World AIDS Day - December 1st

Please join me in prayer for the millions of men, women, and children suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world. I would like to highlight two of my friends who I have had the privilege of getting to know these past three months who could really use our prayers. Both were born with AIDS and both have lost their parents to the disease. The top photo is Sinoxolo, who lives with her brother and an aunt who cares for them. The bottom photo is a little boy named Thobela who lives with 6 other orphans in a home and is cared for by an older woman named Agnes. These are only two of millions of South Africans who have experienced great pain and loss due to HIV/AIDS:

* This nation of 43 million has more than 5.3 million known AIDS sufferers.

* Statistics indicate that 50% of today's youth under the age of 15 in South Africa will die within the next 10 years.

* The AIDS pandemic in South Africa is producing approximately 150,000 orphaned children per year, for which there is not an adequate infrastructure to provide care. It is projected that there will be 5 million AIDS orphans by 2008.

No longer can I read these statistics without picturing the faces of those that I know and care about that are infected with HIV/AIDS. It is easier, now, for me to see that these 5.3 million AIDS suffers in South Africa are real people with real stories, families, homes, and lives. I don't want to believe that half of the kids in the Friday orphan support group will die within the next ten years if things continue as they are going.

The AIDS pandemic is truly a God-sized problem. Please join me in praying that God would move mightily around the world and bring comfort and healing to those who are sick. I pray that people around the world would feel moved and led to be part of the solution. May compassion translate into action as we work together to help those who are suffering.