[Following is Marti’s account of the Isaiah House Academy Awards night. Warning: Do not attempt to read or understand this with your left brain. In fact, if you can shut down your left brain entirely, you will enjoy the ride so much more! Many thanks to all of you who sent costumes and funds. We couldn’t have done it without you!]

Like tidying up drawers, I like to tidy up other’s minds, sometimes after they are asleep or while they are day-dreaming. Like a mother with her sleeping children, I like to rummage in their minds and put things straight for the next morning, lingering humorously over some contents, wondering where on earth one had picked this thing up and hurriedly stowing that out of sight.  It is a rather confusing process, however, because nothing stands still. I always make discoveries sweet and not so sweet, and things I do not understand, and of these quite the most perplexing is when Jesus appears in one’s mind, folding up evil passions without saying a word and placing them at the bottom of the mind while on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out the prettier thoughts, ready upon awaking to put on.

Occasionally, I find that no adjustments are necessary. Jesus is there — just the right size both in mind and in body — even though not known. Yet, there He is with His name standing out in bolder letters more than any of the other words with the dreamer not knowing why she knew His name, she just knows it.

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I am quite certain Jesus comes in by the window.

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Tonight was the Isaiah House Academy Awards with each nominee spontaneously accepting her prize by proclaiming the Jesus she knew through the influence of and challenges met by her fellow women without homes.

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We volunteers evoked Oscar® Night with the iconic symbols including the red carpet, the searchlights, the envelope and Oscar himself – all center stage for the Isaiah House guests in support of the many second beginnings they were taking advantage of, and because they deserved to be congratulated for remaining in the game in spite of it all.

The intent of the evening was to truly honor the Isaiah House guest, and at the same time, provide an evening of laughter and delight. Of course the Isaiah House celebrities were formally announced as each stepped onto the red carpet. Spotlights were glowing as our celebrities took center stage in star-worthy attire supplied by many of you. The garb comprised of fun accessories including glamorous hats, glitzy feather boas, gaudy rhinestone jewelry and make believe furs.

The rest of us were the paparazzi, held back from the red carpet by red velvet ropes, and we, like the paparazzi, were taught by our celebrities that it is not a matter of seeing different things but rather seeing the same things differently.

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As with the paparazzi, we volunteers found ourselves peeping through the gaps between the velvet ropes as if eavesdropping on an intimate moment between very special celebrities, as one by one, each guest shared from her extraordinary and often passionate stories, thanking the other women in the room for being a part of her real adventure, which was said to have just begun.

Ah, if it could have been for us to experience the courage that each of these women spoke to as they stepped forward — not onto some faux red carpet, but onto a blanket of fear — real life- threatening terror, yet dissipating the fear, but never knowing for sure, until the step.

“Our lives require Big Solutions,” said one woman during her acceptance speech. “We cannot allow the problems to get worse.”

I understood her to say that the cycles of returning were over, as if proclaiming that the Penthouse with its view of the world, was hers. The world was hers, because she was choosing to give it her all with finesse, and most importantly because her fellow celebrities were challenging her to want it more than any other person on this earth.

I was quite certain before, but now I know beyond any questions, that Jesus comes in through the window — any window that is left open.

And on this we draw a veil over the evening, for it is not for us to encroach any further upon such privacy except to ask, “Is my window open?”