Tim Tebow

I can't believe I am actually going to blog on Tim Tebow but because sports is one of my bigger interests it has been on my mind lately.

OPENING DISCLAIMER: I like Tim Tebow as a person. If you read anything below that seems to discredit that, please refer back to this disclaimer.

I respect any passionate person who seems to live a life consistent with their ideals - unlike many people - I even respect people with whom I disagree provided they are consistent.

One of the biggest problems I have with the hype surrounding Tim, is that I believe it has the opposite effect that many evangelicals hope. Rather than strengthening the evangelical perception, I believe it only serves to discredit and undermine evangelicals further. Why? Keep reading...

No one questions Tim's intangible qualities of leadership. In that arena, he is an unparalleled all-star. For me, those are the qualities we should be highlighting. Unfortunately, over the past several weeks, evangelicals have ascribed a "miracle-like" status to Tim's come-from-behind victories. Those of you who know football, understand that in most cases those victories would have been more appropriately attributed to either the Denver Broncos defense, their kicker, or blatant mistakes made by opponents.

After suffering three consecutive losses, it is becoming more and more clear that perhaps Jesus is not a Denver Broncos fan - who knew? The Saturday Night Live skit did a better job of pointing out the lunacy of that concept than anything the church was willing to stand up and do. Now, all of the evangelicals who felt that God was doing "football miracles" through Tim Tebow are forced to scratch their heads, change the subject, or deny Tim.

Ultimately, this is not only unfair to Tim, but it points to something flawed in how we believe. While many American evangelicals are touting "miraculous" comebacks as the work of God, the real world is out there facing real tragedies, painful realities, poverty, etc. It is no wonder the evangelical church has lost its voice in the public forum. We've become a caricature of the life Jesus intended us to lead when he left the keys with us.

Instead of pointing to Tim and saying, what a great young man with great leadership qualities and a strong authentic faith, we turned him into a miracle worker - which he never was - and now every loss becomes another embarrassment. How could anyone live up to what has been placed on him?

If you are one of those people who pointed to Tim, you should keep pointing. Not because of a scoreboard, but because of his life off of the football field. If you are one of those people who never got it, don't worry about it. If you are one of those people who thought that the hoopla from the evangelicals was ridiculous, I agree with you.

I would ask that you cut the evangelicals a little slack though - because in reality - all anyone really wants is a hero and in many ways I do think Tim Tebow fits that bill.

Peace