I had never met anyone with the HIV/AIDS virus before visiting a School in Sunyani Ghana. The first thing that I saw on Prince was an incredible smile. The second thing I noticed were the scars on his arms. Prince was born with AIDS. His parents had died from HIV/AIDS and through no fault of his own, he was forced into a life of suffering from the disease.
Through gifts from the Mocha Club, Price was able to receive love and care and schooling.
When I think of the words that I might use to explain Price, I would say, Kind, Strong, Hopeful, Grateful, and Compassionate. I have never met a person afflicted with such a terrible disease, and at the same time I had never met a person with such a beautiful soul and spirit. You could sense the Spirit of God while you were around this young child. Price told me of His love for Jesus and that he didn’t blame God. He looked forward to growing up in Ghana and ending up in heaven.
His trip to heaven came sooner than expected. A year after visiting Prince, I received word that he was dead. His young body had finally succumbed to the terrible HIV/AIDS virus. I remember holding his hand and hugging him and telling him that God loved when I had visited.
I have seen many beautiful things in my travels, but I have never seen anything as beautiful as the life of this young man with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. His response to pain and suffering could be summed up in a single word. Christlike. There are many people who say that there can’t be a loving God because of the great suffering in the world. And yet it was through the suffering of Jesus that an eternity without suffering was made possible.
It is not the absence of suffering that proves there is a God, but rather the response of a beautiful soul to suffering that shows a greater reality than our world. I thank God that HIV/AIDS was not Prince’s destiny, but instead a painless heaven with great reward.
One day Jesus met a man who was also afflicted from birth. He had been born blind.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. – John 9:1-3