Well the 2nd Annual Isaiah House/Women of Vision Academy Awards Banquet has come to pass and it will be hard to top this. A big part of the evening was the opportunity for the women to view the “premiere screening” of the video we created, “Whispers from the Isaiah House,” that featured eleven of them sharing stories of how they made a difference in someone else’s life. All eleven sat dumbfounded at the value of what they had to contribute that they hadn’t previously discovered, even though it was in their own words. We realized that at least for this showing, we spliced them too close together for all the spontaneous applause that bled into the next interview.

As the evening played out, I was more and more amazed at how privileged I felt to be a part of this.

It should come as no surprise that God has a special place in His heart for the homeless. His own son was homeless. Jesus once said to a man who claimed to want to follow Him wherever He went, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). You sure you want to follow me when I don’t know where I’m going to spend the next night? How interesting that I have always known this but never actually thought of Jesus as homeless. Gosh Jesus, you’ve become a drain on the system. Why don’t you go get a job like everyone else?

When you think of it this way, you can see why those who put any effort into caring for people without homes are putting themselves in direct line with the compassion of God. That’s what has been so great and so obvious about our efforts to give more than just food to the women of Isaiah House. We have been the ones who have been blessed. We have been the ones who have been humbled. We have been the ones who have come to realize that in being around these women, we are not only befriending royalty, we ourselves are being gathered in by the strong arm of God’s love.

Everyone there received an award last night, and everyone was called by name to come receive it. Most of them had something to say that was a genuine, heartfelt response to the staff of Isaiah House and the Women of Vision. The little plastic trophy I handed each of them probably cost two cents to make. The joy and honor with which it was received was priceless. One woman broke down as she received it and had to return to her seat speechless. It occurred to me that she quite possibly had never been appreciated in her entire life. If I ever had even the slightest shred of not taking any of this seriously, it was forever erased in that moment.