It's shocking that Tim Tebow and the owner of the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs did not get buried by the media for their recent appearance at the Kansans For Life Valentine's Day banquet. It's also amazing that Tebow didn't get slammed by media for saying he'd rather be known for saving babies from abortion than as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. And that Lamar Hunt Jr., owner of the Chiefs, served as master of ceremonies at the event without an onslaught from pro-aborts.
If it hadn't been for the pro-life advocacy group LifeNews's report, we probably never would have known about Tebow's most recent foray into pro-life advocacy. Tebow and his mother Pam got roasted by the media for appearing in a "controversial anti-abortion" Focus On The Family-sponsored commercial during the Super Bowl in 2010.
Christian sports figures taking a stand for conservative positions on social issues usually do get that treatment from the media. Slanted news and angry columns usually condemn them. Tony Dungy appearing at the Indiana Family Policy Council and former baseball player Lance Berkman supporting a Houston bathroom bill learned this first hand.
Somehow Tebow, Hunt and Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt, who also attended, managed to fly under the critical radar of the media who predominantly take a whack at sports figures who go right on social issues.
Tebow thanked Hunt for “having courage in the face of a lot of other people who don’t have it and for your willingness to be up here and support this organization.” Then said:
“It really does mean a lot more than winning the Super Bowl. One day, when you look back and people are talking about you and they say, Oh my gosh, what are you going to be known for? Are you going to say Super Bowl, or we saved a lot of babies?”
Tebow said his cause is life, not philanthropy.
“It’s a rescue mission. You know why we call it a rescue mission? Because when we say that, it puts a timeline on it.
“When’s the last time you heard a rescue mission taking place in a month or a few years. No, a rescue mission means now. It gives you a sense of urgency. It says we have to go not because it’s our time, but because it’s their time. … I have to live a sense of urgency because while I might have time, they don’t.”
Tebow told Hunt and Colquitt it was “awesome" that they won the Super Bowl earlier this month:
“It’s amazing. What an accomplishment! But you know the best part of that accomplishment is that it gets you an even bigger platform.”
They can use that platform to support the pro-life movement, Tebow said.
Tebow's parents are pro-life, and they stood strong when a doctor advised his mother to abort him:
“You see, my mom 32 years ago had doctors tell her she needed to abort me because if she didn’t, it was going to cost her life. And they didn’t even believe that I was a baby. They thought I was a tumor.”
Tebow's mother refused the abortion advice, and when he was born it was discovered that his placenta was no longer attached. The doctor called the fact that he survived "the biggest miracle" he'd seen in his 37-year medical career.
Encouraging the pro-life audience in attendance in Kansas, Tebow said, “What you’re doing here matters. You’re fighting for life. You’re fighting for people that can’t fight for themselves. And my question to you is: Are you willing to stand up in the face of persecution, in the face of adversity, in the face of criticism, when other people are going to say it’s not worth it, when other people won’t stand beside you? Maybe not everybody is going to be with you. Will you stand up for what’s right?”
