Have you ever dared someone to do something? Maybe you dared someone to run up the down escalator, or maybe you actually did it yourself. Maybe you dared someone to hold their breath underwater for two minutes or actually tried to do it yourself. Usually a dare involves an element of risk and danger. But sometimes they can have devastating results.
Sam Ballard was just 19 and full of life, fun and energy. He was a rugby player with a big, wide smile and blond hair, the perfect picture of vitality and health. One night, he and some friends were in the backyard drinking some red wine and “trying to act like grown-ups.” Suddenly, a slug crawled across the patio and Sam’s friends dared him to eat it! In a flash, on a silly dare, the slug was ... gone! The farthest thing from any of their minds was the possibility of the disastrous consequences of eating a garden slug. They were just happy, young teenagers having a lot of fun together!
How many young people are just like them? They start out with just a little bit of smoking marijuana or taking other drugs, just a small amount of alcohol, the occasional violent video game or the occasional looking at pornography. It seems like such fun, and, after all, “it’s the in thing” and “what harm will it do?” They’re just looking to have a good time! They never think to consider where these choices will lead them, or how they will affect themselves and others around them.
Strange Illness
At first, everything seemed fine. But in the days following, Sam complained of severe pain in his legs. He wondered if it was because of the slug, but his mother said that no one ever gets sick from that. Then he thought that maybe he had multiple sclerosis, inherited from his father who had had it. But that was soon ruled out.
After further testing, doctors discovered that Sam had contracted rat lungworm. This parasite is found in rodents, but slugs and snails can become infected if they eat rodent feces. Most people are not affected by this infection, but on rare occasions it will cause an infection of the brain. This is what happened to Sam. He was diagnosed with eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a condition that many people recover from.
Though Sam seemed to be recovering at first, he soon lapsed into a coma for 420 days. When he woke up, he had acquired a brain injury and was now a quadriplegic. He now required care 24/7. Sam was fortunate in that he had a loving mother and true and loyal friends, or mates, as they are called in Australia. Faithfully, his mother cared for him through the years. Faithfully, his friends came to visit and support him until his death in 2018.
Big Consequences for a Silly Moment
Because of a silly dare, many lives were changed forever. Sam had to be fed through a tube and needed help going to the bathroom. It took him many months of hard work to regain some use of his legs and arms. He suffered seizures and could not control his body temperature. His mother had to deal with his government funding being cut off by more than two-thirds, before the problem was corrected. She bore the responsibility of being the main one to care for him for years. Though his friends tried to do many of the same things they did before Sam’s illness and were his loyal friends to the end, they will have to deal with a lifetime of regret — regret for a situation that didn’t have to be.
Lisa Wilkinson of Australia’s “The Sunday Project” ran a segment on the family chronicling Sam’s ordeal. As a warning to other young people watching, she asked one of Sam’s friends what advice they would give to them. This is what he said: “Just take care of your mates. Before you jump off a roof into a pool, or if you’re daring a mate to eat something stupid, just think about it, because it can have the worst consequences, not only on your mate, their family and the rest of their friends. The rest of your life. Just take care of each other.”
This was great advice from men who had experienced the devastating result of a bad choice firsthand. Things can and do go terribly wrong. We live in a day and age where people “just don’t think about it” when they do something because everyone else is doing it. So many young people are led into gangs, drugs, drinking, stealing and many other harmful activities and never even think of where it will all end. They don’t see the penniless drunkard, the desperate drug addict or the jail time that awaits them for certain crimes. They “just don’t think about it” and so finish their sinful lives, dropping into hell forever.
A Time to Pause and Consider
There is another crowd of people who “just don’t think about it” also. These are the upstanding citizens of society, the churchgoers, the ones who do good works and donate to charities. They are kind, good neighbors and will help anybody in an emergency. They believe there is no need “to think about it” as they too finish their sinful lives, dropping into hell forever.
What does all humanity need “to think about”? The Bible, God’s Word says, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:11Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; (Ecclesiastes 12:1)). Why? Because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). This means that we are sinners and unable on our own to enter into heaven. But God has told us how we can be made right with Him. In His great love towards us, He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and shed His precious blood for our sins. Jesus could die in our place because He was sinless and perfect. The Bible says, “I declare unto you the gospel [good news] ... how that Christ died for our sins ... and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
Anyone and everyone can be saved if they put their faith and trust in the work that the Lord Jesus did on the cross for our sins. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). This is not just an “Oh, I believe that” response and then you go on living your life without another thought or care towards God. No, God wants us to repent of our sins, to accept His forgiveness, to simply accept that what Jesus did on the cross is enough for our salvation. There needs to be “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)). So serious is this matter that the Bible tells us that the choice we make is either “eternal life” or “eternal destruction.” “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). Sam didn’t have to eat a slug. Impulsively, he chose to do so. You have the chance now not to be one of those “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
What will you do with Jesus? Do not carelessly waste the time that God has given to you to come to Him for your eternal salvation! “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:12,1512Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)
15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (Hebrews 3:15)).
Sam isn’t the only one who has been casual with danger. The potato chip cans in A Deadly Surprise had a much more lethal payload than potato chips.