tebow

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.

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