<\/p>\n
Robert Tebow, a Baptist missionary to the Philippines and the father of NFL star Tim Tebow, has died at 78. The elder Tebow\u2019s passing comes after a years-long battle with Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
Tim Tebow shared news of his father\u2019s death in a Facebook post published Friday, describing his dad as \u201ca hero of the faith\u201d who \u201cwas welcomed home last night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany will say sorry for your loss, but the truth is, he\u2019s not lost; we know exactly where he is,\u201d the younger Tebow wrote. \u201cHe\u2019s home. Forever! I asked him last week what he looked forward to most about Heaven, and he simply said, \u2018Jesus.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe couldn\u2019t wait to see Jesus face-to-face,\u201d wrote the athlete. \u201cPraise God that his wait is over. Death has been swallowed up in victory. He\u2019s healed and whole now. So we don\u2019t mourn as those with no hope. See you soon, Dad!\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Tebow and his wife, Pam, moved their family to the Philippines in 1985, where they began ministering to the local community, which Pam\u00a0described to The Gainesville Sun\u00a0as \u201cwonderful.\u201d Their work was part of a ministry Robert Tebow founded, the Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned a lot,\u201d she said. \u201cYou always learn a lot when you visit a third world country. You grow in appreciation for everything you have.\u201d<\/p>\n
While overseas, they began praying for another child \u2014\u00a0for Timmy.<\/p>\n
Pam Tebow described that pregnancy as a difficult one. Just before learning she was pregnant, she fell into a coma after contracting amoebic dysentery, a bacteria transmitted through contaminated drinking water. To recover, she was given a series of strong medications. But, once she learned she was pregnant, she stopped taking them.<\/p>\n
The doctors, though, told the Tebows the preborn baby was already harmed. They told Pam Tebow her placenta had detached from her uterine wall, which can deprive the baby of necessary nutrients and oxygen. Anticipating a stillbirth, they encouraged her to have an abortion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey thought I should have an abortion to save my life from the beginning all the way through the seventh month,\u201d Pam Tebow told The Sun.<\/p>\n
But it was their faith \u2014 and Robert Tebow\u2019s conviction and prayer \u2014\u00a0that carried them through.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband just prayed that, if the Lord would give us a son, that he would let us raise him,\u201d said Pam Tebow.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Tim Tebow was born and they returned home to the U.S. when he was three years old.<\/p>\n
The Tebow family returned to their home state of Florida a few years after Tim Tebow was born. Robert and Pam homeschooled their children in Jacksonville, where Tim Tebow proved to be a successful football star before attending the University of Florida. He led the Florida Gators to two national titles in 2006 and 2008.<\/p>\n
Please sign up for\u00a0Faithwire\u2019s daily newsletter\u00a0and download the\u00a0CBN News app\u00a0to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Robert Tebow, a Baptist missionary to the Philippines and the father of NFL star Tim Tebow, has died at 78. The elder Tebow\u2019s passing comes after a years-long battle with Parkinson\u2019s disease. Tim Tebow shared news of his father\u2019s death in a Facebook post published Friday, describing his dad as \u201ca hero of the faith\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[4168,348,151,765,4457,618,2448,6642,4697],"class_list":{"0":"post-27671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-died","9":"tag-faith","10":"tag-father","11":"tag-hero","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-robert","14":"tag-star","15":"tag-tebow","16":"tag-tim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}