God really does work in mysterious ways. This season Tim Tebow has led the Denver Broncos to last minute victory after last minute victory, but none was more dramatic than the 29-23 overtime win in a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. On the first play of overtime, Tebow dropped back and threw an 80 yard touchdown pass to win the game. It is estimated that an astounding 45 million people watched Tebow throw that pass. It is being called “Tebow 3:16″ (for reasons that will be explained below) and it is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history. For many hours afterwards, the victory by Tebow and the Broncos was the number one news story in America. But what makes all of this even more amazing are some of the incredible numbers from the game.
Back during his college career at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow would often write “John 3:16″ on the eye black under his eyes. But in the NFL they do not allow players to write messages on the eye black under their eyes.
So God found another way to get the message out….
-During the victory over the Steelers, Tim Tebow passed for exactly 316 yards.
-Tebow also set an all-time NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion.
-According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, the final quarter-hour television rating for the Broncos-Steelers game was 31.6.
In addition, the first name of his head coach is John (John Fox) and the first name of his general manager is John (John Elway).
In the past, Tebow has said that John 3:16 is his favorite verse. For those not familiar with it, John 3:16 says the following….
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
After the Broncos won, John 3:16 quickly became the most searched term on Google. The following comes from an article in the Washington Post….
When he wore the Scripture verse on his eye black during the National Championship Game in 2009, the term “John 3:16” was reportedly Googled more than 90 million times.
The Bible verse quickly became the most searched Google term Monday.
God certainly does have a flair for the dramatic.
If you have not seen “Tebow 3:16″ yet, video of it is posted below. As mentioned above, this is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history….
So what is Tebow saying about all of this?
The following comes from a CNN article….
“As I was running around the field I just wanted to thank my lord and savior,” he said in a post-game interview. “And then I jumped in the stands which is something I’ve never done, but I was pretty excited, then got back on one knee to thank the Lord again, and tried to celebrate with my teammates,” he said.
After the win, Tebow posted the following on his Facebook page….
Praise the Lord! Thanks to all my teammates, coaches and fans…This win was for Bronco Nation! We couldn’t have done it without all of us working together as one. And yeah, Demaryius Thomas is a beast!
Needless to say, the social media universe absolutely exploded after the game was over. According to Twitter, an almost unbelievable 9,420 sports tweets per second were sent in the moments immediately following Tebow’s touchdown pass.
That set a brand new all-time record.
By the way, if you would like to follow Tim Tebow on Twitter, you can follow him here.
As we get even deeper into the last days, a lot more things like this are going to happen.
As the darkness gets darker, the light is going to shine even brighter.
The world is going to become incredibly unstable and times are going to get really tough.
A lot of people are going to take the cowardly route and will totally give in to fear.
But others will stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what the cost and will boldly testify for Him.
Thank God that we have heroes out there like Tim Tebow that are willing to share the simple truth that we find in John 3:16….
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
