today i can justifiably speak about HIV and Jesus without too much complaint.....the 1st of december marks two important dates in the village of hope calendar.
firstly we think of Jesus as we celebrate the first day of advent, the time where we prepare ourselves to remember his first coming as a baby born to a virgin in a stable in a poor occupied nation in the middle east.
secondly we think of those infected by the virus, HIV, which can lead to full blown AIDS, we live in a town where the known infection rate is over 30% and with children who already know their status...however many thousands of people are living with this virus without full knowledge of why they are feeling sick. today we will match through our streets to encourage people come to be tested at the various places around our town where they can find out their status and make a start on the road to stabilised health.....
...they say knowledge is powerful, it certainly is with HIV as the treatments now available to many can make a real impact into the health of those infected.
as we look around us, read our newspapers or listen to the news, we may claim that we live in a dying world, a world where our natural resources are being drained at an alarming rate, where violence and lawlessness rule our streets and schools, where governments think that having more nuclear weapons will bring peace....however my belief is that this world is heading towards restoration, the bible says that nature groans with expectation of this event (romans 8) we therefore look forward to Jesus second coming with great excitement, when, as i believe, Jesus will restore the earth to it's perfect created state, when all men will live in harmony with each other, their will be no more death or disease and peace will reign forever.......
today some of us are sick with a virus that we can see in the physical, others of us are sick with a virus that only affects our soul....its important to know your status and from that point you can make a choice, either to take the medication that will stabilise the problem and lead to new life or if you chose not then it may lead to your destruction.
firstly we think of Jesus as we celebrate the first day of advent, the time where we prepare ourselves to remember his first coming as a baby born to a virgin in a stable in a poor occupied nation in the middle east.
secondly we think of those infected by the virus, HIV, which can lead to full blown AIDS, we live in a town where the known infection rate is over 30% and with children who already know their status...however many thousands of people are living with this virus without full knowledge of why they are feeling sick. today we will match through our streets to encourage people come to be tested at the various places around our town where they can find out their status and make a start on the road to stabilised health.....
...they say knowledge is powerful, it certainly is with HIV as the treatments now available to many can make a real impact into the health of those infected.
as we look around us, read our newspapers or listen to the news, we may claim that we live in a dying world, a world where our natural resources are being drained at an alarming rate, where violence and lawlessness rule our streets and schools, where governments think that having more nuclear weapons will bring peace....however my belief is that this world is heading towards restoration, the bible says that nature groans with expectation of this event (romans 8) we therefore look forward to Jesus second coming with great excitement, when, as i believe, Jesus will restore the earth to it's perfect created state, when all men will live in harmony with each other, their will be no more death or disease and peace will reign forever.......
today some of us are sick with a virus that we can see in the physical, others of us are sick with a virus that only affects our soul....its important to know your status and from that point you can make a choice, either to take the medication that will stabilise the problem and lead to new life or if you chose not then it may lead to your destruction.
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