Posted on 01/08/2012 10:14:07 PM PST by Sick of Lefties
Nothing makes a secular bigot sputter and vituperate like a Jesus-loving jock. Secularists across the nation are gnashing their teeth this evening over the latest Mile High miracle. Tim Tebow, whose apostolic Christianity has been a thumb in the eye of those who prefer that others keep their religion in the closet, had a big night.
The Denver Broncos defeated the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers (along with their bad-boy quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger) 29-23 in a first round playoff game, the first overtime game played under new, stricter rules. It ended on the first play from scrimmage in overtime with an 80 yard touchdown completion from Tebow to Demaryius Thomas.
Tebow finished with 316 yards (204 to Thomas on four receptions) and two touchdowns on 10/21 completions and a QB rating of 125.6. Not bad for a quarterback regularly maligned as artless and lousy.
It was a great game. But that's not the point of the post.
Tebow was a demigod in college at Florida where he won a national championship, and the Heisman Trophy, the first sophomore to win college football's most vaunted prize. In his acceptance speech, he thanked his mother for not aborting him as she was advised to do by MD's.
The following year he withdrew his name from consideration on Playboy's pre-season all American team. It wasn't his type of magazine. He was a virgin, and didn't revel at pictures of naked women.
He later made two pro-life commercials for Focus on the Family, which aired during Super Bowl XLIV. Did Noman mention that he was home schooled as a youngster?
He was drafted by Denver in 2010. The Broncos were 1-4 under Kyle Horton this season (2011) when the reigns were turned over to Tebow. The Broncos proceeded to win seven of eight games, three of them in overtime, most of them in hair-raising, last second comebacks.
Tebowing was the talk of the nation, with one Long Island school even banning the practice among students--the week before Christmas.
Skeptics were quick to declare that God loved Tom as well as Tim when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots thumped the Broncos, ending their miraculous streak. Two more losses including a season finale at home at the hands of Kyle Horton and his new team, the Kansas City Chiefs, put an exclamation point on Tebow's supposed fall from grace.
All that talk seemed to miss the point. The Broncos failed to clinch their division (the AFC West) with a win. But, they clinched it nevertheless with an 8-8 record because their chief competitor for the division crown, the Oakland Raiders, also lost.
If critics wished to infer that God (or the non-existent God) didn't bless Tebow because he didn't win every big game, it was fair for admirers to infer that God did indeed bless him with a division crown in his first year as a starter even though he didn't win every big game, or any game with the title on the line.
God blessed Tebow with the just enough of what he needed in order to show His divine favor. He didn't bless him with invincibility. He merely rewarded Tebow's faithfulness with a division crown. That the Broncos made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth suggests rather than rules out Divine intervention.
Of course, God's favor doesn't always manifest itself in victory and success, as Lot and Jesus himself attest. The practical test of faith is to see God's will in apparent failure, even misery. He doesn't promise to reward faith with perpetual flowers. But, he does promise to reward it. It is the task of the faithful to discover how He does in what He does.
Tim Tebow is an exceptional man of faith who plays a boy's game on a big stage. Athletics magnifies his every accomplishment, and failure. Despite living under a microscope, Tebow unashamedly professes his belief in God, and fearlessly champions the causes he believes it obliges,. He is a courageous man and extraordinary athlete who possesses an indomitable spirit.
Someday when Tebow hangs up his cleats, he'll be in a position to demonstrate his faith on an even bigger stage, the national political one. If he pays as much attention to his mind as he does to his body, and applies it to current affairs, he'll be ready for the challenges and opportunity that his prowess and celebrity give him.
Noman knows that God will not desert him, and suspects that His blessings will be forthcoming. Our challenge will be to see how God sends them regardless of the outcome. Personally, Noman can't wait to vote for him.
God vs. Satan.... Now thats a game..
It only seems likea game; the outcome is the one thing in all of Creation that is never in doubt.
Husband chanced to turn on the game right at the overtime coin toss. He’d been watching it in his man cave but he came out and turned it on my TV, at my request because hey, while I’m a Ravens fan, I was intrigued by watching an overtime on football. This happens so seldom so I wanted to see it.
I almost broke the floor when my jaw dropped at that great touchdown that unfolded before my eyes that were so eager to see some OT action.
It had it all...Tebow, the Steelers that I hate, a magnificent touchdown.
Later as I smiled into the night at my chance to have seen that, live, and on a sudden whim. Bob Maher likes to smirk that Tebow’s God abandons him from time to time when the play goes bad.
While I don’t want to get way-out and say that God blessed the Broncos, way I figger, if God gets blamed when it goes bad for Tebow, this time God gets some of the credit.
From me, at least.
;)
The overtime coin toss took longer than overtime itself.
Consider what happened to Paul:
25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
Yet today hundreds of millions know of Paul and read him, while hardly anyone remembers the emperors and generals of his time.
Tebow passed for 3:16 yards! Coincidence? I don't think so!
I just talked to the God that you referred to many times in your post, and He said it's not real nice to hate, especially women.
He said He doesn't like to admit it, but, He hates the Ravens, especially the murderer that is a linebacker when he's not stabbing people.
He hasn't made up His mind about the fans.
Nor is there an “I” in Tebow. ;)
;)
Amen.
Though the question about whether God determines outcomes—predestination “vs.” freedom—is a deep theological one.
Has anyone written intelligently about Tebow’s affect on his teammates? Do they love him? Hate him? Would they go to Thermopylae with him? Is anyone going back to Church after being away? How did he get along at Florida? Are they proud that they played with him?
He probably does this morning.
I find it funny that if the talking heads in the NFL would have just ignored Tebow and his praying no one would be talking about it and like the white house Haloween party no one would know of it.
The media is getting exactly what it deserves for “feeding the trolls” out there.
Other 9? 9 + 1. Doggone it! Maybe that’s why the lost the last 3. They were playing one short.
There is nothing wrong with my math..... Tiebow (1) + Thomas (1) + the other members of the Broncos on the field (9) = 11.
My parents have an LP dramatic version of such a game. Loved listening to it as a kid. Cannot remember if Jesus was one of the main players, or the coach.
TalBlack, and readers:
I changed that portion of the post after reviewing his Heisman acceptance and dinner speeches. He thanked her for instilling character in him.
I couldn’t find an article on google to verify that Tebow himself had publicly thanked his mother specifically for not aborting him. Others paraphrased him as doing so, which is apparently what I remembered when sitting down at the keyboard.
The blog post now reads:
“Tebow was a demigod in college at Florida where he won a national championship, and the Heisman Trophy, the first sophomore to win college football’s most vaunted prize. He began his acceptance speech by thanking his Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
The following year he withdrew his name from consideration on Playboy’s pre-season all American team. It wasn’t his type of magazine; he was a virgin, and didn’t revel at pictures of naked women.
He later made two pro-life commercials for Focus on the Family, which aired during Super Bowl XLIV. They featured his mother, who had declined to accept MD’s advice to abort him. Mother and son are obviously very close, and happy. He’s her miracle baby; she’s the one who chose to protect rather than kill him. God is the one who preserved his life.”
My apologies for the inaccuracy, which I want to rectify.
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