You have to know my wife to fully appreciate this, but she is an event coordinator before she is anything else. She loves a party and will throw one at the drop of a hat. So earlier this week, she managed to turn a monthly dinner she helps coordinate at a local women’s homeless shelter into an “unbirthday” party that would have made the Mad Hatter proud. Acting on the assumption that these women most likely had not celebrated their own birthday in some time, she set out to change that.
Tables were decorated in a playing card theme, birthday cakes were donated, a gift was provided for each one, and even “Alice” made an appearance to sing a song.
I was dubious as to how all this would be received, but I found out that was my own cynical nature kicking in. They had nothing of the kind in mind. They were thrilled, and participated fully, singing happy birthday to themselves and treasuring their gifts – many putting it back in the box it came in so they could unwrap it all over again. Yes, I saw even the hardest among them soften, and one of those was me.
The end result of all this was a rather bizarre mixture of sadness and joy. The sadness I spoke of yesterday was still there. These are dignified women made in God’s image, and they should not be in this situation. And yet, for a moment, that sadness was covered up by the joy of celebration and the fact that they were given, even if only for a moment, the dignity that life had stolen from them. Marti gave us a chance to kick at the sadness, and we did.
John Fischer The Catch 
John and Marti,
I so much love your devotionals and this one today i just had to say – thank you! 🙂 It truely touched my heart. God Bless you and wishing you a day filled with lots of love, joy and laughter! Ann
This is super fantastic!
A big thank you to Marti for taking the time to adding some joy in the lives of others.
Thank you John as you contune to minister to a world wide communtiy.
We do serve an awesome God!
God Bless!
Your wife reminds me of Deborah Hall. If you and Marti have not read “Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, you simply MUST! It’s the real and on-going story of two unlikely men, their friendship and the way, Ron’s wife, Deborah, pulled them together in ministry to the homeless. Ron is an international art dealer and Denver was a homeless, former sharecropper from LA with lots of rough edges. It could only be a God-thing that happened in their lives. Their shared ministry has spread thruout Texas and is an on-going tribute to our incredible God. Thanks for your faithfulness in ministry. I am making a small contribution to your ministry today as I only work part-time and have limited resources. God bless you!
Thank you! And you are not the first to recommend this book. We’ll have to get it!
John
“Heard a singer on the radio, late last night… Said he’s gonna kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight”.
– Bono (talking about Bruce Cockburn)
Would it be okay to say that’s where I got it?
John,
I have been getting and reading the Catch since you started it after leaving Purposed Driven Life (I got the text messages from you then). I have never posted a comment on any of your Catches but found myself wanting to do that today. This Catch is very timely. I am in a Men’s Bible study on Friday mornings and we are currently reading and studing the book The Measure of a Man. It covers the 20 characteristics that Paul described to Titus as being necessary for a Christian man to be a leader in the church. Today’s chapter was on being Hospitable. What Marti did was very clearly demonstrating this trait. Thank you Marti for reminding us all that what’s important in life is how we treat others and not because we are expecting a reward for having done something special. But just because we have love in our heart and know it is the rght thing to do. God bless you both for all that you do for the Catch online church. It is a significant part of my life and I am convinced that it helped me accept Christ 2 years ago at the age of 61.
Beautiful comment. I had no idea you were such a new Christian. We are honored to be a part of your journey.
J & M
Kairos Prison Ministry used to do a Birthday Party in its three day retreat in prisons. My husband who works the Kairos weekends (outside team member) remembers how the Birthday Party touched these men in prison. For some it was the first Birthday Party they ever had! It shows these tough men that God really does love his children and wants them to come home and be celebrated.
To see about this ministry go to:
http://www.kairosprisonministry.org/templates/System/default.asp?id=23761
Good for you Marti– You go girl!!!!!