I was asked to write an advent for my church e-letter.  I’ll try my roughdraft out on you.

Read: Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:8-20

One of my favorite Christmas carols is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” which is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  You can watch a powerful rendition by Casting Crowns.

A year after his wife died tragically in a fire in 1861, Longfellow wrote: “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace.”   Then just three short years later in 1864, he got word that his oldest son was severely wounded in the Civil War.  That following Christmas Day, Wordsworth penned the poem “Christmas Bells” which was later set to music.

The poem & song speak of hearing church bells on Christmas Day repeat the carol of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to men”.  But then we read / sing the poignant words from Wadsworth’s heart in the second stanza: “‘In despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth’ I said.  ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song of Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men.’ ”

Perhaps as you read this, like Wadsworth, the holidays are inexpressibly sad.  Maybe not inexpressibly but they are bittersweet for me as its the first Christmas without my mom.  And whether you have experienced tragic loss like Wadsworth or not, I’m sure if we are honest that we all can relate to the assessment of ‘there is no peace on earth’.  Hate is strong in our world and mocks the song sung by the angels that first Christmas morning.  Where is this good will among the human race?  We are hard pressed to find a place one earth where conflict and unrest does not reign.  No one on earth is immune to it.  War creates pain, death, loss, and separation.  It leaves behind widows, orphans and ravages our earth.  But not just on the evening news do we see unrest.  It’s in our neighborhoods, our workplace, under our roofs and even among the fellowship of believers.  We are not at peace.  Where is this promised peace on earth?  I thought He was to be the Prince of Peace.

The carol doesn’t end that there.  “The bells ring more loud and deep, ‘God is not dead nor does He sleep.  The wrong shall fail and the right prevail’ ”.  His kingdom will come.  One day soon the world will revolve from night to day.  One day soon oppression, injustice, pain, anger, unrest, bitterness and arguing will cease.  One day the weapons of warfare will be refashioned into implements that bring a harvest to the nations.  But even right now He wants this kingdom of peace to come to our hearts and homes, to our churches, to our communities and our world.  The kingdom that He brings is a kingdom of peace.  He gives us peace, not as the world falsely offers. Our hope is in Messiah Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  It is a peace that surpasses understanding.   He calls us to follow Him in the work for bringing the peace of His Kingdom and, as far as its possible, to be at peace with everyone on earth.

“I pray (this Christmas Season) that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”  – Romans 15:13

The Lafayette Cub Scout Troop 76 wanted to do something to serve a family in need for Christmas.  (Luke is in scouts and is a wolf.) Laurie Harris – whose husband Kirk leads Luke’s den- asked me to help.  She had tried to get help from her church to no avail.  Since the scouts meet at Ryan Elementary school and most of the boys like Luke attend Ryan, I thought this might be a good opportunity to serve the school.

See, a month or so ago, a few of us representing several local churches met with the Boulder Valley School Superintendent, Dr. Chris King.  Chris has a high regard for the churches in Boulder.  Over the years churches have provided thousands of volunteers to help improve facilities through weekends called ‘Sharefest’.   In the past few years, Sharefest has evolved to more than just school projects but also smaller projects where we have helped local non-profits or single moms and widows in need.

In talking with Chris, he really wanted to see our partnership with the schools continue.  Considering we saved the school board a lot of money in manpower during tight budgets, who could blame him.  Together, we  came up with a “One Church / One School” plan. The idea is a local church would adopt an underachieving school for facility upkeep needs but could also partner in other ways too like mentoring at-risk kids, appreciating the teachers or whatever was needed.  Each church and school would work together to find the best fit of needs and assets.  Our motivation as a united church would simply be to fill the Great Commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Chris identified the schools with the greatest need and one of those was Ryan Elementary.  As a parent, you may not want to think your child attends an underachieving school but we saw this as an opportunity.  Not only does Luke and several other kids from our church attends Ryan but also six of the Burmese refugee kids our church helps relocate and transition to community.  Robin specifically serves as a liaison between the school and their families, so we already had the relationships and trust with the administration.

