Quarterback Tim Tebow of the National Football League’s Denver Broncos has been labeled one of the most polarizing characters in the league. His style of play and skill level are well outside the norm of the typical quarterback. He is not known for his talent as a player, yet he wins games. He took over the reins of a struggling team with little hope for a successful season and has led them to five wins in six games through a series of remarkable late game comebacks. But his wins and “rah-rah” attitude are not the only things that make him a polarizing individual.
Tim Tebow is an unabashed and outspoken Christian. He does not make bold statements about controversial beliefs as many devout adherents to varioius belief systems or causes often do – such as proponents or opponents of abortion, homosexuality, treatment of animals, green technology, or global warming; rather he opens press conferences with statements thanking God for the opportunity to play football or for giving him success, and he often ends the interviews by saying “God bless you.” For this he is a controversial figure and stands accused as trying to “ram his beliefs down the throats of everyone.” Cameras follow him everywhere he goes on the field, including the sidelines, where he often drops to one knee to ostensibly offer a prayer after a touchdown.
This past week another football player, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, mocked a fellow athlete in celebrating a touchdown catch by pretending to shoot himself in the leg and then swooning around in the endzone like an airplane which ultimately crashed in full view of 60-70,000 fans (he later dropped a potentially game winning pass). Another football player’s fiancee announced publicly that she was not going to have sex with her boyfriend until he caught a touchdown pass – he has yet to catch one in 11 games this year.
In an age where players mock the misfortune of others, stomp on other players in front of millions of TV fans, allegedly threaten people with handguns, and mock sexual standards of society, how is it that we find a young man whose life and personal conduct is exemplary to be the number one polarizing figure in his sport? Perhaps it is because his lifestyle is so unusual in our self-centered, self-promoting, undiscplined society that we don’t know how to deal with it. Perhaps those who are so eager to criticize see the bankruptcy of their own beliefs and lifestyles and they have to denigrate those who have not sold out as they have.
Thank you Tim Tebow and others who offer thanks to the God who has given you the gifts and attitude to succeed in a world and sport where there is little appreciation for humility and faithfulness. If that creates controversy and polarization, so be it.
God Bless You!
0 Responses to “Public Witness”