By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow told a sold out crowd at Lipscomb University on Saturday night that even though he’s lost sponsorships over his participation in a pro-life commercial during this year’s Super Bowl, he called the loss “a small price to pay for the ability to spread my message about family and faith.”
According to LIfeSiteNews and Lipscomb University Athletics, Tebow, the two-time National Champion as quarterback for the University of Florida, spoke to a soldout crowd of 5,500 at Allen Arena on the Lipscomb University campus for the second annual Don Meyer Evening of Excellence.
During his talk, he revealed that “multiple companies told him before the Super Bowl that they could not let him represent their products if he went ahead with his pro-life commercial at the Super Bowl.”
Tebow refused to blink and went ahead with the ad, which told the story of his mother’s heroic decision to give birth to Tim even after she contracted a disease during pregnancy that prompted doctors to advise her to abort the child. The ad became the center of a nationwide uproar when several pro-abortion groups began publicly lobbying CBS to drop the ad.
The courageous young athlete, who has now graduated and is expected to be drafted by the NFL, is not the kind of man who caters to political correctness. He has long been known for his outspoken faith in Jesus Christ, even going so far as to write bible verses in the eye-black worn during football games.
During the talk at Lipscomb, he revealed the three main guidelines he follows for living his life.
The first is to be willing to stand alone and to stand for something.
“If you stand for something people might like you, or they might not like you, but at least you will stand for something,” Tebow said. “Whatever you do, stand for something.”
Second, he urges everyone to live life with passion.
“Live every day with passion,” Tebow said. “Whatever I do I give my whole heart to it. If you live with passion it is contagious. People are drawn to that. You will make a difference.”
And third, he talked about finishing strong.
“I am extremely competitive,” Tebow said. “That is something that has made me somewhat successful at sports. I refuse to lose. I am going to whatever it takes to win.
“Since I was six years old, every time I would lose my mother would ask me if I had given it to the Lord. He has a reason for it. We are not big enough to handle the frustration but the Lord is. That is a life’s lesson I am learning every day.”
His parents stressed to him as a child that whatever he was doing that God was watching him.
“Even as a young kid I wanted to do things that would make God proud,” Tebow said.
This rare athlete has maintained sponsorship ties with Nike and EA Sports and says he intends to continue to let his beliefs define his future path and will only work with companies whose message he agrees with.
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