So back to the scouts… I thought this would be a good way to begin working with Ryan at a deeper level.  So I emailed the principal and ESL Teacher (who I knew and) Miriam Wright, the Family Advocate for all of the elementary schools in Lafayette, who I had yet to meet.  (By the way, Miriam is awesome and an angel!) The principal got her assistant involved and I met with them.  Together we came up with a plan to help 30 families who have kids at Ryan that are in need this Christmas.

A local business donated toys. The Cub Scouts donated food for 5 families – one per den.  Our church provided food for the remaining 25 boxes.  Each box had enough food for a family of five along with a gift card.  This past week, with help from others, I packed them all in nicely decorated boxes, loaded them into our van and delivered them to Ryan Elementary.  On Saturday morning the 18th, families came to the school to pick up the gifts and boxes of food.  These families, who had nothing, now have something for Christmas.

Robin & my prayer is that this is only the beginning of us loving our neighbor – Ryan Elementary and families in Lafayette.   Our prayer is that God will raise up others to help mentoring kids and serve the school & community with the love of Christ in tangible ways.

A year and half ago, a small group of us formed a network of churches in Boulder County (BoCo for short) with a desire to partner together in Mexico.  In the beginning, we represented 4 churches but we decided to call ourselves a ‘Boulder County’ network welcoming anyone else who wanted to join us.  We now have 10 churches collaborating together.

Last fall as we met, we discussed what was the ‘big ah’ of our group - where was there a unique opportunity and what did we all have a heart for.  It was clear to us that the opportunity was to partner with Rosi Orozco and her efforts to help end human trafficking in her country.  The only problem was Rosi – who several of us had met earlier that fall – had not asked us for our help and we knew we needed more expertise on human trafficking.  On the human trafficking end, we were all passionate about this issue because of one man – Brad Riley – so we decided we needed to invite Brad into our next gathering.  Brad Riley, who had been a pastor in Boulder, is the director of iEmpathize which  uses arts, film and photography to tell of both this terrible injustice and the hope found through ministries on the ground.

I also contacted Rosi, a Mexican congresswoman, and turns out she had just been won approval for a Human Trafficking Task Force that she had been lobbying for and was appointed its head.  There was going to be an initial event in February of this year and she invited us to join her.  So Brad came to our January meeting and even though we were just looking for his guidance, he jumped on board.  Brad joined us on the February trip, met Rosi and got a picture of the work being done there.

After that trip, we decided that the first BoCoMexico initiative was to send Brad and his team back to Mexico to create a Mexican iEmpathize experience which would be a tool to raise awareness (both in US and Mexico) and raise funds for Camino a Casa, the safe home Rosi started.  We all pitched in and raised the funds to launch the project believing that it was an investment that could help raise exponential resources.

Fast forward to October…   a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of joining Brad and 4 others in our network on trip to Mexico City.  We premiered the short film that iEmpathize had produced at a gathering hosted by the Anti-trafficking task force.  We spent time with Rosi and German & Lorena Villar who lead Camino a Casa further building our partnership. And we visited the girls at the safe home which is a highlight to be with these precious kids have been set free and given new lives because of some amazing followers of Christ.

Last Friday evening, we held a gathering at an art museum in  Boulder with 50 church leaders and their spouses. We each invited key people from our churches as well as friends from other churches who ahd not yet joined us.  We wanted to give these people a sneak peak at what we are doing and a chance to all be aligned to what we have agreed to do next.  We previewed the iEmpathize film and shared where the LORD was leading our effort.  As one church united together, we are trusting the Lord for a new safe home, vans to transport the girls and for the final production costs for the iEmpathize experience that will continue to tell the story in hopes of rescuing more kids.

There is a lot of cool things for me – one I get to be a part of seeing churches unite.  Also we get to build deep friendships in the process.  But the coolest thing is that we can make a difference.  Not just network for network sake.  But come together and make a difference in giving new lives to those held in bondage and hopefully prevent other girls and boys from experiencing this same horrific fate.

