The Heisman trophy winner, who helped the Florida gators win two national championships, has amazed football fans of all ages this past season with seemingly impossible come-from-behind plays. The team was 1–4 before Tebow became the starter, but immediately began winning with him on the field, often by coming from behind late in the 4th quarter, until they won the AFC West title.
While pregnant, his mother suffered a life-threatening infection with a pathogenic amoeba. Doctors recommended that his mother have an abortion. She declined. Tebow is the youngest of five children, all of whom were home schooled in order that the parents’ Christian beliefs be instilled. Tebow’s father, Robert, is a Baptist minister. Tebow’s mother and Tim appeared in a 30 second pro-life TV spot in the 2010 Super Bowl.
So did God intervene in the life and career of Tim Tebow? I would suspect that his mother’s decision to carry him to birth was due to her trust in God, and that God rewarded her with an extraordinary son.
As to his exploits on the football field, there is no reason why God cannot do as He pleases in directing the universe. Since football and other sports are often the result of human successes and failures, measured in inches or seconds, even the best teams or athletes have their natural ups and downs. Is God involved?
Theology says that without His permission, nothing would exist. So, yes, God is involved in that way.
However, to say that God micromanages this or that detail in human life would go contrary to the concept of man’s free will. This is a gift He has given mankind. He doesn’t want puppets or marionettes that dangle with strings attached to a mechanical manipulator in the hand of the Creator.
There are those philosophers who contend, or grudgingly admit, that God created the universe and let it evolve according to laws of science. These philosophers think of a “hands-off” Being who does not get involved with mankind’s ordinary pursuits.
In Christianity, we are taught to pray the Our Father. In this prayer, “Thy will be done” is a powerful component. Yet, if one looks at the first miracle that Christ performed, at the wedding feast at Cana, it appeared that He was reluctant to honor His Mother Mary’s request to do something about the lack of wine. He even objected to his mother that it wasn’t his time yet to perform miracles.
Undaunted, Mary told the servants to do whatever Her Son told them. We know the results. I draw from this incident the fact that prayer is effective. I also draw from this incident, that God can and does intervene in human events.
On a personal level, when I was principal of a parochial school, and it was faced with financial difficulties, the school board was about to vote to eliminate the high school portion of the school. The boys basketball team played in a district elimination game the night before the school board meeting. They won. The next evening, the school board voted to continue the school in its entirety. The boys went on to win the district finals. Today, the school continues on K-12, over 40 years later.
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