The Horrible Tragedy of Lamia (Bolivian Airlines) Flight 2933
Lamia Flight 2933 is in total failure, total electrical failure,
without fuel!" It was the anxious voice of the plane's pilot Miquel
Quiroga as he attempted to contact the control tower at the Medellin,
Columbia International Airport. Within minutes the Bolivian based plane
carrying 77 passengers which included the Chapeoense, Brazil
Professional Soccer Team along with the crew of seven crashed into the
side of a mountain. Rescue teams were able to find only five survivors
most of them moaning and pleading for help. Brazil's many soccer fans
were stunned. Chapeoense was an up and coming soccer team from Southern
Brazil that had recently moved in to the top tier of soccer competition
and was headed to Medellin for its most important match in the team's
short history. The tragic loss of an entire football team was indeed sad
but it could have been even worse.
Carlos Vilor da Silva was not on the flight. Carlos was named
Brazil's Soccer player of the year in 2015. He had helped to move his
team Londrina, a tier four team all the way to tier one competition.
Thirty-one years old and a gifted goal-keeper, Carlos had been offered a
lucrative contract to play for Chapeoense. According to Carlos, his
pay would have been more than doubled if he had signed the contract.
There was just one big catch; Carlos was baptized into the Seventh-day
Adventist Church on Dec. 27, 2015 and does not participate in soccer
games played on Friday night or Saturday.
When the team found out about Carlos' conviction, they pulled the
contract. Carlos chose God instead of the big salary offered by
Chapeoense. Had Carlos gone against his convictions and chosen to go
with the money, he most likely would be dead today. It would have been
so easy to pick up the pen, and sign that contract.
Many centuries ago, there was another young man who made a similar
decision. Dan. 1: 8 reads as follows: "But Daniel purposed in his
heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's
meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the
prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Daniel would
stand for his values and convictions despite living as a captive in a
pagan land. Another man that refused to give in was the Apostle Paul.
In 1 Cor. 11: 23-28, he lists some of the challenges he faced: beaten
and thrown into prison, thirty-nine stripes from the Jews on five
occasions. He was beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked several times,
perils of rivers and the sea, perils in the cities and in the
countryside, hungry, thirsty, cold, naked. And on top of everything
else, he had the daily burden of caring for all the churches. I believe
that is the reason Paul could say in Romans 8: 37, "No, in ALL these
things we are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us." Notice,
Paul doesn't say we can conquer; he says, "We are MORE than
conquerors." Pretty amazing to be more than conquerors.
One of my favorite quotes of all time is found in the Book Education
page 57 where the author, Ellen G. White says this, "The greatest want
of the world is men--men who will not be bought or sold; men who in
their inmost souls are true and honest: men who do not fear to call sin
by its right name: men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle
is to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens
fall." This is our great need in the world today and it is refreshing
to read about the fortitude and determination of men like Daniel and
Paul in Scripture. And for me, it is equally satisfying to learn of
young men and women in the modern world of today such as Carlos Vilor da
Silva. God bless each of us as we lift up the banner of faithfulness!
Pastor Wayne Easley in Costa Rica. PS: I have learned just recently
that Carlos da Silva, Brazil's Soccer player of the year in 2015, has
now signed a new football contract. This contract guarantees Carlos
that he will not have to play football on Friday nights or Saturdays. God is good!. WE
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