World Aids Day

Well, it's been about 15 years ago since we first discovered that my brother, Dave had Aids. We don't know when he contracted the disease but we do know that it was from his sexual activity as a homosexual. We were devastated but focused on getting him through the initial presenting problem of being very ill. We made it through that time and in the next several years there were other times where we were unsure whether he would make it. He had periods of times where he stopped taking his meds and thought that he would still be okay. There was the one time where he developed aids dimentia. We tried to help him understand that if he was truly ready to die we could let him go but if he wanted to live he would have to go back to taking his meds. He made it through and we are grateful to have him still with us. Over the years I have wrestled with him being sick and with what brought him to this terrible, tragic place. He has struggled with his faith for these many years but seems to keep finding his way back to God, who loves him. On Thanksgiving I called him to tell him how much I loved him and was thankful for at least three things...that he was my brother, that he was still alive and that he was striving on the faith journey to find deliverance and grace to deal with desires and lifestyle. he knows that the gay lifestyle is wrong. He knows his sin. But he also knows how much I love him.
One of my church members is Stewart, he has Aids. He lives in Florida. He has had this disease for the last 14 plus years. He is a great guy and I count him as a friend. He loves God and is on a journey to deal with who he is and what has brought him to this place. I have told him how much his friendship and seeking of God means to me. He needs to know that God is not finished in him yet.
This disease is a terrible thing. There is so much more we can and should be doing in this struggle. But God is good and draws us all into a closer walk with Him. God loves us and calls us all to repent and to seek Him. He doesn't want us to settle for who or what we think that we are but to draw close to Him and find forgiveness and transformation...heterosexuals and homosexuals...we all need God's grace. What can you do? Pray. Seek God. Love big. Be transformed from heterosexual and homosexual to people not defined by sexual preference to a place where we all recognize what God wants to and can do to make us more than we ever dreamed. The progressive church seeks to pervert scripture and dismiss what God has said about all sexual behavior. This Aids day we need to wake up to know that when our lifestyle, heterosexual or homosexual places us at risk for diseases and for separation from God then we need to repent and turn to a God who has a good, pleasing and perfect will for our lives.