Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been made into a cultural flashpoint because of his heartfelt religious beliefs, his habit of kneeling in prayer after touchdowns, his pro-life beliefs, and the fact that he appears to mean everything he says and does from the bottom of his heart.
Tebow doesn’t have time to listen to all that ankle-biting from snotty pundits. He’s busy.
On the first weekend in January, he met with an 8-year-old boy who has been fighting cancer since 2008, and now has only a few months to live. His dying wish was to meet Tebow, as reported by Fox News:
"Blake, nice to meet you buddy," said the Denver Broncos quarterback Sunday. "It's so good to see you."
Blake was speechless but full of smiles as Tim Tebow gave him his autograph. His mother Miranda has been fighting the battle with her little boy from the very beginning. She talked with FOX 35 Monday from Colorado, where they will be until Wednesday.
"It's a little overwhelming to see it actually happen," she said over the phone.
"Tim just walked right up to Blake and started talking to him and I was like oh my goodness I can't believe this is happening!"
13-year-old Joey Norris of Washington, who has been fighting leukemia, also got to meet Tebow that weekend. The quarterback flew Joey out to Denver to see him play against the Kansas City Chiefs after Joey Tweeted a picture of himself “Tebowing while chemoing.”
Then, before last week’s wild card playoff game – a grueling contest the Broncos went on to win with a touchdown in overtime – Tebow took time to meet with a young lady named Bailey Knaub, who has spent most of her life battling an auto-immune disease, a condition requiring no less than 73 surgeries to date. He also brought her to the big game as his guest. As reported by the Denver Post:
On Thursday, Bailey learned that her dream of meeting Tebow would come true. Her family received tickets — first level, 30-yard line — to the AFC wild-card playoff game by FedEx, and soon they all were hanging out with Tebow's parents and all of his brothers and sisters.
Then, before the game started, someone said Tim Tebow was headed over to meet Bailey.
"I was so nervous, my heart was going a million miles an hour," she said. "I was trying not to squeal like a little fan girl."
He greeted her by name, handed her the football he'd been practicing with, then said he'd be back after the game to hang out with her.
"She was just beaming," said her mother, Kathy Knaub.
Bailey and her older sister, Gentry, along with their parents Rob and Kathy, spent about two hours with the Tebow family.
"They were so friendly, it's like you were family," said Kathy Knaub. "We talked a lot about faith and their farm.”
After the game, Tebow described meeting Bailey as “the big win of the day,” which he was “even more proud of” than beating the Steelers.
Being one of the good guys takes a lot of work. It matters to more than just his teammates, and even to more than just Broncos fans, that Tim Tebow is up for the job. If this guy is supposed to be some sort of intolerable threat to your world-view, then it’s time to get a new world-view.
