During the fifth game of the 2011 season Tebow entered the game after half time. He has not looked back since then. The Broncos let Orton go and they have won five of their last six games. Many have been won last minute victories led by Tebow!I have not followed Tebow until now. I knew he played college football with the Florida Gators leading them to National Championships in 2006 & 2008. He won numerous college football player awards including the Heisman Trophy which he won as a sophomore in 2007 and was the first player ever to win the award as a sophomore.
Tebow’s autobiography chronicles his life from the cradle to the 2010 NFL draft when he was taken by the Denver Broncos. Six things grabbed my attention in reading this book:
1. Tim Tebow’s parents’ were committed to raising a family that honored Jesus Christ.
Tebow, the youngest of five children, was born in the Philippines as his parents were missionaries. During the pregnancy his mom experienced bleeding. She was told that if she carried baby Tebow to term her life would be in jeopardy. To preserve her life an abortion was an option, but she remained committed to carry her baby to delivery.
After Tim was born, the doctor told his parents, “…your child is a miracle baby. I can’t explain how it happened, but despite all odds, he beat them. Only a small part of the placenta was attached, but it was just enough to keep you baby nourished all these months” (p. 4).
Years later, in 2009, during Super Bowl XLIV Focus on the Family sponsored a t.v. commercial with Tebow and his mom promoting the sanctity of human life.
2. Tebow is driven to excellence and give God all the glory. As the youngest child, with two older sisters and two older brothers, it was competitive in the Tebow home. Each brother tried to top one another is whatever they did. Tebow writes, “It didn’t matter if it was Monopoly or chess inside with my sisters or baseball or basketball outside with my brothers—or if I was four and the rest of them were far older. They took no prisoners—the rules applied equally to all” (p. 10).
His parents made a rule than no one who bring up one’s accomplishments and brag about them unless someone first asked them about it. They based this on Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not our own lips.” Tebow writes, “It was a great lesson for us toward living our lives with a humble spirit, a lesson we needed to learn and continue to work on” (p. 14).
3. Tebow looks to the needs of others before himself. He writes going into 2007 that it was not about winning the SEC and National Championship, “It wasn’t about what we would or would not accomplish. It was about coming together and committing ourselves to one another to be the best we could be. It was about building relationships around sacrifice for the team, wanting the best for the other guy, and not caring who got the credit for our mutual success” (p. 124).
Tebow did not have a date for the Home Depot Awards ceremony in Disney World. Kelly Faughan was there with her parents on vacation in hopes of meeting him. The year before she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had subsequent brain surgery. Tebow saw her through a restaurant window and invited her to meet him. Since he did not have a date for the awards ceremony he asked her to attend the evening with him.
4. Tebow is passionate about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On and off the football playing field, Tebow is faithful to share his hope in his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is he real deal. He walks the talk. “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5-6).
In college he tactfully included Scripture verses – Philippians 4:13; Proverbs 3:5-6, and John 3:16 -- on his eye black. During the 2008 National Championship game when he wrote John 3:16 on his eye black over 94 million people searched on Google for it during and immediately after the game (p. 209).
5. Tebow is committed to personal purity and saving himself in marriage.
A reporter asked Tebow, “You’ve worn your religion on your sleeve…and I think that’s made you popular in the South and all over the country, that even if you’re beating…their teams, they still like you personally. Are you saving yourself for marriage?” Tebow responded…”I didn’t dodge the question and answered truthfully, “I am.”
Tebow states, “To his point, athletes seem to be in the news far too much for the negative ways in which they relate to women, all too often with a lack of respect, and horrifyingly, at times, with violence. That distresses me. God wants us to foster healthy relationships in all areas of our lives, and those relationships should never be marked by conquest or putting ourselves or our needs ahead of others’. We are called to serve. I may not have thought the question to be appropriate, but thinking about it afterward, I realized that young women and men heard my answer and would continue to hear it going forward. As a result, there was a chance that they might find encouragement in my words and lifestyle to do the same and to wait until they were married to be sexually active” (pp. 214-215).
