I am a proud CHICAGO BEARS fan, always will!
Since Jay Cutler's (Bears QB) injury, their games had been tough and really hard to watch. But, a true fan will always support their team through good times and bad times. Its a matter of loyalty and faith. The Bears is a strong team, their defense is one of the best in the country (then again, I am a die hard fan, so if you do not agree, it is your own opinion lol). The Bears had best years and it has been fun to watch them play.
The Bears have won nine (9) NFL Championships (eight pre-merger, and one Super Bowl). The Bears hold the NFL records for the most enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with 27 members, and the most retired jersey numbers. The Bears have also recorded more regular season and overall victories than any other NFL franchise. The franchise recorded its 700th win on November 18, 2010. (Source: Wikipedia)
If you NEVER live in Chicago, then you will never understand why we love our sport teams so much. Chicagoan is a fanatic sport fans. They make their voices heard when it comes to CHICAGO BEARS, CHICAGO BULLS, CHICAGO CUBS and well..CHICAGO WHITE SOX!. Its a tradition to love the Chicago sport teams if you live in Chicago. Even when we move to another country, state, or city, we will ALWAYS support our teams. It is a fact that everywhere you go, you will notice a Chicago sport's team bar. We have our pride, love and support for our city!
Last Sunday, we watched the BEARS vs Broncos game. It was a slow game in the beginning since both teams were scoreless. Then, toward the end, things got better. Marion Barber scored a touchdown and add score for the Bears, and then he made a huge mistake that cost the Bears lost that game to the Broncos. Its actually a team's lost, not just Marion Barber's, but he happened to be the guy who scored for The Bears then caused The Bears to lose their game that day. He became the most loving player to the most hated player of the day for the Chicago's fans. Remember, we are fanatic sport fans. We love them then we grilled them when they caused our team to lose. Its the human side in each of us to love someone then hate them. We tend to see only the mistake and forget the goods that they did. Its hard to please people. It was a bad day for Marion Barber! He was one of the trend in Twitter and people saying really hurtful things toward him. I understand the pain of losing as a Bears fan, but to attack Marion Barber's personal life, including his faith to God, is just senseless and pathetic. Criticize his performance based on the game, but do not attack his personal life/faith because that is between him and God. As a true fan, we can criticize them, but we are not the one on the field. Everyone made mistake on their job, including Marion Barber. Just because he got paid a lot of money, does not mean, he must never made mistake. We got paid for our job and we made mistakes. In a perfect world, perfect would be the only option and result.
The fact that people attack Marion Barber's faith is because the Bears was playing against the Denver Broncos who have Tim Tebow as their quarterback. Readers, let me introduce you, Tim Tebow, the man who made highlights in every sport channel, magazines and social medias as "God's quarterback", "Saint Tebow", "God's favorite" and the list goes on.
Tim Tebow is an outspoken Christian and the Christian people loves him. The Broncos fans loves him because he brings his team to one victory to another. The media likes to talk about him because he is the All American Boy!. He is a young athlete, quarterback with good performances, a role model, humble, unashamed of his faith. He is the good guy :)
In 2010, a new rule for the next NCAA football season, dubbed "The Tebow Rule" by media because it would have affected him, banned messages on eye paint.During his college football career, Tebow frequently wore biblical verses on his eye black. In the 2009 BCS Championship Game, he wore John 3:16 on his eye paint, and as a result, 92 million people searched "John 3:16" on Google during or shortly after the game. Additionally, later, when Tebow switched to another verse, there were 3.43 million searches of "Tim Tebow" and "Proverbs 3:5-6" together. Tebow stated of the searches "It just goes to show you the influence and the platform that you have as a student-athlete and as a quarterback at Florida". (source: Wikipedia)
OK, so last Sunday, they were two men who made a huge trend on twitter. There was Marion Barber, the most hated man in Chicago and there was Tim Tebow, the most loved man in America (or so it seemed like on that Sunday Twitter's trend lol). People started to write things like, "God loves Tebow and hates Barber", "God hates the Chicago Bears", "Tim Tebow's God sucks", "God has a favorite" or "God is too busy taking care of Tebow and neglect the starving kids in Africa", or "Marion Barber is an atheist and that is why he screwed up" and the list goes on.
I am a Christian, proud and unashamed of my faith. I am also a Chicago Bears fan. I love Tim Tebow as a brother in Christ and proud of his unashamed faith. However, I am kinda annoyed by some Christians who made Tebow as the only athlete in the world and God is against everyone else. God only love and favor Tebow. It could be a very dangerous message to send to other believer and unbeliever as well. Because it caused people to think that God only help/love a "certain" people and hates the rest. It shows no compassion, no love, and against God's character as love himself. It is great to share your faith, it is even greater when people blessed by your everyday life's testimonies. Action will speak louder than just words. Of course God will help those who trust Him and obey His words. Don't get me wrong, God will never agree or help you doing some evil, wrong doing things that will caused hurt to others or yourself. It is time for us to take responsibility of our own actions and decisions in life. God helps us through it all, but He will never help you accomplish bad things.
This is another fact that I'd like to share of another Christian athlete. That athlete is Marion Barber (surprise..surprise..). He is also a strong Christian man, who is not ashamed of his faith. His twitter account shows how much he loves God and shows his personal relationship with Him. This is the link about Barber after the game. In fact, in Chicago Bears itself, there are a lot of very strong Christian athletes. Devin Hester, Anthony Adams, Matt Forte, Major Wright, Israel Idonije, Charles Tillman and the list goes on. There is a great article about them in this LINK.
My point is this, Tim Tebow is a great man of faith and he is also a great athlete. There are also a lot of other strong Christian in the NFL that most Christian don't know, because they might not show it the way Tebow does. Everyone has a different style of worship, minister and how they share their faith. God has given each one of us a unique ability, talent, creativity and ways to share our love, hope and faith in Jesus Christ. But, that doesnt give us the right to judge other people's faith, or to say that God favor/love Tebow more than He loves Marion Barber, for example. God has blessed each of us in different ways, times and favor. God is just and fair. All He ask from us is to love Him by being obedient to His words.
My point in this blog is that everyone has their own unique ability to share the gospel. Please do not make God seems like a mean, unjust and unfair one. Just because Tebow wins and the other lost, does not mean that God hates the other team LOL. It is a football game! Winning and losing is a part of the game. Some mistakes are worse than others and some winning are better than others. There is a time for EVERYTHING! Do not judge other people or comparing his faith to the other one when you do not even know the truth about any of them. Encourage them, pray for them and love them. Yes, they are professional athletes who got paid a lot of money. Yes, they are pro athletes who gets use with compliments and critics or even cursed. But, they are still HUMAN, just like you and I. Criticize them based on their performance as an athlete and stop making assumption as if you know God and this is God's will and that is it! Get to know the other athletes faith, and you will be amazed. God is in our lives, each of us. He works differently, He use different people, different way and time. God loves Marion Barber as much as He loves Tebow. Marion scored the ONLY touchdown for DaBears that day!
I do admire and love athletes like Tebow, Hester, Barber, Kurt Warner, Forte, etc, who glorify God in every aspect of their lives and unashamed of it.
Just to be clear though, as much as I love Tim Tebow, I still love my Chicago Bears more ;)
GO CHICAGO BEARS! BEARDOWN!
Images are from my own collection and www.google.com
xoxo,
Lindsay
