Shaken (young Readers Edition)

Shaken is a memoir by Tim Tebow that blends personal narrative from his football career with inspirational reflections on Christian faith, identity, and service.

Tebow, a former college football star and NFL quarterback, opens by framing the book's central question: How does a person remain grounded when life's circumstances shift dramatically? He acknowledges that the world has tried to define him by his successes, such as winning the Heisman Trophy (college football's most prestigious individual award), and by his failures, including being released from three NFL teams. He argues that identity should not depend on external markers but on belonging to God. The first seven chapters address his personal lows and the lessons they taught him, while the final three focus on making a difference through faith and action.

The book's narrative anchor is a detailed account of being cut from the New England Patriots in late August 2013. After performing well in the preseason finale and receiving encouraging signals from team owner Robert Kraft, Tebow expected good news. Instead, a text from Coach Bill Belichick the next morning summoned him to the nearly empty stadium. In a conference room, Belichick and Coach Josh McDaniels, who had drafted Tebow to the Denver Broncos three and a half years earlier, told him it was not the right fit. Tebow felt he had let down the children who looked up to him. He organized a group call with his "circle of trust," a close group of family and friends, including his parents and siblings Christy, Katie, Robby, and Peter, who prayed for him and helped craft a public statement. A friend arranged a private plane to Jacksonville, where Tebow stayed at his friend Bryan's house, the same house where he had watched the 2010 NFL draft when the Broncos selected him. Unable to watch football that evening as news tickers repeated his release, he struggled internally but chose to hold on to biblical promises. When an agent reported that teams were interested but none wanted him as quarterback, Tebow refused to abandon his dream. He relocated to Los Angeles two days later, training for roughly 18 months with Tom House, a former major-league pitcher and elite mechanics coach recommended by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. He lived in a borrowed spare bedroom with no job, no car, and no home of his own.

Before the Patriots released him, Tebow had already endured a difficult year with the New York Jets. Traded there from the Broncos in spring 2012 as a backup quarterback, he arrived to an unprecedented media circus, including a televised press conference attended by over 200 reporters. Despite coaches' promises to use his strengths, he received little playing time. Media criticism was relentless: reporters called him the worst quarterback in the NFL and compared him to Kim Kardashian. He lived in a small New Jersey house just feet from the curb where paparazzi parked and felt isolated without a local church community or many friends nearby. The Jets released him in April 2013.

In March 2015, after two years away from the NFL, Tebow received a call from Chip Kelly, coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Feeling certain this was God's plan, Tebow trained harder than ever and earned the Big Skill award, an off-season performance honor. In the final preseason game, he threw two touchdown passes and had 32 rushing yards. Postgame reactions from staff and agents all signaled he would make the roster, but the following morning Coach Kelly called and released him, saying Tebow needed more reps. Disappointed but less devastated than after the Patriots cut, Tebow chose to maintain his trust in God's plan.

Between these career narratives, Tebow explores several themes through personal stories and the experiences of others. He argues that identity should be rooted in God's unconditional love rather than external validation. He tells the story of Mark Stuart, lead singer of the rock band Audio Adrenaline, who was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a permanent disorder affecting the voice-box muscles, and had to leave the band in 2006 after a 17-year career. Rather than defining himself by what he lost, Stuart devoted his life to the Hands and Feet Project, an organization serving orphans in Haiti.

Tebow addresses fear through the 2011 Denver Broncos' dramatic fourth-quarter comebacks, including overcoming a 15-point deficit against the Miami Dolphins and a 10-point deficit against the Chicago Bears. He reframes pressure as a form of fear and argues that God's perfect love, expressed through the Greek concept of agape (selfless, sacrificial love), casts it out. He illustrates this through Chelsie Watts, a teenager diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2011 who had seven organs removed by the time Tebow met her in November 2014. Despite her condition, Chelsie consistently encouraged Tebow rather than seeking comfort herself, always insisting that God was in control. She passed away in late January 2015.

To explore doubt, Tebow retells the biblical story of Job, a righteous man who lost everything but refused to abandon God, and pairs it with the story of Garrett Leopold, a boy born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which the heart's left ventricle stops growing in the womb. Garrett received three heart transplants over the course of his life, including a third from 18-year-old Amanda Pierce, who died in a car accident. The two families eventually connected and developed a close bond.

Tebow recounts a mission trip to the Philippines at age 15, during which he encountered a boy named Sherwin whose feet were on backward. Sherwin's school principal had hidden him from the American visitors, calling him unimpressive, but Sherwin's two devoted friends stayed by his side rather than go see the visitors. This encounter inspired the founding of the Tim Tebow Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing faith, hope, and love to those in need. Tebow also introduces Robyn, a young woman with cerebral palsy who initially viewed her walker as a mark of difference but eventually reframed it as a platform to inspire others. He reveals that he is dyslexic and explains that while reading, spelling, and timed tests were especially difficult for him growing up, he now sees the experience as a way to encourage others facing similar challenges.

The final chapters shift toward action. Tebow describes visiting Florida State Prison in April 2015, where, after speaking with inmates on death row, he felt led to visit the suicide watch cellblock. There, a young prisoner broke down crying, explaining that he had just prayed for the first time, asking God to prove He was real, and Tebow's group had arrived minutes later. The inmate committed his life to God in that moment. Tebow also highlights the foundation's Night to Shine, an annual nationwide prom for people with special needs, and shares the story of Boomer, a boy born three months early and diagnosed with schizencephaly (a rare brain malformation) and cerebral palsy. Doctors said Boomer would not survive past age five, but he defied expectations and, at the foundation's first Celebrity Golf Classic, donated $27 from his allowance, inspiring wealthy attendees to give generously.

The book closes with the Broncos' January 8, 2012, playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tebow threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to receiver Demaryius Thomas 11 seconds into overtime, the fastest overtime win in NFL history at that time. The game fell exactly three years after Tebow first displayed the Bible verse John 3:16 on his eye black (adhesive strips players wear under their eyes to reduce glare) during the 2009 National Championship, and his passing statistics that day repeatedly echoed the numbers 3, 1, and 6. He recounts a young woman at a speaking event who told him that a 2010 TV commercial he and his mother made, celebrating life, convinced her not to go through with a scheduled abortion. Tebow shares the backstory: When his mother was pregnant with him in the Philippines, doctors described him as a mass of fetal tissue and advised terminating the pregnancy, but she refused. Tebow presents the gospel message directly, offers a salvation prayer, and urges readers to let God define their identity, to keep fighting and hoping, and to live in a way that makes a lasting difference.