What do you want me to do, Lord?

Last week I received a two year old copy of Christianity Today magazine.  It had been sent to our old post office box in Benin – who knows when it arrived there? – and finally was forwarded to me in Togo.  On the cover was a picture of U2’s Bono, and a lot of the article dealt with his indictment of the church for failing to respond to the AIDS crisis.

Two days ago I got a call from my teammate who was about to leave on furlough.  For the last few years, he has been buying anti-retroviral drugs for an AIDS victim that we know.  The man has shown incredible improvement while taking the medicines.  Making these drugs available to AIDS victims is the least we/the developed, affluent, healthy world can do to ease the plight of people with AIDS.  Anyway, my teammate called to tell me that the man’s wife is now showing symptoms of AIDS.  Would it be possible for me to help buy medicines for her just until he can get back from furlough?

As soon as the conversation started, I knew that that God was speaking to me, giving me an opportunity to act on what I had just been thinking about, thanks to the Bono article.

Now I see Greg Kendall-Ball’s post on poverty in Rwanda, that just happens to be followed by the suggestion to check out Bono’s DATA organization and the One campaign – the first time I’ve heard of either one of these – programs aimed specifically at relieving poverty and addressing the scourge of AIDS in Africa.

So this makes three times within the last week that God has thrown the challenge of AIDS in Africa in front of me.  I am not the savior of Africa.  But I want to do something – something that will make a real difference.  Sure, I can buy medicines for one woman – less than $25 per month with current subsidies.  What about the millions of others?  Any ideas?