Where the Streets Have No Name

See previous posts.

So after having a rock star (which I respect very much) challenge my faith and how I live it out in light of the AIDS crisis, I asked God to give me an opportunity to be a part of what He was doing in helping to minister to this terrible situation. A few phone calls to my church, and the next thing I knew I was going to monthly meetings with several moms and grandmoms, (I was the sole male, one thing I did learn also was that God loves to bring people together to do his will), who all had a deep passioin to show God's love to children suffering form AIDS. As a side note, all of these women quickly became my heroes as they strove to challenge their community and friends to make a difference. Together we strove to "kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight."

A few months later I found myself recruiting doctors and anyone who was interested to go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to visit, serve, and love people dieing from AIDS. God answers prayers, be careful what you pray for, I got my first trip to Africa. I got a trip to one of the worst places on the earth, but also one filled with the most beautiful people and grace and hope and love.

As my rock star "friend" has sung about Addis, being a place where the streets have no names, I can say that this is true. Most of the city (90% slums) has no recognizeable streets and certainly no street names.

Addis is a seething city of impoverished humanity. The sights and smells are overwhelming. Teems of young children in tattered rags begging for money crush you with a sense of helplessness, and worse yet, hopelessness.

We visited people dieing of AIDS, families suffering with this plague. Our doctors took care of them, we listened to their stories and we prayed with them. Through these visits I learned much. I learned the power of presence. That being with someone, showing love through your presence, your presence to a modern day leper, shunned by friends and family, is transformative. God's love compels us to simply visit, listen, and pray and for those who are outcasts, this presence is an incarnation of Christ's powerful love. People in Ethiopia turn to Christ simply because the people of Christ are the ones who visit them, care for them, and love them. This is the power of Christ's presence to the hurting of the world.

I also learned about suffering. On my second trip to Addis we visited a woman who was suffering horribly from TB, she was in a great deal of pain. We prayed for her and tried to comfort her, but in her suffering eyes, I saw Christ, in that I knew the true suffering Jesus had done for me. I say this not to trivialize this woman's pain, but to hold high the scripture of Matthew 25:41-46, where Jesus says he was sick but people did not care for him, and that whatever you do for the least of these, then you do also for Christ.

In any case, I believe that I learned much about my God from the people of Ethiopia suffering from AIDS, and what is more, the project we have worked with (check the link to the right: Ethiopia HIV Project) has seen that people who are loved, cared for, and given spiritual hope see their health improve to the point where many of them begin to minister to others. Grace given is a powerful thing that has the power to transform, physically and spiritually.

So I found in Ethiopia, dirt and despair, but I also found hope, grace, and the power of Christ. The power of love to turn people to God and change lives despite horrible tragedy. Flowers in the mud.

A line about Addis from "Where the Streets Have No Name" goes:
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name

Recently in concert, Bono has changed the lyric to reflect our eternal hope of heaven and redemption:
I'll show you a place
With no sorrow or shame
Where the streets have no name

The hopeless streets of Addis will one day transform into the hopefilled streets of heaven (we won't need street names there).

I have seen this change first hand.