Tim Tebow

Yesterday Lee pointed out an article in The New York Times about Tim Tebow, the football player for the Denver Broncos who just got traded to the New York Jets. But he's most famous for his very public Christian faith.

Since his rise to fame, I've considered him...embarrassing. An example of those culturally Christian weirdos who make me feel uncomfortable about being a Christian myself. In fact, this excerpt of the article sums me up (even though I'm no longer a New Yorker): 


"New Yorkers are a sophisticated lot, and the Tebow hype will afford them plenty of opportunities for eye-rolling. Football fans will tell you that Tebow is a bad-to-mediocre quarterback with a few unusual skills who rode a lucky streak to undeserved fame; the rest is just the standard media fantasy about "intangibles" dressed up with spirituality."


But the article goes on to change my mind about Tim Tebow. First, it points out that "his conduct--kind, charitable, chaste, guileless--seems to actually vindicate his claim to be in possession of a life-altering truth." (I can't think of a better compliment.) And then the article points out something that I should already know...


"Tebow's religion claims that every human life is actually a story with an Author, and that a genuinely Christian life should make that divine Authorship manifest."


When he prayed before games, I always saw it as corny. But actually, football is not just a game to him; it's his career. How he performs in a game and how his team does in a season affects the course of his life. Of course that's worth praying over, if you really believe in God. 


Here's what I'm learning: My dislike for "cultural Christians" inhibits my own sense of the truth. And this is something I've got to get over if I'm going to lead a genuinely Christian life. This makes me all the more grateful for those Christians who pull this off without being corny, like Anne Lamott. I just saw her at a reading in Decatur. She is far too cynical and sharp-tongued to be corny. 


Lord, please help me along in this sanctification process. I am resting in the fact that you are in charge of making me more like you.


I pray for Jen Moulton's sister, who seems to be on her deathbed. I pray for wisdom for her doctors, and for healing, and for her family, especially her children.


I praise you for the good prognosis for Natalie, and I ask you to gird her against the unpleasant effects of her illness. I pray for comfort for her and her family.


I pray for Melissa, whose husband is now absent. Comfort her and her children, Lord!


I pray for protection over my marriage, because money issues are threatening it again.


I pray for our time this weekend with Lee's parents, and later for our time with Sara. Thank you for making all things possible.


In Your Son's name I pray.


Amen