Sekepe is a micro-lending and business skills training ministry that I launched with a friend and supporter in the summer of 2009.  We wanted to be a catalyst to ministries helping women break the cycles of poverty.

In September of ’09, I was in Mexico City and meant Rosi Orozco, a Mexican congresswoman, who through her civil association had started a foundation / safe home that rescued and restored girls from human trafficking.  Rosi and I sat next to each other over dinner and we talked about the need for some business training and experience to help prepare the girls for a new life once they leave the safe home.   The next day, I met with some leaders at Casa Sobre la Roca who were helping launch entreperneur projects but it never seemed to work to work on a loan.  Then last Spring, I felt lead to open the discussion again.  So when I was down last May, I met with German Villar, who directs the Camino a Casa foundation and we agreed to move forward.  And over the summer, we worked out the budget and got the loan approved by the Sekepe board.

Previously, Camino a Casa had a small bakery project where girls made baked goods and sold them on Sunday morning at church.  German’s desire with Sekepe’s help is to take this to another level and make it a legitatamate business.  We also talked about it being something the girls could get paid for more than just raise funds for the foundation since the last thing we wanted to do was re-exploit them.

So this month, I took $2500 down to Mexico and German and I signed official papers for a loan for “Milk and Honey” – the new name of the bakery and catering business.  They already had an oven and other equipment but our small loan will enable them to pay for culinary classes for the girls, baking materials and a marketing strategy.  German is lining up shops to sell their baked goods and will advertise catering options for parties.  Milk and Honey will be run by 20+ girl who are survivors of human trafficking who are experiencing the promised land…. and Sekepe gets to play a small part.

Jesus and his disciples had gone to Tyre on the coast of Lebanon.  It was another  retreat.  A nice beach community this time.  He entered a home hoping no one would know (Mark 7:24-30 & Matthew15:21-28). But word got out.  A Greek woman living in Syria found out the healer was in town.  She was in crisis.  Her daughter was held captive by an evil spirit and tormented.

She came.  She plead.  She begged.  She cried.  Jesus seemed to ignore her.  Strange.  Not what I expect.  Does he look the other way?  Does he shut his ears to her cries? The disciples urged Jesus to send her away. Her begging is driving us mad.  Get rid of her.  Make her stop. Let’s face it, when someone is begging like crazy, its a little uncomfortable.   It’s not proper.  It seems out of order or uncouth.  Even when I respond to beggars, I respond out of frustration, not compassion.  Just stop bothering me!

Jesus finally seemed to wake up.  He told her that she wasn’t in his target audience.  Sorry.  Move along now. Next. But instead of leaving, she worships.  (Though I am not sure when I think of worship I think of begging & pleading all the more.) “Lord, help me!”  Desperation.

“It isn’t right to take bread out my children’s hands and toss it to the dogs.”   “Charity begins at home. I have to feed my children first.  You are foreigner.  You are of a different race, a different religion. You are probably poor and dirty too.” I can hear the disciples’ say: “Thank you, Jesus!”

But she doesn’t go.  Is she crazy?  But where else would she go?  What would she do?  ”Yes, but even the dogs are allowed to eat the leftovers.”   “I just want your leftovers, your miraculous crumbs, a small portion of your great mercy and power.  I have no hope if you don’t respond.  It’s hopeless without you.  Please. It’s my daughter whom I love.  She needs rescuing.” Jesus responds.  He praises her faith.  Immediately the girl is set free.  Rescued.  Restored.

I am heading out this afternoon for a 4 day trip to Mexico City.  Along with five others from the Boulder area, I will attend a joint US-Mexico Human Trafficking event and then visit those we are collabrating with in ending this tragedy.  Our desire is to come alongside them in this effort, to encourage them and to help bring about his mercy and justice.  At the congressional event, we will help tell the story using media.  My microleanding minsitry, Sekepe, is helping partner in a bakery where rescued girls will work and learn cooking/business skills.  So I am also bringing down our intial loan for this project.

And most of all, we also will spend time with ‘Syrophoenician women’ who plead for kids who are being tormented day and night by evil.  They cry for kids who are like daughters to them even if they are unknown.  They need his mircaculous crumbs of mercy as evil has a stronghold in the form of a heavily armed cartel.

