Archive for the 'Faith' Category

93 Million Reasons For Tebow To Remain A Gator in ‘09

Published by
Steve
at March 28, 2009 in Faith, Football and Sports. 4 Comments
Spring football practice just started at the University of Florida in Gainesville and it puts a great big smile on my face to know that Tim Tebow, one of college football’s greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, walked out onto that practice field to complete his senior year, by-passing what certainly would have been a multi-million dollar NFL contract had he decided to go pro after last year’s season.  There is an interesting story behind Tebow’s decision to stick around for his senior year that I thought I’d share with those who may be interested.
A day or so before last year’s BCS College Football National Championship Game God impressed upon Tim Tebow that he needed to change the message he had displayed on his eye black all year long. Previously, he had a reference to Phillipians 4:13 on his eye black. He talked to four or five others about switching the message and everyone except his parents told him not to do it because they had been so successful all year with the Phillipians 4:13.
His parents, Pam and Bob Tebow, supported the change and Tebow knew it was the right thing to do. So, he made the change and played the championship game with John 3:16 on his eye black.
tim-tebow-john-3-16We all know the outcome of the game (in case you don’t, the Gators played the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners and they won 24–14), but the phone call that Tim Tebow received a couple of days later when he was back in Gainesville is where this story becomes interesting.
Tebow answered his cell phone and it was the P.R. guy for the UF Football team. He said, “You set a new record.” Tebow wondered what kind of record was he talking about, it’s not exactly a new thing for Tebow to break a record of one sort or another. “In the 24 hour period from the start of the BCS championship game, JOHN 3:16 was Googled…93 MILLION times! No other topic had ever been Googled that many times in a 24 hour period of time.”
The follow up story from Urban Meyer, Coach of the 2008 National Champion University Florida football team is where we get look at what kind of person Tebow is:

We all hear about the incredible family Tim is a part of. With everything going on in the world, you just know there is no way Pam and Bob Tebow can be as perfect as they are made out to be.

I am here to tell you I witnessed the most amazing conversation which is the truest testimonial to how incredibly good the Tebows truly are.

A few days after the championship game I sat at a table in the back of the Ballyhoo restaurant with Tim, Pam and Bob Tebow. It was just the four of us and I listened in amazement as Tim’s future about moving to the next level of football was decided. Unbelievably, the NFL was never once mentioned. Tim’s dad started the conversation by saying that Brett Farve spoke about his faith and no one ever listened. Here was a future Hall of Fame quarterback and no one heard his message. Tim then said…”I can think of 93 million reasons why I would want to stay in school and play my senior year at the University of Florida .”

That’s how the decision was made.

Now I know there are skeptics out there, especially those who are anti-Gators and/or anti-Christian.  Seems to me though, it’s very hard to deny that Tebow is the real deal.  It no doubt helps that I’m a Gator fan through and through and that I graduated from UF at the same ceremony as Danny Wuerffel in 1996, but I am really hoping that Tebow has an unprecedented senior year at UF!

Go Gators!

Poverty

Published by
Steve
at October 15, 2008 in Faith and thoughts. 0 Comments

Is poverty the world’s issue of “most pressing importance?”  No, I don’t think so.

Easy for you to say, you are not living in poverty.  True.

 

Does that mean I don’t have any responsibility to help change the situation?  No.  James 2:14-18

 

So, what IS the world’s most pressing issue?  Lostness.  Matthew 16:25-27

 

___

Quote of the week

Published by
Steve
at August 21, 2008 in Faith, Politics and thoughts. 0 Comments

At Saddleback Barack Obama learned this: If you want to be president in the U.S., nothing on God’s green earth is ever above your pay grade.

Source: Wall Street Journal Editorial

Tim Tebow “Rocky Style”

Published by
Steve
at July 26, 2008 in Faith, Football and Sports. 3 Comments
Tebow is coming back, “Rocky Style.”  Cue the music – “Eye of the Tiger”
By quarterback Tim Tebow’s reckoning, his offseason training regimen stretched over three continents and included four countries.

Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and a member of Florida’s 2006 national title team, begins two-a-day practices with the Gators on Aug. 4. He spent his summer with his father’s ministry that took him to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand.

“I have been a lot of places, and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me,” Tebow said Wednesday in Hoover, Ala., at the Southeastern Conference’s annual news media summit. “You get to do a lot of unique training, running up mountains, running up steps. I trained Rocky-style a little bit. It was pretty cool.”

“I love doing it, and it’s something I’m very passionate about,” Tebow said about helping others. “Doing those things, taking my platform as a football player and using it to be an influence and change peoples’ lives — that’s more important than football to me.”

I don’t think I could like this guy any more than I do.  I believe that even if he wasn’t a Gator, say a Seminole, a Volunteer, or a Bulldog, I’d still love him!

15 Ways to Serve Third Culture Kids

Published by
Steve
at June 27, 2008 in Culture, Faith, Family, Kids and TCK. 4 Comments

As anyone with kids can tell you, raising children is one of the greatest responsibilities and privileges that  you can undertake.  Raising kids while living (primarily) overseas has additional challenges.  There is even a name for kids who grow up overseas – “Third Culture Kids.”

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are children who grow up in a culture other than their parents’. Their “home” culture is the first culture; their “host” culture, the second. And they live in the middle, the “third” culture.  They face unique struggles in their lives of transition.

