Tim Tebow...

By now, Denver Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow is probably a pretty familiar name to you. If not, Tebow is not only the starting quarterback for the Broncos, but also a highly publicized, and often scrutinized player. Tebow is sized up not only for his football skills, but probably more so for his spiritual life. He’s a devout Christian and lets the world know it. He gives glory to God for all his successes in life and there have been many.  In college, Tebow’s Florida Gators won two national championships and he was awarded the Heisman Trophy as the sport’s outstanding player.

This year for the Broncos, he’s taken a woefully bad team and turned them around, winning their conference championship and last week defeating the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the NFL playoffs.

The television cameras are seemingly transfixed on the man, especially when he drops to a knee and prays as is often does before, during, and after games.  The posture of him praying has become such a common sight that it has a name of its own:  tebowing. There is a website, tebowing.com, where you can submit a picture of yourself tebowing.   Kids have been cited for tebowing in the middle of their hallways at school, causing undue bottlenecks.

It all looks like a lot of harmless fun, I suppose. But I can’t help but see another side of the tebowing craze. The other night on the local newscast, there was a story on Tim Tebow, the phenomenal success he’s had this year in football, and the whole fad of tebowing. Okay... But at the end of the report, both of the local anchorwomen and the weather man were shown in posed pictures of themselves tebowing. They were all laughing hilariously at themselves in the pictures. I found it bothersome and, at the risk of using a heavily overused term these days, offensive.

Making mockery of Christian prayer is something that I had a hard time getting past. I couldn’t imagine mocking a Muslim on his prayer rug being acceptable behavior, nor should it be. But no one seems to think a thing of an imitative derision of a Christian in prayer.
 
I began to wonder how we’d gotten to this stage, where prayer was taken so lightly. I thought of times when people suffer difficulties, people often say they’ll keep that person in their "thoughts and prayers." It’s a comfortable expression, almost like it’s okay to mention prayer, as long as it’s coupled with thoughts. It’s not a bad saying, per se, but I find more comfort in "I’ll be praying for you about that," when I’m that person in need. I used to have a pastor who would look me in the eye and say, "I’m praying for you as we speak," in those situations. Anyone who knew the man at all, knew he meant exactly what he said. 

Oftentimes, we hear someone say something like, "Well, the least we can do is pray," when just the opposite is the truth. Prayer is the most you can do, bringing our needs to the highest possible Power. James 5:16 says, "…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." In 1Thessalonians 5:16-17, we’re told to "Be joyful always; pray continually..."   I’m thankful for someone like Tim Tebow, who despite the ridicule the world tosses his way, practices these verses far better than I do.