Perhaps some may say its a distraction.  Not really what should be about.  Why leave your family for a week? Take care of your own.  Maybe they think the time, money and effort come be spent on a ‘higher calling’.

Maybe some only see this issue strategically. How it opens doors for proclamation. But Jesus didn’t deliver her daughter from evil so that he could be known throughout Tyre or even Syria or Greece.   In fact, he left this town and went up the coast to Sidon right after this.  Jesus acts because he cares.  He is moved by her faith that is shown through persistant desperate prayer.   It’s not a tactic to him.  It’s a person in need.

Lord let your crumbs fall… let the crumbs of your mercy, power and justice fall to those on the outside.  Those trapped by evil.  They who need rescuing.  Children.  Little boys and girls.  Precious to you.  Lord, let me be shameless in pleading for your mercy and justice.  May I  be about setting captives free.  May we be about seeing your Kingdom come, your will be done here on this planet as it is in heaven.

One Jesus’ most famous miracles happens at one of his lowest times.  Jesus has gotten word that his cousin / forerunner has been beheaded so he withdraws to be alone.  To a remote place.  A desolate place.  A place to rest.  (Mark’s account has this happening both after this news and the disciples coming off a mission trip.  So it was a case of the 12 needing a time to rest & recover and the need for our Savior to have a quiet place to rest & recover.)

Maybe the greatest miracle is not that Jesus fed 5000 men - not counting women & children - with a small boy’s picnic lunch.  But maybe its that he welcomed 5000+ when he really wanted to be alone.   When you are grieving as Jesus was, you are not looking to deal with a crowd of people demanding your time.  You want quiet… a retreat… solitude.    You are in a funk and need to just emote.

But Jesus has compassion on these shepherdless people.  He took time to stop and teach them and heal their sicknesses.  It wasn’t a convenient time.  Surely they would have understood if He had said, “Guys look I just lost someone I care about.  Can you give me a little space?  How about coming back next week? ”   He feeds them….  miraculously….  and feeds his disciples who had not eaten either.   He cares. He meets needs.  He minsters.

When they had left, when they disciples were in a boat on the lake, then Jesus went up into the hills to be alone.  Then he took care of himself.

There are a lot of people hurting.  Multitudes in need.  Many hungry.  Many sick.  Many in need of understanding.  Many in need of a miracle.  Many like sheep without a shepherd.  Jesus cares.  Jesus ministers even when its not convenient.  Jesus responds to crowds differently.  Jesus is moved with compassion.  (And if you read on in John’s account these people really didn’t care about him even though He cared about them.  They just saw Jesus was a free meal ticket like a big Genie or something. Hmmm sounds too familiar.)

Tomorrow and the rest of the week, I will be among crowds.  I will be in airports and in one of the largest cities in the world.  May I see individuals and not crowds.  May I be moved by compassion.  May I take time to minister and not be caught up in myself.

Oppression.  Not a happy topic.  I’d rather forget it or look away.

Oppression is when someone in power cruelly burdens another.  It can be physical or mental.  It is slavery.  It is an abusive spouse.  It’s adult who takes advantage of a child.  It’s a totalitarianism.  It is psychological torture.  It’s not paying an employee fair wages.  It’s racial injustice.  It is seeing people as less than human.  It’s the horrific act of trafficking of women and children.  It is real.  It is wrong.  It exists not in the past but today.  Everywhere we look…   in our neighborhoods and (living in a global community) in our world.

Jesus said that he was sent to release the oppressed. But its not just that He came to set the oppressed free, its that He was oppressed and He came to set the oppressed free.   Jesus entered the depth of the most vile inhuman act.  He embraced the pain to take away the curse.

Free. Released.  What would it feel to be a slave set free?  To be freed from torture?  From physiological, emotional or physical abuse?  Somehow I think of that scene in Band of Brothers when they came upon the concentration camp.

But its more than just being set free… its being restored.  Fully restored.  A new life.  A new hope.  A new identity.  Dignity.  Value.  That is what Jesus came to do.  He makes all things new.

