Part of My Story

Do this because you know the time;
It is the hour now for you to aWAKE from sleep,
For our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
--Romans 13:11

I started this post quite a while ago, but it has been sitting in "drafts". I thought about calling it "The Beginning of My Story" but it's really only a part of a much bigger story. It is, however, the beginning of a very significant point in my story. And my reason for posting it now is because I was just reading a post on my pastor's blog and it reminded me of this particular beginning.

I love Bono....not because he's a musician...and not because I love U2. No matter what you think about him, he is and has been doing some great things, particularly about the AIDS crisis...and specifically about this crisis and its impact on the continent of Africa. I have worked in HIV research now for almost 12 years. I've asked God for much of that time why He had placed me where He had. I never really heard Him answer....until January of 2007.

I was walking through our conference room at work one day and the bookshelves caught my eye because they had been cleared of virtually everything that had been on them just the week before. There were only a handful of books left for perusal. As I walked over to skim the titles, one practically jumped off the shelf at me. It was called "The aWAKE Project: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis". aWAKE stands for AIDS: Working towards Awareness, Knowledge, and Engagement. The book is a compilation of brief articles by contributors who generously offered their time because they realize the crisis situation of AIDS in the world and the need for urgency. Among the contributors are Nelson Mandela, Bono, George W. Bush, Bill Frist, Tony Campolo, Kofi Annan, Danny Glover, Philip Yancey, Desmond Tutu, and Franklin Graham.

The aWAKE Project is a unique book regarding the AIDS crisis in Africa. In June of 2001, Dr. Volney P. Gay, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University, using a grant from the Templeton Foundation, conceived of a conference called AIDS and Africa: Science and Religion to take place on October 19, 2002. In June of 2002, he and Jenny Eaton, a Vanderbilt Ph.D. candidate and editor at Thomas Nelson, Inc., hosted a luncheon with some Thomas Nelson colleagues. At that table was born The aWAKE Project.

The Vanderbilt conference united persons across religious, political, and racial lines; this book embraces a spectrum of religious and political thought. The conference and this book help us confront ourselves and our responses to the AIDS pandemic. The aWAKE Project was unveiled at the Vanderbilt University Conference on October 19, 2002.

As I started doing some research, I realized that the doctor I work with everyday and many other faculty members in our department were part of the panel discussion at this conference.

My first thought was how in the world did I not know this conference had taken place almost five years earlier? I opened the book to the first page and read a statement that caused tears that day and each day since that I think on it.

"A Barna Research poll shows that evangelical Christians are the least likely group to help AIDS victims in Africa -- less than 3 percent said they would financially help a Christian organization minister to an AIDS oprhan."

So my second thought was, "God, how can that be true?" But as I thought about it, I could easily see how it would be true. We don't talk about AIDS. And we definitely don't talk about HIV in the church. There are those who still don't even understand how this disease is actually transmitted. 25 years after the first cases were diagnosed, there is still fear and misunderstanding. This is a disease of stigmatization. You need only talk to a handful of people to realize how true that statement is. I began to ask those around me questions to see how much they knew about the disease. And I began to share what I know.

Here is part of what Bono says in the book.

In the Scriptures we are not advised to love our neighbor, we are commanded. The Church needs to lead the way here, not drag its heels. The government needs guidance. We discuss; we debate; we put our hands in our pockets. We are generous even. But, I tell you, God is not looking for alms; God is looking for action. He is not just looking for our loose change; He's looking for a tighter contract between us and our neighbor.

There are 2,300 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. History will judge us on how we deal with this crisis. God will judge us even harder.

And he concludes with,

We must wake up the sleeping giant of the Church; we must set alarm clocks to rouse our politicians who also slumber. The choice is there before each and every one of us: to stop and tend to the distant pilgrim sick on the side of the road, or, a nervous glance, and we turn away . . . away from the pilgrim, away from God's grace.

I don't think I can adequately describe what happened that day. God placed something....actually, I think that is wrong. God awakened something deep in my spirit that day. I didn't fully understand it then....and honestly, I still don't fully understand it.

Will I work with AIDS victims in Africa one day? I don't know. But I do believe that God didn't place me where I have been for the last 12 years to have my knowledge go to waste.

Of greater importance to me, though, is that my spiritual eyes were opened wider that day. You see, as great a need as there is to address this pandemic, there is an even greater need to address.....a spiritual one. God placed a burning desire in me that day....not just for AIDS orphans, but for all of the people on that lost and dark continent to know fully who God is and what He did for them. I can no longer ignore or run from what I so clearly have seen. What does that mean one year or five years from now? I'm not sure yet. But my focus is becoming more and more clear as I am seeking to know Him more fully myself each passing day.

So, Pat, you and Bono are right. It's not a burden. It really is an adventure. One that, with God's guidance, I hope to completely embrace in a way that honors and glorifies Him alone.


PS - For more information about "The aWAKE Project", to read articles by some of the contributors, including Bono, Tony Campolo and Franklin Graham, or to get ideas on how you can become more engaged, go here.