“Akhbar” was part of the Mumbai underworld, involved in coercion and extortion—often at gunpoint. Money came easily to him, and he spent it freely on drugs and women.

One night, alone in his apartment, he overdosed on morphine. Falling on a mattress, he knocked over a lighted candle. As the fire blazed around him, he feared he would die and began to pray. A Christian woman from a neighboring apartment rescued him and took him by taxi to the hospital, where he completely recovered. Still he had no time for God and continued in his criminal ways.

It took illness to get his attention. He was diagnosed with HIV and was admitted to the Shalom Clinical Care Centre, a project of one of our major partners here in the big city in which I live. He appeared to be dying, but the staff treated him with exceptional love and care, and they shared Christ with him. He recovered enough to enter a drug rehabilitation program (a partner of Shalom) where he came to faith in Christ. He got off drugs and regained his strength. Now he longs to use whatever life he has left to reach out to drug addicts and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Akhbar has befriended an AIDS orphan from another partner program. To see him cradle this young boy in his arms is a lesson in the way compassion flows from God’s heart through SIM partners to AIDS sufferers and beyond. Please pray for Akhbar, as he faces challenges and struggles in his personal walk of discipleship.

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Project # IN 98551