Deep down, I knew that the homosexual lifestyle I was leading was not one intended by God, but it took an HIV diagnosis before I really began to reconsider my actions.

Sexually immoral. Homosexual. Unrepentant sinner.

If you had told me or anyone that knew me back in my childhood that those terms would accurately describe my life for over a decade as an adult, you'd have been dismissed as crazy. Utter nonsense! Not Scott, the quiet, clean-cut, well-mannered, young man. He earned good grades in school, never was in any trouble, and was always respectful. He and his family were active in the church. A good Christian. While other teenagers his age were hanging out in mall parking lots, he spent his free time volunteering for his community rescue squad. A nice, well-rounded, Christian guy.

Fast forward about 13 years. I'll probably never forget the day when I heard my doctor speak the following words: "Scott, I'm afraid your intuition was correct. Your blood test has come back positive. You have HIV." He went on to say, "It appears that you have been 'positive' for quite awhile already. Your T-cell count is already below the point where we need to start you immediately on medications."

Where did things go so horribly wrong for me? How did a "good Christian" brought up in a loving Christian home—a Wisconsin Synod Christian home and church—go so astray? Why me?

The answer is something not too obscure or foreign to any one of us—sin.

Most boys go through childhood and early adolescence feeling more comfortable in the company of other boys. Girls? Well, they're the "enemy." That is, until, one day—for most boys—a light bulb turns on, and girls suddenly switch from being considered "yucky" to "wow . . . great." At least that's what I've been told by society and all the leading childhood development experts. It's the way things in development occur in a "perfect world."

Well, for me, that day never came. Don't get me wrong, I like girls and now women. I have many close female friends. But, for me, that instinctual attraction to people of the opposite sex never took place.

In high school, I remember making it all the way through my senior prom. After the prom, I asked my father, "Dad, why is it that I have no attraction to girls or desire to date them?" The response was, "Well, some people take longer to reach that point in life than others."

It wasn't until I left home for college that I really began to contemplate this situation. I began to read and hear more about homosexuality in my day-to-day life. I even encountered some guys who openly identified themselves as being "gay." As a lifelong Christian, I knew what God said through the Bible about homosexuality. But after a while, I still became drawn to it.