Last week I caught the stomach flu and when it hit me, it hit hard and fast and left me in a world of hurt. For the first few days I felt sorry for myself as my body had to endure the suffering of not being able to keep anything down, not being able to sleep, and on top of that, having a fever of over 100 degrees. Though in the midst of this pain my mind was humbly taken away from focusing solely on myself, and my thoughts went to one of my best friends, Jeff, who is living with AIDS. He has been infected for many years and his body is wearing down from the constant battle of infection, the chills and not having any immune system to fight off what my body was currently using all of its strength to deal with. Here I am thinking “poor me” and there is my best friend who, if he caught the same flu virus, would most surely die. This reminded me of all of the times that we were supposed to get together during the long winter months, but he could not leave his house for the fear of catching a simple cold – something we daily take for granted. Each sickness or infection he gets, regardless of its severity, can potentially be lethal. Emergency room visits and a continual series of tubes injecting strong medication into his body are the only answers to try to escape the unwanted grasp of death’s arms. Even so, through all of this medical attention he still might not have an opportunity to keep his life. It was this same friend that originally made contact with me through the following email:

Dear Andrew,
I received an email from … encouraging me to view your website. I also participated in the research study.  Interestingly enough the battle seems to rage on. Little is done to deal with the issues in the Gay/Lesbian community. As the interview on your site stated, it is the one issue that is just best left unsaid. Had someone had the courage to tell me that promiscuity of any type is wrong, that it is OK to not marry or being gay is not the end of the world then I might have been spared a great deal of trauma and pain in my life. My past is not pretty but I don’t know that many that are. For me, it isn't about making it, but is about survival and truly knowing peace. God knows the redemption cycle is probably much longer than the norm thereby delaying gratification or reward for your labor. It is painful to think that people find it easy to shun us - some of us actually do have good hearts that can be worth salvaging. Today I battle AIDS and still find the same situation. No synagogue or church wants to really do anything. And forget about finding any type of faith based support groups for HIV/AIDS. There are all kinds of medals given out for going to Africa to help with AIDS and for dealing with “respectable” illnesses but the stigma attached to AIDS is as prevalent today as ever. How sad. This IS the reason I don’t go to services – I can’t find a temple or church that is really eager to allow me to be honest with what I face on a daily basis. It has always been as though I was supposed to already be “fixed” just because I showed up at services. Anyway I have reached a point of hopelessness because there really is no one with a true heart to help ...

Friends, the work of The Marin Foundation is to make a significant impact for the Kingdom of God to give life and hope to those who are not able to see it for themselves. Invest in the Kingdom and donate to our unique work; practical and incarnational work that no other organization wants to involves themselves in!

In 2007, we had 187 people in the GLBT community receive the Father through our Track #1 Classes; and 299 Christians completed our Track #2 Classes learning how to build bridges with the GLBT community. The Marin Foundation also saw its first expansion site open in Grand Rapids, MI – headed by Greg Gough. And I have had the opportunity to speak live around the country in churches and national conferences to over 10,000 people who have now heard the first hand techniques to our distinctive approach; as well as appearing as a reoccurring guest on national radio shows, and in national publications that reach millions of people throughout the United States. Please help us as we continue our national work to build a needed bridge between the GLBT and religious communities. We can only do this through your generosity!

Thank you very much for all of your love and support this past year, as we look forward for many more to come!

God Bless,

Andrew Marin