He didn’t come to make he happy..  or rich… or satisfied.  He came to set me free.  He sends me out to set be a part of His Kingdom of setting others free.  Not sure some happy little conversation but a whole salvation.  Helping people be made whole –  in their body, in their soul, in their relationships with other humans, in their ability to know a God who loves them.

Oppression.  Not a happy topic.  I’d rather forget it or look away.  But I can’t.  He demands that I be about things He is about. If I say I follow Him, I must love the things He loves.  And how much more would I understand Christ and His love if I set my heart on setting people free?

Yesterday, we had our gathering of leaders from churches in Boulder County partnering together with iEmpathize to serve those helping to end human trafficking in Mexico.  It’s been a while since we met with summer and all.  It’s always good to each together with these folks who I have come to become friends with and I’m excited about what we are trustign the LORD to do together.  Quite frankly, I am always humbled by the time.

I wanted to start us off by sharing a passage about justice.  I felt we needed to just pause and remember why we do what we do.  You know there is easy to get our motives twisted because there are a lot of payoffs for a church in Boulder to be involved – its fun to do it with other churches, it makes Christianity look cool & hip, this issue touches people’s hearts and pocketbooks if you know what I mean, it provides opportunities for people to get involved...  But the real reason we should want to be involved is because its the right thing to do.  It is loving our neighbor in need.  it is a God-thing because He loves justice and mercy.  And there are little kids all over the world who are being abused and need to be rescued & restored.

I hadn’t  decided to which verse to pick on God’s heart for justice.  Just that morning thought of a few and decided that the last two verses of Psalm 10 might be appropriate.  As I got ready to read it,  felt I should just read the whole Psalm for context.  You know its like reading one line of a poem and not getting the full meaning of the author.  I hadn’t read the whole chapter in a while and was amazed at how appropriate it fit the context.

I encourage you to read it with me and think of a little girl – imagine a sweet innocent face – being tricked by a predator perhaps by a promise of a better life.  A little girl – maybe orphaned, certainly vulnerable – being taken captive.  Maybe she’s in mexico.  Maybe she’s in Thailand.  She could be Russian, Chinese or even a little American girl in your own town.  Now she is being used an instrument of vile, gain counted not even as a life by her traffickers.  Her little body being abused over and over again.  She is tramped, helpless.  Innocence is shattered.   Imagine her calling out in despiration for help.  Maybe she doesn’t even know there is a powerful God who hears, who cares – the one who is a helper of the fatherless.  As we read it, let’s join in the call for God to arise and make things right… to see His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Psalm 10

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.  He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. In his pride the wicked does not seek him;  in all his thoughts there is no room for God.  His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him;  he sneers at all his enemies.  He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.”  His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;  trouble and evil are under his tongue.

He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.  His victims are crushed, they collapse;  they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.”

Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself,  ”He won’t call me to account”?  But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;  you consider it to take it in hand.  The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.

The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

In Matthew 25, Jesus gives that famous theology-rockin’ passage of separating the sheep and the goats based on how they responded to the least of these my brothers & sisters.  It’s in the feeding the hunger, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, providing shelter to the homeless, ministering to the sick and visiting the prisoner that we meet Jesus and in turn receive the reward of entering into his Kingdom.  Parenthetically when we don’t do these things, we are cast out of his presence.  Paired with other passages found in James and I John will rock your theology!  …Hopefully.

This past week in the South African township of Nellamapius working with Beam Africa Network, our team has encountered Jesus.   Because kids are in school  (its winter here) our mornings are filled with going into the community and visiting people in their homes.   People either live in 1 bedroom cement block homes and tin shacks called Makukus.  The Makukus are often have no electricity or running water and are 1-room homes in that everything – kitchen, sitting area, bedroom are all one room smaller than most bedrooms in America.

