Tim Tebow
Shaken
Tim Tebow is a leader and a lightning rod. Bring up his name in a crowd and watch the reaction. People either love him or hate him, it seems. This new book is part biography, but picks up in the recent post-NFL past for the famous quarterback. Using a simple narrative, it dismantles the caricature and straw man that so many of his detractors have created.
People love their leaders to be real. Servants are appreciated and adored. Tebow is both, but you wouldn’t know it if you listened to his detractors. Some might pay respect to him, but criticize his public display of faith. He gets picked apart for being who he is. A close examination will reveal that humility is the garment he consistently wears.
Now bring in setbacks. Bring in disappointment. Bring on the unhappy ending, so to speak. This book picks up and majors on the failure in Tebow’s life – some his own, some just the closed doors and failure of his goals to see the kind of fruition he dreamed of.
In his previous biography, we got to see his foundation and how he came to be who he has come to be. In Shaken, we get an up-close and personal look into how he handles adversity.
It’s pretty amazing that the top 3 college quarterbacks of his era – Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy – all faced incredible adversity at the height of such promising futures. Bradford had one dislocated AC joint after another (and a not so successful NFL career, but which is still going). Colt McCoy was playing in his dream come true game – the NCAA Championship game pitting the Texas Longhorns against the Alabama Crimson Tide – and he was taken out of play with an innocuous, fairly normal hit in the back. Why would God do that? Didn’t God want to see McCoy get interviewed after hoisting the championship trophy and give Him all the praise and glory for that achievement?
Instead McCoy faced the camera and microphone and could barely get out a response.
Colt, what was it like for you to watch your last game as a Longhorn from the sidelines?
“I… (shakes head) I-I-I-I-I… (pauses, looks up to catch his breath) I love this game. I have a passion for this game. I’ve done everything I can to contribute to my team and we made it this far and it’s unfortunate I didn’t get to play. You know, I would’ve given… I would have given everything I have to be out there with my team right now. Congratulations to Alabama. I love the way our team fought. Garret Gilbert stepped in and played as good as he could play. He did a tremendous job. I always give God the glory. I never question why things happen the way they do. God is in control of my life. And I know that if nothing else, I’m standing on the Rock.”
Tebow wins an NFL playoff game in overtime and still gets cut. He has stops in New York, Philadelphia and New England. A Heisman winner goes down as an unwanted castoff. In these pages, we see Tebow respond with the same humility and grateful servitude as McCoy’s public response. It’s encouraging to hear someone that doesn’t have things go his way still see the hand and covering of God on his life.
While not as witty as Donald Miller, Tebow shows his warts, insecurities and feelings as he faces each setback, knowing that God doesn’t always grant a fairy tale ending. Helping him keep perspective time and time again are friends that Tebow has met along the way, like Chelsie Watts or Robyn or Gary or Garrett Leopold – courageous kids that fought on against great odds. These are people that have encouraged Tebow in his life and he has certainly encouraged them. He’s a celebrity, for crying out loud, and he’s been a good example of using that celebrity for good.
The world isn’t fair. Setbacks and suffering happen in various degrees to all of us. When it comes, we see what’s inside. A good grape will emit some wonderfully tasting juice. Tebow has showed the character of Christ that God has been forming in him for years. By sharing these details, we can be encouraged and edified that God is there for us, too.
Time and time again he balances out the situations in his own life and pulls inspiration from the Word of God and the examples his struggling friends set for him. The juxtaposition he faces, mixed with his hopes and fears makes for good and inspirational reading. Early in the book, after he’s cut from the NFL, he’s in a crowded room, but alone inside, asking himself, ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?’ This is how I felt in 2013…reeling after a divorce put me on my face. Tim’s encouragement doesn’t seem hollow. He’s tasted some bitterness and he’s using it for good in spite of non-rosy circumstances.
Instead of seeing a successful and talented athlete bragging about all he has accomplished and how God is like a feel-good genie that blesses the elite, we see Tim Tebow on his face. It’s refreshing, it feels real and it’s both funny and evokes worship and gratitude for God’s character that is bragged upon all throughout. [Waterbrook] Doug Van Pelt
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