RL3: Consequences and Compassion

This may be a SUPER long blog! I have finished Red Letters and am now halfway through Children of Hope by Vernon Brewer (request your free copy online). I have so many thoughts running through my mind that this should probably be 3 or 4 posts. . but, they all run together so it's either a full on conversation (no kids, no interruptions. . yeah right!) or a super long blog! I also am not promising that this will flow well or make sense! Yep, I process through writing and my head is full now, so I'm going to write. . .that doesn't mean it will all make sense yet. . that's what the writing is for ~ to help me make it make sense!

Consequences~ One of the first things that hit me in Red Letters is the concept of "victims" of HIV/AIDS. I think one of the reasons the church has been slow to act IS because AIDS can be viewed as a consequence of someone's action b/c it is sexually transmitted. This goes along the line of "why give condoms to kids in schools". . .basically, if we run in and "fix" the problem or find a cure for AIDS, are we just removing consequences? Now, you may not be one who ever felt this way and I may even offend you for saying it. However, I think this may be one of the biggest hindrances for getting "the church" involved in this crisis. To tell you the truth, I was hoping that Tom Davis would tackle this in the book b/c it was a question of my own heart. I do not ever want to step in God's way. Often, in this country, I believe that we try too hard to make people happy and too quickly remove consequences to that end. Initially, this made me uncomfortable with the AIDS crisis. A number of things touched me as I questioned this. . first, though, let's go with the assumption that EVERYONE who has AIDS got it from sexual promiscuity (not the case, but we'll go into that in a minute). If this were the case, would we still be called to help? The answer seems to be a resounding YES! If we look over Jesus life, we find him spending time with and even helping many sinners. Healing their bodies and restoring their souls. He granted forgiveness to the thief on the cross minutes before his own death. In fact, if we were so bold as to want everyone to "pay" for their sins, we would be quite unhappy if the Lord Jesus did this himself to us. That's what forgiveness and redemption are all about. Here's another thought. . .what if. . . think about it what if. . .the Lord was using AIDS as a discipline tool. Remember now, discipline and punishment are different. Discipline is something God uses to pursue us. To cause us to turn to Him. To change our ways to look at the Father. To get our attention. What if God were using the AIDS crisis to turn people to HIM. Possibly as OUR (the Church) opportunity to go into a place that has been held by Satan is so many way and speak His LOVE through offering hope and healing! What if? Right now, the church has been turning down that opportunity. Think of a man. Yep, the man who got AIDS b/c he went out and raped a woman or had sex with multiple women or any number of things. . .what if AIDS caused him to go looking for help. He got sick and he needs help now. IF, the Church were using our opportunities wisely. . we'd be there! We'd be there to offer the "cold cup of water" that Jesus talks about. We'd be there to offer healthcare or homecare or any number of things and maybe, just maybe have the opportunity to offer true healing in the form of introducing him to the healer!

So, all of the above assumed that people are getting HIV/AIDS because of their lack of self control. This is not the case! Over 90% of newly infected children are born of HIV infected moms. These children made NO choice. Violence against women is very high in Africa. As is unfaithfulness. Many women are getting HIV after their husbands come home with it. These women did not choose it. The saddest spread of HIV / AIDS is purely the work of Satan himself. Over 80% of those infected, seek help from traditional African healers. You know what many witchdoctors tell their "patients" and is now spread as a lie across Africa? That if you have sex with a virgin, you will be cured! Literally, men are going through villages raping women and even little girls to GAIN their cure. In the process, they are leaving behind wounded women and children, not just emotionally but literally. These girls made NO choice. They are literally victims! Then, there are those who are getting the disease because of their actions to keep themselves alive. With no food and no money, there are many young girls (often times single moms with children to care for or young orphan girls) who sell themselves for food. Tom tells the story of one young, orphan girl who at the age of 10, after waiting until she had not eaten for days; finally heads to the men. Hoping against hope that they will have pity on her and simply give her the food, she loses her innocence that day and loses her future in what she contracts. The other victims of HIV / AIDS do not have the disease itself. These are the children whose parents do. These are the children who are being left homeless and orphaned at such a young age. There are whole villages where there are no parents. Children raising children. The adults in many communities are simply overrun. The phrase "it takes a village" was born in Africa and these villages are doing all they can; but, a family can only take in so many children while living in abject poverty themselves! Over half of the population of Swaziland is in danger of being wiped out. Over a third of the adults in Zimbabwe have the disease. This disease is destroying villages, cities and whole nations. It is wiping out the work force, the farming industry and even the teachers.

