"AIDS." The very word strikes fear into people everywhere. How do we deal with this disease that means death is near? Will it strike our families? A bright young man with a future in the U.S. Coast Guard had a night on the town in New York City. Then pneumonia, a blood test, the results - AIDS.

John cries out in anguish, "What have I done to my family? God is punishing me." In anger, he stares at the little red card the hospital issued that screams: "AIDS." "My job, everything is gone. I have no hope. I'm confined to a locked mental ward. Chaplain, my father was a career military man, my mother a good Christian. I was raised in a Christian home; we all went to church. God has brought judgment on me."

Waiting patiently for his anger to diminish so we could communicate, I was aware that here was a man in his early 20s, not prepared to deal with issues of suffering and death. Suddenly, without warning, the door to the future was slammed shut. I could not even tell him the pain would ease, because it only gets worse. But I did have the opportunity to present the "Good News" that Jesus came not to judge the world, but to be its Savior, that forgiveness is available because God's love is constant, His mercies tender. Days of rejection passed, then one day he said, "Chaplain, can we pray?" Peace came in the midst of the storm. John has been released, where hope never ends. If he were your son, wouldn't you want a chaplain to be there in the hour between life and death? Pray for chaplains as they bring the Good News that Jesus came to save the lost, the sick, the hurting. Your loved one could be next.

Reprinted with permission. Herald of Holiness August 1, 1988