Usually, I'm all for an advantage that makes my team better and the other teams worse; inside or outside of the game. But some things are just too grand in reality and emotion for competition. Some things happen that remind us the playing field is indeed even. The death of a player would be one of those things. I've never dealt with a teammates' sudden passing, but after learning what the Dallas Cowboys experienced recently (DT Josh Brent was charged with a DUI after a car crash that killed passenger, fellow teammate, and friend Jerry Brown), my heart went out to the entire organization and both players' families. Speculation in a situation like this is minimal. And one thing is for certain; you can bet that when Brent took that first drink he didn't think it would lead to the death of his college homeboy.
But who does think that first action...the one that's harmless, sociable, and fun...will birth an unspeakable tragedy? Very few...which speaks too well of the classic relationship between alcohol and automobiles...or alcohol itself. Because one drink doesn't hurt, until it leads to the drinks that do. And with all of the literature and the soapbox preachers and the testimonies and the [somewhat] clear thoughts of alcohol in the Bible; most still have a taste...leaving the gate wide open to receive anything but what the Lord has to offer.
This isn't about drinking, though. It's about all of the things we indulge in, partake in, and affiliate with that exclude us from receiving Gods' best...while setting us up to receive the worlds' worst. All of the mind altering substances. All of the foods. All of the television shows and music and other forms of media. Does it really allow us to harbor His perfect, deliberate Will? Or do we relieve ourselves with the temporary pleasures of a fallen world because we deeply believe Gods' greatest is to difficult to achieve? Maybe we just say "Jesus died so I can get it in and repent in the morning." Whatever it is, it appears that to have everything God has for us isn't as serious as, say, a couple of drinks every blue moon. And opposed to basing our acts on the legal and moral ramifications, it seems more like a trust issue.
In the book of Daniel, he and his friends - captives in Babylon - were the elite members of the plunder. They were assigned to eat foods and drink wine that the Babylonian administration deemed suitable for producing men of great intellect and physical prowess. However, Daniel and his team shunned the approved meals for vegetables and water; and not because the Babylon food was bad (in fact, it was some of the best food in the world at the time). Yet it was food that God forbade, so they refused to eat it. In the end, Daniel's crew was smarter and stronger than the rest of the captives that ate the food offered to them (see Daniel 1:1-15). Instead of trusting the science of the time, instead of worshiping their taste buds, they trusted and worshiped God...who in turn gave the young men the absolute best He had for them.
Now the boys could've eaten the rich, great-tasting food the others had. And they would've lived a slaves life such as the others did. But they decided that Gods' thoughts about the matter were supreme over their captivity and their desires. And their decision to not fit in with the average propelled them to being the best in the land; slave or free. Meanwhile, many who had that one drink died in captivity.
Just some thoughts...
Peace
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