Those factors combined leave my "maybe it's just the consequences of their actions" thoughtline obsolete. It does not matter. . maybe it is.. .often times it's not. Either way, I/We have an opportunity to make a difference. To share Jesus in a practical way that MAY lead others to a SAVING knowledge of who He is! However, that is hard! Yep, it hurts. I wept reading this book and am continuing to weep reading Children of Hope. Putting faces on these stories makes it real. Vernon Brewer quoted adoptive mom and author Mellisa Fay Greene (author of There is No Me Without You):

I lived in a very small house with my mother," my daughter tells me. "My
mother was very beautiful. She had long, long, long shiny hair that
fell to her waist. We had two things in our house. We had a shelf and we had a baby bed. The bed is too small for my mother, she has to sleep by pulling up her legs. I don't remember when my mother was not sick. I don't really remember my father, sometimes I think I remember him, reading a newspaper. My mother taught me to read when I was four. . .when I was five, I was the one taking care of my
mother. If she needed something, I go to the store for her. When she needs juice, she gives me the coin and I go to buy the juice for her. One time I saw at the store
little sparkly clips shaped like butterflies for your hair. I wanted those clips very much, but I bought the juice for my mother instead. At home, I told my mother about the clips, and she said yes! My mother always said yes. I ran back and I bought the butterfly clips! But, one day a taxi came and I think my mother dies in the taxi. People took me away and they didn't let me go into the house to get the butterfly clips and I never saw my house again. But why did my mother have to die?

One day about four months after arriving in Atlanta, Helen collapsed in my
arms, suddenly stricken with the memory of her late mother. I held her as
she writhed, wailing "Why she had to die?"A few moments later, she said
between sobs, "I know why she died. She was very sick and we didn't
have the medicine."

"I know," I said, "It's true. I'm sorry"
By then, I was well versed in the AIDS orphan crisis, but it floored me that
she captured it with such accuracy, brevity and grief more powerfully than
any of the thousand pages I had read on the subject.

"I wish I had known you then" I told the child in my arms. "I wish I could have sent her the medicine"

I know that was long, but it struck a chord in me. "I wish I had known you then" What a statement. We don't help b/c they are faceless. The stories and statics can be stuck back in some part of our brain. Why would we take them out to dwell on them? They hurt so badly. They don't have a face to us, we don't HAVE to feel that pain. Not like Melissa. . it's her daughter that hurts now. I sit and weep while reading these books, but I've not held a child in my arms who sobs when the medicine that could have kept her mom alive cost $.40 a day. I have never hurt like that. . .maybe if I did, blogging and reading wouldn't cut it for me. . .maybe those questions of "should we help" would not even have been thoughts in my head. So, I for one, will choose to hurt. I think I need that hurting (what little I experience without living in it and breathing it and holding their little bodies) to give God the room to move me.

The questions is SHOULD we hurt? Do we really have to go there? To answer this question or to just get you thinking, I want you to PLEASE go to Amber's blog right now and read what she wrote about compassion. I was tempted to just copy and paste it b/c I think it's that vital of an insight.

I encourage you to struggle through these issues. Ask the questions. Let God search your heart. Don't just choose to relegate it to a part of your brain that lets it be JUST knowledge or facts. I don't know what God will call us to, but I know we need to be willing and ask Him.