The Death of A Saint

His name in English was Wiseman. I met him while we were in the village of Mafutseni in Swaziand. I learned that Wiseman was in the final stages of AIDS. I prayed for him. He lifted his trembling hands and twig-sized arms to the Lord as I prayed. I prayed for his wife too, who is HIV positive. Wiseman and his wife have two children.

I told Wiseman that his face would be the one I remembered as I told people here in the states about the horrible pandemic of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. Over 40% of the people are infected, including many of the orphans we met.

Wisemen died this past weekend. He leaves behind a wife and two children. When he was diagnosed with AIDS, his family deserted him. His wife is now alone and has nothing. His church is struggling. They need financial help to bury him. I told them yesterday that we will help.

Helping to bury a man who died from AIDS. How does that thought settle in your mind? For many years, I would have felt conflicted about such a thing. "How did he get AIDS?" I would have asked. Then I went to Swaziland and saw the conditions there. I met Wiseman. I don't know how he got AIDS. The truth is that the thought did cross my mind, but it only took a split second for me to realize that it didn't matter. I didn't ask. I didn't care. My heart broke when I saw him and his wife, whose demeanor was one of a broken but faith-filled woman. I met his children. I saw Wiseman's love for Christ and I know Christ's love for him. That was all that mattered. I felt the love of Christ being called forth from me by their circumstances.
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A man and his wife were driving to church one Sunday evening when they came around a curve in the road and saw a car ahead them, overturned in a deep ditch. The car was completely upside down. As the couple slowed down and looked closer at the overturned car, they could see that somebody was in the front seat.

The man slammed on brakes and he and his wife jumped out of the car and rushed over to the wrecked vehicle where the injured driver was slumped over, obviously unconscious. Looking through the window, they saw that the man inside was bleeding. Immediately they began to try to open the door of the car, but it wouldn't budge.

Grabbing a large stone in the ditch, the husband smashed the windshield so that he could reach through it and pull the injured driver of the car out. When the window broke and he pulled the windshield away from the car, something immediately became very obvious. There was an overwhelming smell of whiskey coming from the car.

The odor was overpowering. As the couple looked closer, they saw an empty Jack Daniels Whiskey bottle lying beside the bleeding and unconcious man inside.

"He is drunk!" the husband said. "Yes, he is," answered the wife. "That must be why he wrecked the car." "What should we do?" the wife asked her husband. "Leave him alone," he answered. "If he hadn't been driving drunk, this wouldn't have happened."

So they left and went on to church. What do you think about that? Did the drunken driver bring it on himself? Without a doubt. Did the couple make the right choice in leaving him without helping?

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I was recently speaking to somebody about how over 40% of the people in Swaziland are infected with HIV or AIDS. "How do they get it?" he asked. I explained that many people there have the disease for the same reasons people here have it. (Though there are many children who have HIV/AIDS who did nothing but be born.) I understand the question. I suppose we would all ask it, but here's another question:

Will we love people who are hurt and dying only if their problem came through no fault of their own? I will admit that the story I have told about the drunk driver isn't real. I made it up to make a point. What if a couple on their way to church did what I described? I think most of us would be horrified at such a response.

The story of Wiseman isn't a made-up story. It's real. Is the situation any different? Will we help only those who we deem to be innocent or will we love people even if their problem is the result of their own bad choices? Again, I don't know how Wiseman got AIDS. I do know his wife has HIV. His children may be infected. I was told that over 60% of the orphans we met there are HIV positive.

I want to help hungry children in Swaziland. I also want to help provide medication to suppress the AIDS virus in those with HIV. And I want to provide help for the 90% who will die from AIDS with no opportunity to find some measure of comfort because they can't go into a hospital.

I have lived my whole life in the part of the body of Christ that takes pride in being Christians who "believe the Bible" and "live by the Bible." I can't help but wonder why I've heard so little in the church world I grew up in concerning helping the poor and needy. The Bible is filled with teaching about this matter. Jesus Himself said that when we help these, we have done it unto Him.

"I think we ought to be more interested in getting them saved," I heard a person once say. But how can we do that if they die first? The life expectancy in Swaziland is 32 years old. And how can we talk about their eternal souls while watching their physical bodies wasting away from hunger and disease?

I plan to share the gospel with people in Swaziland, but I want to share it in word and in deed. How can I talk about God's love there without showing them that love?
You'll read more about this in next month's newsletter, but I thought it is important not to wait to make you aware of this need. For now, if you want to help, send a financial gift to Grace Walk Ministries. Indicate that you want it to go to Swaziland. You can call the office and use your credit card to help expedite their receiving the gift, if you'd like to do it that way. I make no apologies for asking you to help. Every cent you send will be sent there to help Wiseman's family and others who are suffering there.

By the beginning of the year, the ongoing plan to help in Swaziland will be in place. I'll give you more details soon. For now, let's help with this immediate need. Giving money to help one who died from AIDS. Some might call it strange. I believe God would call it "GRACE."