I care now.

I spent this past weekend at Wheaton, doing a lot of listening and thinking about the AIDS pandemic that's going on in our world. Before I left, I really didn't care...it all seemed so distant to me.

I care now.

There are so many things I could share with you all: stats I learned, brand new information, a new way of looking at things. Maybe I'll go more into that another time, but right now I just want to share the couple things that struck me the most.

The statistics about the number of AIDS infections and deaths are numbing...so I won't give them to you. But behind every single number, there's a face. The people who are dying right now...they're us. They're doctors, teachers, students, sons, daughters, parents. They're smart, they have dreams for their lives, and they have stories to tell. They're really not that different from us at all. God knows them just as well as He knows me and you...

And what gets me is that this is an issue that the Church has been silent about. We are the strongest force in the entire world, and sadly, by and large, we don't care. But as God's agents in the world - Christ's Body - we need to take a hand in the healing of our world. We need to be the force of compassion here, and our theologies need to be lived out in this issue of AIDS.

Three major things I really came away with...

-- I need to care, and I need to help others care. (A great place to start is to watch the documentary called "A Closer Walk"...I think it's a movie everyone needs to see...if you're around and want to watch it with me, I'd be more than happy to.)
--Any little thing helps, even if it's just talking to a friend about this stuff, commiting it to prayer, or donating a couple dollars here and there. Everything helps.
-- I'm learning to be more compassionate in my everyday life. How can I love AIDS victims so deeply and not love my neighbor? Compassion seems to breed compassion: the more I'm caring about one group, the more deeply I care about others. It's so cool...

Gosh, I don't want to be preaching here; you guys didn't come for that. But still, I'm convinced that this is something our eyes need to be opened to.

May God guide us all, stirring us to care, and providing us with opportunities to live out the love of Christ.