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I found a way to watch Gator football here in China, which is a HUGE blessing for me.  College football has been one of the ‘luxuries’ from home that I’ve missed most in my 9 years living in East Asia.  The only downside – the games are all on in the middle of the night or early Saturday morning!  Oh well, I can make sacrifices!

If you are reading this, you probably already know that I am a huge Gator fan (class ’96) and also a big fan of Tim Tebow, arguably one of the best to have ever played college football!  So this morning I’m watching Florida put the finishing touches on a Kentucky Fried Blowout and then my heart stopped when I saw this;

I mean, I’ve seen Tebow hit people, and get hit by people so hard that it makes you start to believe some of the ‘Chuck Norris’ and ‘Superman’ quotes (aka Tebowisms) that always seem to float around Tebow.  So to see him laying motionless on that field made me go numb.  My brother, who was listening to Gator radio (via the internet), and I were discussing what might have happened – both of us stunned.  Then after coming back from commercial I got to see a visibly dazed and wobbly Tebow walk off the field.  Whew!

I felt better about things, but was still unsettled.  It was obvious that the ‘worst’ had not happened and that Tebow was not paralyzed or otherwise seriously injured, but it was also obvious that he was not right.  My brother joked that they were going to have to hide Tebow’s helmet to keep him from coming back into the game.

I didn’t come to that, in fact he was taken out on a golf cart and then eventually left the stadium in an ambulance while the game was still on-going.

Tim Tebow has been known to put a favorite quote from the Bible on his eyeblack that he wears in the games.  In this game, he wore Isaiah 40:31 which says

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I’m not exactly sure of all the reasons that this passage is meaningful to Tebow, I can take a few guesses considering his background.  What is interesting to me is verse 30 that precedes this quote;

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

I’m confident that Tebow will play again, but even if he did not, he’s the kind of person who has more going for him than just football, and he’d be okay.  He seems to have the proper perspective on what is important in life, and while everyone else might have been calling him ‘Superman’, I have a feeling he understood the truth in Isaiah 40:30!  Let’s pray for ‘renewed strength’ for Tebow in the next few weeks as he recovers.