The people are always at home because unemployment may be as high as 80% in the townships.  One family I visited had several generations living in the homes and surrounding makukus all trying to survive on just the granny’s pension.  It barely covers the rent, electricity and water bills.  We have come across sick because they can’t afford the clinic (or it has no medicine).  And since they can’t afford the clinic, the are still sick or injured.  And since they are injured or sick, they can’t work.  And since they can’t work, they can’t afford the clinic.  Do you sense the despair?

But the worst….  the most grievous, the most painful, the most unjust situation I have seen I first saw on Thursday.  A widow and her two children were living on the outskirts of Nellmapius on a farm.   Her husband had been a worker for this white farmer.   He died after being gored by a bull.  They live (if I can call it living) in a depapillated farm house with a partial roof.  There is no electricity.  There is no water.  There is no toilet.  They have to walk several kilometers to a river to bath or go to the toilet.  or they go in yard as it reeked of fowl odors.  The widow can’t work because she has arthritis.  She can’t get assistance for medicine.  The officials give her once look over and deem her not sick enough for aid.  She has nothing.  She has no kitchen.  She has no food.

But the worst is this cruel farmer.  His farm is surrounded by similar shacks.   He does not pay his workers.  He cares more for his cows than these people.  It is inhumane.  He is ruthless.  He is oppressing them.  He would force this woman off his land but she has no where to go and who would live in this ‘building’ anyway.

I had so much rage when I saw this condition.  This women is the six-fold least of these.  She has them all.  I had just led our team that morning to look at Jeremiah 22 where God condemns a king who did the same thing.  He compares this cruel king to his father Josiah who did what was right and just, who cares for the poor and the widows.  God himself says: “Is this not what it means to know me!”   But he pronounced judgment on the cruel king that he will die with no one mourning his death and his very body will be drugged outside the city like a dead ass.

Yesterday, we delivered a food parcel to this family.  It is still very small.  They will die unless this condition changes.  The red-tape of government and the racist hate of the landlord stand against her.  Beam Africa will continue to stand on her behalf.  To help her with relief and fight with her until change happens.  I don’t know what it will take perhaps the equivalent of 60 minutes needs to expose this to the nation and shame others into action.

I have resolved that I will not leave this when I return in a few days.  I can’t leave this from my mind.   I will cry out to the Righteous Father on her behalf.  I will be like the persistent widow in Luke 18.  I will not stop until this prisoner has been set free.

HIV/AIDs.  It’s not a happy subject.  But it affects millions.  Thirty-five million people are living with HIV/AIDs and countless more are affected by it.

Of those 35 million, 23 million live in Sub-Sahara Africa.  Only one (Haiti) of the top 20 countries in the world with HIV/AIDs is not Africa.  Nine of the top ten are from Zambia southward – 1. Swaziland; 2. Botswana; 3. Lesotho; 4. Zimbabwe; 5. South Africa; 6. Namibia; 7. Zambia; 8. Malawi; 9. Central African Republic; 10. Mozambique.   South Africa while 5th in % of people living with HIV/AIDs, is #1 in terms of vast numbers of people people living with HIV/AIDs.

It affects everything.   AIDS & poverty have a symbiotic relationship.  The poor have AIDs are more likely to not be able to afford the anti-viral medicine or proper medical care and AIDs creates poverty, orphans and despair.  Fifteen million children are orphaned in Africa because of AIDs.  It leads to a life of hopelessness.  Why live for the future when the future may never come?

This trip, we will dive headfirst  into this issue.  We will go where those who suffer live.  We will interact with kids who live on their own or whos’ only parent lies at mom sick and dying.  We will serve alongside those who care for those dying of AIDs.  Not sure what we will do.  Maybe it will be preparing & delivering a meal.  maybe it will be helping administer medicine.  Maybe it will be holding a hand comforting them and praying with them.

My prayer is that we will serve and extend love as Jesus.  And I know the promise that we will be doing it to Jesus too. (Matt 25:36-40)

There was a book I read last year called – No Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair and Hope in the AIDS Pandemic.  The book frustrated me and yet gave hope.  Yet it put a name and a story to the numbers.  That’s what I want to happen too.  I want to know names and faces who are suffering and yet whom God loves who need to experience his care and hope.