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From: Mike_Wise
Date: Tue Jan 10 11:20:13 EST 2012
Subject: Tebow 3:16?

Responses
russ: Yes and no (1/10/12)

Mike_Wise: Good point (1/10/12)

russ: deep longings (1/10/12)

Responses (sorted by date)
russ: deep longings (1/10/12)
Mike_Wise: Good point (1/10/12)
russ: Yes and no (1/10/12)

Have you seen the Tebow 3:16 stuff yet? In their first playoff appearance this year Tim Tebow, who is not normally known for throwing, threw for 316 yards. Yup as you can imagine it's taken off from there. I guess all combined his passes averaged for 31.6 yards per pass.
First there were Broncos Jerzees that had Tebow's number and Jesus' name on them. Then the whole Tebowing thing started, heck even the CBS pregame team was Tebowing after the game.

I gotta wonder though, is it being taken too far? I gotta admit, as both a Christian and a die hard Broncos fan, I CRINGE every time someone mentions the fact that the reason Denver is winning is because Jesus wants them to. Really? Out of all the things that Jesus could want, he cares this much about Denver's football team? Many people think that God must be answering the prayers of Tebow's fans. I guess I kind of wish that Tebow's fan base would take a hint from Tim himself and learn to pray for different, more meaningful things. But we are a people that still pray to win the lottery, and for good parking spaces even. So I guess it shouldn't surprise me.
There is a saying that gets tossed around a lot lately, first world problems. Only in America and similar countries do we have a luxurious life that we can spend time praying about a football game. Many folks in the world simply pray that they have enough to eat or clean water to drink.
I also think that saying Tebow and the Broncos are winning because God's answering prayer or because God wants them to win sets a pretty nasty precedent in the minds of some believers. Our expectancy for God to answer our prayers can lead us to a great deal of disappointment when God doesn't seem to come through especially for the big things. What if a child prays that her father stops beating her, and he doesn't? What if a mother prays her child doesn't have cancer anymore and he still does? Is that not what God wants? Is the prayer not important enough? Does God only listen to prayers on behalf of those who are rich and famous?
I love sports just as much as the next guy but it scares me sometimes, the theology of sports. The things that God 'seems' to teach us through sporting events.
What do you think? Am I reading too much into this? Do you think God cares about football games, and talent contests and other competitions? Would love your thoughts.

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From: russ
Date: Tue Jan 10 13:43:13 EST 2012
Subject: Yes and no

You're right that we should not think that God is obliged to answer every prayer the way we want. And we certainly pray for many trivial things. But I think that God is intensely interested in even our trivial prayers. After all, who are we to say that our "good" prayers are so much better than our trivial ones? Isn't that like a first grader bragging to his teacher that he is so much more mature than all the kids in kindergarten? :)

Emily grew up in Indonesia, and went to a Christian school there. When she was ten, she learned that Jesus had said, "whatever you ask for in My name, I will do." She decided that she wanted her little doll Rosie to come to life. She prayed hard, and got all of her friends to do likewise. As she walked home that day, she fully expected to hear the cries of her little daughter. To say that she was devastated, when she found that she was wrong, is a massive understatement. That wound resounded in her relationship with God for nearly twenty years.
I love my wife. And so, when we found out that our second child would be a girl, I chose the name: Rosie.
Isn't that how God loves us as well? In this world, he cannot give us everything we ask for, for many different reasons. But I think that He wants to give us even the trivial things.

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From: Mike_Wise
Date: Tue Jan 10 14:47:39 EST 2012
Subject: Good point

You raise a good point, one that I don't often think about but maybe should more often. I think in my personal prayer life I should not be as afraid to ask God for whatever is on my heart, not just for the big stuff but for other things as well. Little things, silly things, just things that are on my mind.
Still I get hung up on idea's specifics. I want very much to believe that God DOES want to give us the desires of our heart. That if I ask him to heal my brother he'll do it, and I guess one could make the argument that he did, he took him home where he is no longer in any pain, but doing so left a big gaping hole in my heart that has yet to be filled with anything.
I need my big brother, I need the guy that I used to laugh with and go to coffee and movies with. I need the guy that used to encourage me like no one else to go after my dreams, that's been missing in my life for 10+ years now. If I ask God for my brother to be alive again I already know the answer, but perhaps I should ask him anyway and see just what God will do with the request.

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From: russ
Date: Tue Jan 10 16:01:42 EST 2012
Subject: deep longings

What possible reason would there be to have a deep longing and *not* ask God for it?

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