Here are 15 ideas from the web on how you can be meaningfully involved in the life of a TCK:

  1. Begin a relationship with one—or with a whole family of TCKs. Commit to keeping in touch with them. Many people are in TCK’s lives for only a short time. The long-term people are few and greatly appreciated. Be one of those long-term people.
  2. Seek them out when they are “home” visiting your country. Make it a priority to spend time with them when they come back.
  3. Learn their names. This may seem small, but many people only know their parents’ names; it is significant to them when people remember their names as well.
  4. Listen to them. Ask meaningful questions about their lives.
  5. Introduce your kids to them. Encourage them to exchange pictures with each other and send cards and emails to each other when they are apart.
  6. Go visit them in their country!
  7. Invite a college-age TCK whose parents are overseas to live with you.
  8. Invite TCKs who are in your area without their parents to come over for holidays and school breaks. They may need an adopted family. Communicate with their parents and encourage them in their relationship with their parents.
  9. Learn about what it’s like to grow up as a TCK. Visit websites with TCK resources (google it!)
  10. Pray for the TCKs when you pray for their parents. Pray Scripture for the children.
  11. Encourage families as they make decisions for educating their children overseas. Many families choose to use local schools so their child can be a part of the culture. Be encouraging and pray that their children will shine for Jesus in their schools. Some find that boarding school is the best option for their children. Other families desire to homeschool their children. Consider sharing your resources with them or visiting a homeschooling fair on their behalf.
  12. Consider giving them your frequent flyer miles to help with transportation to and from their two countries.
  13. Send quality paperback books to TCKs overseas. Books can be like best friends and will be re-read and shared with others.
  14. Don’t be surprised if TCKs do not seem to appreciate your culture like you do. TCKs often feel overwhelmed by all the excesses in American culture. For example, they may feel surprised by the size of grocery stores, how often people eat out, the high cost of entertainment and how often people “splurge,” the lack of modest clothing even in the church, the sensuality in TV shows and movies, and how much people eat in one sitting.
  15. Get advice right from the source—ask TCKs what makes them feel loved and supported.

Many of these don’t yet apply to Elizabeth, Annna, and Nate, but some of them do.  As we have just left America and returned overseas, I wonder which family members and friends will be the ones to intentionally invest in the lives of our TCK’s?

Steven Curtis Chapman

Published by
Steve
at May 22, 2008 in Faith. 2 Comments

Many of you have probably already heard the sad news about Steven Curtis Chapman’s 5yo daughter.

NASHVILLE, TN…5/21/08… At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Thursday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. 

 

I’m sure SSC and his family could use some prayers right now.

 

 

Heisman provides Tebow opportunities for spreading Good News

Published by
Steve
at May 7, 2008 in Faith and Football. 0 Comments

In the four months since Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, he has sought to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ as far as possible. Winning college football’s most coveted individual award does not seem to have taken away his focus nor his passion for serving Jesus Christ, and it has provided him with an even broader audience.

“Everybody is telling me I’ve made it,” Tebow told the inmates. “They tell me, ‘Tim, you have success and you’ve made it.’ I’ve won the Heisman Trophy, so I’ve got it made, right? One day, people are going to forget about me. One day, people are going to forget about the Heisman Trophy, the jump pass and the national championship. One day, this [championship] ring is going to rust. There are only four things that are going to last forever: God, his word, people and rewards.

ESPN Story

9 Reasons I’m a Photographer

Published by
Steve
at April 17, 2008 in Culture, Faith and photography. 1 Comment

Texas WildflowerThere is an interesting series of blog posts on the “Desiring God Blog” called “9 Reasons I’m a Photographer.”


Check it out!

Passion Week

Published by
Steve
at March 17, 2008 in Culture, Faith and History. 0 Comments

The Last Supper, Milan, ItalyPassion Week (also known as Holy Week) is the time from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday), so named because of the passion with which Jesus willingly went to the cross in order to pay for the sins of His people. Passion Week is described in Matthew chapters 21-27; Mark chapters 11-15; Luke chapters 19-23; and John chapters 12-19. Passion Week begins with the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday on the back of a colt as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9.

It is referred to as “Passion Week” because in that time, Jesus Christ truly revealed His passion for us in what He willingly went through on our behalf.

Amber Alert Prayers

Published by
Steve
at December 21, 2007 in Faith and Family. 0 Comments

 The other day, while watching cartoons on TV, Elizabeth was startled by the loud squawks that interrupt the audio of televisions to announce an alert or advisory, and most recently, to broadcast an “Amber Alert.”

Elizabeth just had to know what was going on, so Erica explained to her that a little girl was in danger.  Elizabeth decided that they should pray for the little girl, so they did.

Amber Alerts are named for Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old from Arlington, Texas, who was abducted in 1996 while riding her bicycle.

In response to community concern following this tragedy, the Association of Radio Managers with the assistance of area law enforcement in Arlington, Texas, created the “Amber Plan.” The Plan uses the Emergency Alert System (EAS), formerly the Emergency Broadcast System, to report serious child abduction cases.

A little while later, a second alert came on and said the girl had been found.  Erica explained to Elizabeth that the little girl was now safe, so they prayed to thank God for keeping the girl safe.

I was not there when all of this happened, but when Erica told me the story later, I was very happy, not only for the safe return of the missing girl, but also that Elizabeth is learning some valuable lessons that will serve her well in our lives living in Asia.

  1. Pray quickly and often when in a time of need.
  2. God answers prayers – so pray big prayers and have faith He’ll answer them.
  3. Be thankful – don’t take answered prayers for granted.

Now if only I could remember these lessons more often when ‘life’ stresses me out or thows me a curve ball!