During the weekend, people all over the world gave tributes to their fathers for Father's Day, and NFL player Tim Tebow is no exception. In an exclusive essay published on People Magazine, the quarterback wrote about his father, Robert "Bob" Ramsey Tebow II, and his influence on the 27-year old's life and career.
Tebow started off by recalling the time when he was growing up in the Philippines, when his father started an orphanage. Bob heard of a baby who was being thrown away, and the quarterback said that his father wasn't going to stand back and let that happen.
"That was the type of lesson I learned from my dad: to stand up for the poor and the vulnerable, the widows and the orphans," he wrote. "Not because it was easy, but because it was right. My dad had three priorities in life, Jesus, his family and helping others."
Bob and his wife, Pam, have been helping others even before their son was born. The couple moved to the Philippines in 1985 where they served as Baptist missionaries and built a ministry. The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association has been serving in the Philippines since then, focusing on evangelism, church planting, pastor training, running an orphanage, and training the next generation of evangelists. The family moved back to the United States in the early '90s, but Bob continues to make regular trips to the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries where he is involved in missionary work.
Tebow said that although his father was busy, he has always been his biggest supporter and throughout his football career, he would fly all the way from the Philippines just to watch him play, then turn around and fly right back to the mission field.
"Other people might skip a week, but not my dad. He has always been there for his entire family," Tebow continued.
The quarterback is the youngest of five children, who were all homeschooled by their parents who instilled the family's Christian beliefs.
