“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” – Psalm 139:14

As a doctor and pastor, issues of life and health have been my focus for more than 30 years. My fascination with medicine was prompted by the sudden death of my mother when I was 10. This tragic event caused me to appreciate the precious, fragile nature of life.

I became involved in the AIDS epidemic in America from the beginning. As a pediatric hematologist, I cared for children with hemophilia who were treated with blood pooled from thousands of donors. Little did we know in the early ‘80s that many of these supposedly life-giving products would be tainted with the AIDS virus. I recall the days when we did not know what this illness was. Later, we were able to develop tests to make a diagnosis, yet we had no means of treating the disease. Many of the children we cared for became sick, and many died.

I developed a wealth of knowledge and was considered an expert in pediatric HIV diagnosis and care. Yet even these experiences did not prepare me for what I came face-to-face with in southern Africa.

On a World Vision trip to Zambia, I saw the reality of AIDS. This jolted my memory back to the early days of the pandemic in America when we, too, had little knowledge or means to deal with the disease. My heart ached as I saw this disease made worse by widespread poverty, hunger, and lack of clean water.

I was asked to examine a young boy who was emaciated and too weak to walk. I realised he was suffering the last stages of AIDS and would soon die. His name was Enoch, and he was seven years old. He appeared much younger due to chronic malnutrition. Our church team was overwhelmed and asked what we could do to make his remaining days more comfortable. We were told we could provide food and other basic necessities. Enoch told us his greatest wish was to own a pair of shoes, which we gladly provided. It was humbling to be able to give some measure of comfort for this precious little boy.

This experience reminded me again how precious and fragile life is and how important every human being is in the sight of God. As Christians, we must face the fact that God expects us to make a difference in the lives of others. Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. Each of us is made in the image of God and a meaningful part of his plan.

Too often we are paralysed, overwhelmed with the immensity of the problems we see in our world. But I believe as we partner with others of like-faith, we will see the power of God unleashed to turn around the dire conditions that too many face today.

This is something I have personally witnessed. Our Zambia experience so affected me and my wife and those from our church that we endeavoured to spread the word and helped to acquire sponsors for thousands of children. As a pediatrician I have marvelled at the steady improvement of so many who were thought to have missed critical periods of growth and development, but because of caring sponsors their lives and health have stabilised.

As we disembarked from a bus on my last trip to Africa, my wife grabbed my arm and screamed with joy. There, running along the road, was Enoch, full of life and health. The little boy had in fact survived and was now 12 years old. We cried as he shared with us how his life was changed.

This is a testimony to the awesome love and power of God, demonstrated through the faith-commitment of his children. We believe the Church is called in this day of challenge to partner with World Vision and others to ensure the precious God-given gifts of life and health are appreciated and secured.