Taking a Stand!

There are many things in life that just seem to go together. Things like "peanut butter and jelly," "waking up and coffee in my cup," "Thanksgiving Day and turkey" and "baseball and hotdogs" - just to name a few. Then there are those things that don't seem right together, "Pittsburgh Pirates and a winning season," "mustard and ice cream" and "personal faith and public discourse." Now every time spring training rolls around for Major League Baseball, I harbor hopes that maybe ... just maybe this will the the year the Pirates FINALLY have a winning season (they've only managed to put together a string of SIXTEEN consecutive losing seasons ... a record for any franchise in any professional sport!). But concerning "personal faith and public discourse" - the situation only appears to be getting worse. Our culture states, "you can believe ANYTHING you want about spirituality and faith, just keep it to yourself!"

Tim Tebow, the former Heisman winning quarterback for the University of Florida Gators, is a refreshing exception to how so many of us Christ followers "cow down" to this pressure to keep quiet about our faith. I ran across one example of his desire to stand for Christ in a recent article which cited reports that Tebow will be featured in a pro-life Super Bowl commercial. When asked about appearing in such a controversial commercial, Tebow's response is an inspiration to all of us who claim an allegiance to Christ. He said, "I know some people won't agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe and I'm never shy about that," Tebow said. "I don't feel like I'm very preachy about it but I do stand up for what I believe. Unfortunately in today's society not many athletes seem to do that. "I always stand for something."  And for Tim Tebow, that something is the gospel of Jesus Christ! Let's all purpose to stand with this courageous young man - for Jesus' sake!

Thanks for stopping by ...

pj