Through My Eyes

In my humble opinion, the best person ever to play the game of college football was Tim Tebow. I say this not because he won a lot of games or led his team to the national championship or because he set all sorts of records, I say this because of the person he was and is off the field. Being in the limelight can cause many people of lesser character to stumble, but Tim was able to use the platform he had earned through his athletics as a springboard for sharing his faith. Tim not just talked the talk, he lived it every day from being faithful in his backyard chores to being an example on the foreign mission fields. In his recent memoir, Through My Eyes, Tim explains why he is the way he is, and what (or more specifically, Who) has brought him to where he is right now, a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Tim's story begins before he was born, when his parents specifically asked God for another son to raise as a preacher. God answered by sending along Timmy, but not without much difficulty in the pregnancy. In fact, doctors recommended an abortion to save his mother's life, thinking there was no way both would survive. However, God's plan was much different than the doctors', and God delivered both mother and baby in a hospital room in the Philippines where his parents were missionaries. Their incredible story has been heard nationally through a Super Bowl ad that Focus on the Family sponsored.

After such a beginning to life, the Tebows knew Tim would be a special boy. He grew up strong and healthy and was always competing with his four older brothers and sisters. I'll not recount all the stories he told in this book about his growing up years—that's what the book is there for, so you'll have to go read it yourself. Many of them are quite humorous! As the book progresses and he moves from high school into college, he takes us inside his helmet to show what he was seeing and what he was thinking in the big games and major events he participated in. One of the biggest things that happened to Tim was being selected as a Heisman trophy finalist three years in a row. Tim was the youngest Heisman trophy winner when he won in 2007. This says a lot about his determination and commitment to being the best he could be.

It's not often that I prefer reading about sports than watching it happen in front of me on the TV, but with this book the commercial breaks were never long enough! I think I ended up missing most of the weekend's games due to being enthralled in this story. Well done, Tim Tebow, and all the best as you continue your legacy in the NFL while honoring your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

George Washington Carver

Today for my lunch, I enjoyed two delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In fact, I’ve been going through the peanut butter so fast recently my family had to stock up on several jars of peanut butter from the grocery store tonight! There are so many varieties out there: regular, natural, organic…each coming in creamy or chunky options. Some people I know only go for the Peter Pan brand, others pick JIF, or maybe they just go for whatever’s the cheapest on the shelf. However, a few decades ago the food that has become a staple in today’s kitchen cupboard had not been created yet. True, the components for the food were all there, as God is the creator of all things, but no one had taken the time to ask Him how to separate the peanut until George Washington Carver came on the scene in the 1880s with a very important issue to resolve.

I focus on the way our lives have been affected today by this man, George Washington Carver, as I just finished reading a book from the Christian Encounters series that gave me an up-close glance at his life. Born a slave and orphaned at an early age, George grew up in his master’s home and took an interest in plants at a very young age. Though his body was physically weak all throughout life, he applied himself to whatever he was doing and did whatever he could to further his education. The majority of his life was spent working at Tuskegee Institute, a school founded to train black people in the South to learn a trade and make a living using their hands. Carver invested many years teaching the students agriculture and groundbreaking farming techniques. Carver loved working in his laboratory, because there he was able to go to God and make incredible discoveries on the crops that were growing well in the South. Carver had a special relationship with the Creator, and his creativity flowed out of his communion with God.

The book was very well written and approached Carver’s life in a respectful way. As a black man living in the South not long after slavery was banned, he endured a lot of racial prejudice and injustice throughout his life. The author made sure to include enough examples of Carver’s circumstances, experiences, and personal reflections. I found the pages full of information, easy to read, and worthy of my time. After studying this man’s life, I am very grateful for his self-sacrificing efforts to transform a field of potential into a world of prosperity. His life stands as a legacy of hope to all people that beauty can rise out of ashes and that much can be learned from God’s creation.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of George Washington Carver through Book Sneeze, in exchange for my honest review.