6. Tim Tebow is more concerned about character than personal accomplishments.
Tebow, the youngest of five children, was born in the Philippines as his parents were missionaries. During the pregnancy his mom experienced bleeding. She was told that if she carried baby Tebow to term her life would be in jeopardy. To preserve her life an abortion was an option, but she remained committed to carry her baby to delivery.
After Tim was born, the doctor told his parents, “…your child is a miracle baby. I can’t explain how it happened, but despite all odds, he beat them. Only a small part of the placenta was attached, but it was just enough to keep you baby nourished all these months” (p. 4).
Years later, in 2009, during Super Bowl XLIV Focus on the Family sponsored a t.v. commercial with Tebow and his mom promoting the sanctity of human life.
2. Tebow is driven to excellence and give God all the glory. As the youngest child, with two older sisters and two older brothers, it was competitive in the Tebow home. Each brother tried to top one another is whatever they did. Tebow writes, “It didn’t matter if it was Monopoly or chess inside with my sisters or baseball or basketball outside with my brothers—or if I was four and the rest of them were far older. They took no prisoners—the rules applied equally to all” (p. 10).
His parents made a rule than no one who bring up one’s accomplishments and brag about them unless someone first asked them about it. They based this on Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not our own lips.” Tebow writes, “It was a great lesson for us toward living our lives with a humble spirit, a lesson we needed to learn and continue to work on” (p. 14).
3. Tebow looks to the needs of others before himself. He writes going into 2007 that it was not about winning the SEC and National Championship, “It wasn’t about what we would or would not accomplish. It was about coming together and committing ourselves to one another to be the best we could be. It was about building relationships around sacrifice for the team, wanting the best for the other guy, and not caring who got the credit for our mutual success” (p. 124).
Tebow did not have a date for the Home Depot Awards ceremony in Disney World. Kelly Faughan was there with her parents on vacation in hopes of meeting him. The year before she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had subsequent brain surgery. Tebow saw her through a restaurant window and invited her to meet him. Since he did not have a date for the awards ceremony he asked her to attend the evening with him.
4. Tebow is passionate about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On and off the football playing field, Tebow is faithful to share his hope in his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is he real deal. He walks the talk. “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5-6).
In college he tactfully included Scripture verses – Philippians 4:13; Proverbs 3:5-6, and John 3:16 -- on his eye black. During the 2008 National Championship game when he wrote John 3:16 on his eye black over 94 million people searched on Google for it during and immediately after the game (p. 209).
5. Tebow is committed to personal purity and saving himself in marriage.
A reporter asked Tebow, “You’ve worn your religion on your sleeve…and I think that’s made you popular in the South and all over the country, that even if you’re beating…their teams, they still like you personally. Are you saving yourself for marriage?” Tebow responded…”I didn’t dodge the question and answered truthfully, “I am.”
Tebow states, “To his point, athletes seem to be in the news far too much for the negative ways in which they relate to women, all too often with a lack of respect, and horrifyingly, at times, with violence. That distresses me. God wants us to foster healthy relationships in all areas of our lives, and those relationships should never be marked by conquest or putting ourselves or our needs ahead of others’. We are called to serve. I may not have thought the question to be appropriate, but thinking about it afterward, I realized that young women and men heard my answer and would continue to hear it going forward. As a result, there was a chance that they might find encouragement in my words and lifestyle to do the same and to wait until they were married to be sexually active” (pp. 214-215).
6. Tim Tebow is more concerned about character than personal accomplishments.
He writes about the importance of giving it your all even when no one is watching. He writes, “This isn’t about when we’re out there with the cameras rolling and pointed in our faces. I may say I’m playing for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. True. But it’s not just that. It’s about going out every day, in every setting, and working hard. It’s about being dedicated and playing hard because I honestly believe that God receives joy when He sees me doing that with the skills he blessed me with” (p. 173).
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