The Reason

Eight posts in and it occurrs to me that perhaps I should explain why I am praying for my students to have the opportunity to meet Tim Tebow.
Let me first introduce you to my sophomore class. These are seven amazing kids who have a genuine heart to serve God. All seven are faithful to church, active in their youth groups and have a tremendous heart to minister to others. One is involved in tutoring Micronesians in her church, one works in a children's church ministry, two are going on a summer missions trip and two are attending a youth conference in California in March. These kids WANT to serve God. At Christmas we were afforded the oppourtunity to participate in Operation Christmas Child and before I could even get through the explanation they were committing to fill boxes. We have the privilege of starting off homeroom with devotions, most days I lead them, but once a month they take a day and lead them. I find it amazing that each time they have lead devotions they share something from their own personal devotions that day. They assigned themselves days of the week to pray for each others needs. In 18 years of teaching, I have never had an ENTIRE class so determined to serve God...it has been a tremendous and awesome blessing.
As for me, I had the honor and privilege of growing up in a strong Christian home. I grew up in Wyoming about 2 hours outside of Denver, thus making me a Denver Broncos fan. I have taken that love with me first to my students in Chicago and then here to Hawaii. My students probably know more about the Denver Broncos than they ever really cared to! I have a tradition with my kids, that whatever the Broncos win record is, that's the number of bonus points they get for the week. Needless to say, when this past season began, they didn't think they were going to get many points...then Tebow went on his miracle run straight into the post-season. Tebow's faith and the Broncos turnaround when he took over became quite a topic of discussion in my class' daily devotion. We discussed an awful lot how God blessed Tebow for his faithfulness and how the Broncos were receiving fall-out blessings from that. I proudly confess that I created two new Broncos' fans this year. I also am thrilled to say that one of my sports-obsessed boys grew to admire Tebow, not for his football skills, but because of his strong faith.
I am not jumping on the Tebow bandwagon. I am not doing this to try to make the news in hopes he'll hear and come visit, something bigger is at stake here than a meeting with Tim Tebow.  I am out to prove God, that when He says He'll answer any request we to Him bring, so long as it's according to His will, and I pray believing, He'll answer. Then why Tebow, you ask? Because he is who my kids want to meet. He has become a Christian role model for them and let's face it, there aren't many in the sports world for them to admire. He is the one several of them wrote to letting him know how much he has helped to build their faith. But most importantly, because I want my students to have a landmark, an anchor they can tie on to, a tangible reminder when they grow up that through sincere, honest and persistent prayer, God can and will do anything.
Ok...so it doesn't hurt that he plays for my favorite team either!!!! :)