Originally published in The Christian Post
As Tim Tebow, a former NFL football star who is now a professional baseball player, signed autographs for fans following his Arizona Fall League debut on Tuesday, a man collapsed in the stands behind him which led the 29-year-old Scottsdale Scorpions’ player to lay hands on him and pray for his recovery.
According to ABC15 reporter Kari Van Horn, what happened next was nothing short of miraculous.
“Tebow signing autographs. Fan has what looks like seizure. Not moving,” she tweeted. “Tebow puts hand on him and says a prayer. Man breathes. WOW.”
In another tweet the reporter says,” I just witnessed a MIRACLE. #Tebow.”
Tim Tebow an amazing individual. Tends to a man who had a seizure pic.twitter.com/ttYrQiqePh
— Christian Byrnes (@ByrnesC10) October 11, 2016
Post game impact
Tebow struggled in his first game, going 0-3 at the plate with three groundouts but managed to make a huge impact when the game was over.
In another account of him tending to the man during an apparent seizure, the former NFL quarterback waited with him until paramedics arrived at the scene.
“Tim Tebow comforts a fan who had a seizure in the stands after the ex-quarterback’s Arizona Fall League debut,” ESPN reported. “Tebow waited with the man until paramedics arrived.”
Not an uncharacteristic response
This isn’t the first time Tebow has prayed with strangers during a health emergency. Last June, Tebow prayed with the family of a man who suffered heart complications aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Georgia to Arizona.
“He met with the family as they cried on his shoulder! I watched Tim pray with the entire section of the plane for this man,” one passenger recalled in a Facebook post about the situation.
“He made a stand for God in a difficult situation. The plane landed in Phoenix and that was the first time they got a pulse back! Pray for this man and his family, and also thank God that we still have people of faith who in times of difficulty look to the Lord!” The man later died at a local hospital.
Mission to help others
The Evangelical Christian football star-turned-baseball player has made it his mission to help people even when he’s not in the public eye. As he pursued his NFL dreams in 2012, Tebow said he wanted to use his professional athletic career as a platform for something bigger than just entertainment.
“Being able to score touchdowns and win games is a way to get a platform. But, ultimately, if that’s what you do in your life and that’s what your life is based on, I don’t know, I feel like that’s a little bit of a meaningless life,” he previously said in an interview with the Gainesville Sun. “But if you can take that and do something with it like a lot of athletes do, then you’re having a life of success, a life of meaning.”