Proud to be a Pray-er!

For today's lesson, I decided to use something very current in the media as my starting point: Tim Tebow. The quarterback has had a major presence lately, partly because of his quarterback skills, but more so because of his overt praise and worship of Christ. Since we were going to be talking about following Jesus this week and next, it made sense to me to develop a lesson around Tebow and his following of Jesus.

Opening song: I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrNM-B_gg4A
My students love this song; we call it our "spelling test" song! :-)

After the opening song, I proceeded with the lesson as follows:
I have a question: do I have any FOOTBALL fans in the audience? Anyone watch LSU versus Alabama in the college championship last week? What about last Sunday night the Denver Broncos versus the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, even though I am a BIG Green Bay Packers fan, I do know a little bit about some of the other teams, and I wonder if you do too. For example, does anyone know who Tim Tebow is?

Tim Tebow is the QB for the Denver Broncos, and he is very famous and has been in the news A LOT lately. Do you know why? Is it because he is a quarterback? No, that's not why. Is it because he won his game? Well, he did, but that's not why either. I've prepared a little video for you about Tim Tebow that will show you why people are REALLY talking about him. Have a look! (See video on this page!)

So, now do you see why Tim Tebow has become so famous lately? He loves Jesus so much, that he makes Jesus a top priority in his live and he thanks Jesus every chance he gets for the many blessings that he has been given. That kneeling gesture he does, like this? (imitate) It's even been given a name! Now people call that "Tebowing"! Do you think that's a little weird? Well, some people have been giving him a hard time about that being weird. In fact, Tim was asked about it on ESPN and he had a really good answer. He said this: "If you're married, and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife, 'I love you' on the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day when you wake up and every opportunity? My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life. So any time I get the opportunity to to tell him I love him or am given an opportunity to give him a shout out on national tv, I'm gonna take that opportunity... I want to give Him the honor and glory any time I have the opportunity." Hmm... that doesn't sound weird to me! That sounds kind of brave and good!

Well, I'm not here today to teach you all about Tim Tebow. But what I would like to talk about is the lesson that we can learn from him. And that lesson is about prayer. I would like for you to think about your praying habits for a moment. Think about if and when you pray to God every day. Don't answer these questions, but just think about them. Do you pray at a special time every day, like before bed? Do you talk to Jesus throughout the day whenever you want to? Is the only prayer you say grace before meals?

Lots of us pray when we want to ask God for things. And that is a good reason to pray! I know that God hears everyone's prayers all the time, and he always will help those who ask for help. But I also know that God doesn't just give winning touchdown passes to players who sit on the couch watching TV and eating bags of potato chips every day of the week instead of training and practicing hard. I am sure God doesn't miraculously make students get a 100 who don't pay attention in class, don't do their homework, and generally aren't working hard t being good students.

Just believing in God doesn't mean you will always get what you want. God does sometimes answer prayers with a "no", just like your parents have to tell you "no sometimes. For example, no matter how much you pray about it, your team is probably not going to win every soccer game you play. But I also think that when god's answer is no, it is because there is a lesson to be learned from it. Many people practice harder after losing a sports game. They study harder after getting a bad grade on a test. Knowing that God wants what's best for us, we should remember that even when things aren't going well, and we can ask God to guide and show us the way that He would have us go.

Now, how about those times when we feel like God is answering with a big Y-E-S to our prayers? Or maybe not even to something we've prayed about, but when we feel God is just blessing us with wonderful things? That is the time we should really be giving God the glory and thanking him so much for those wonderful blessings. And that is what we see Tim Tebow doing. When his hard work, training, and practice pays off and he makes a wonderful play in a football game, the first thing he wants to do is to thank God for His help and support.

Now, it might feel a little embarrassing if you were in the middle of your classroom, and your teacher handed you back a test that you got a 100 on, and you suddenly jumped up and did a Tebow move right there in the classroom! I can tell you right now that I would not be able to do that! But I know that you can take a moment when you get that test and thank God for that good grade! And if you play sports and make a great move for your team, why not send up a little prayer thanking God for giving you the health and the talent to have done that good move? Maybe you play an instrument, and at a concert you do a very good job. You can thank God at the end of the concert for helping you to play your best.

If you learn anything from the example of Tim Tebow, I would like you to remember the importance of loving Jesus, and thanking God for your blessings every single chance you get, in whatever way you choose to thank him, whether that is taking a knee and doing the Tebow move, or simply saying a little prayer in your heart. Can you do that for me??


For our closing Minute to Win It game, I continued with the football theme and used a silly game called Hut, Hut, Hike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JmLQxFaxhI

I only had one child play, instead of two. It was a lot of fun! :-) If you have any questions or comments about this lesson, please feel free to comment or to email me at jtruitt@stolivers.com! Peace!