With all of my heart, thank you for your kind words in birthday greetings. Because we are growing closer together day after day, let me bring you further into our family by helping you understand what is behind John’s desire for you to wish me well.

It is called his conscience.

I’m recalling a significant not-too-distant birthday (and no I am not going to tell you which one), when, inspired by my Advent-like calendar countdown to my birthday, John and my children had been primed for the approaching special day at least 90 days out. Yet as the day came and progressed like any other, no one even wished me Happy Birthday. I guessed my family was preparing to conduct a surprise party. Not even Chandler, who is always forthcoming and incapable of keeping a secret, gave me a clue. I suspected that the remaining family members decided not to tell Chandler about the secret until, at the very last minute, he would be free to shout, “Surprise!”

My imagination went into high gear. What were they up to? I found myself looking for where they might be hiding gifts – from underneath the couch to the top shelve in the closet. In the mirror I practiced a wide-eyed, jaw-dropping expression with both hands to my face. What grand plans could possibly befit this kind of secrecy? But as the day wore on, my feigned surprise slowly turned into surmise. The unforgivable had indeed happened: They had forgotten my birthday.

This is when silence is so telling – that raw moment that leaves everyone with nothing to say and you add to the wordless moment a wide-eyed expression of, “How could you?”

I broke the silence with a smile. I do love surprises but not as much as I love surprising those that least expect good cheer. It is what began my odyssey with women in crisis, and it is what will continue for as long as there are forgotten women with no one to help celebrate their birthdays.

It started with a quiet announcement between one woman without a home to another that today was her birthday, and the other woman responded sarcastically, “What do you want me to do… bake you a cake?” Without stepping into their conversation, I couldn’t hear all that she said except a lingering line, fading, “I’ve never had a birthday party.”

“Maybe not,” the Lord put in my mind, “but today, right now – you will be celebrated.”

It is not a difficult thing to step into a nearby grocery store, and while the baker is inscribing “Happy Birthday” on a previously prepared cake, dash to the paper isle and choose either the Mickey Mouse theme plates or Cinderella, and don’t forget the plastic forks to match the paper plates, of course, and candles (and matches) – lots of candles to brighten sadness.

Then bolt back to the twosome and stand back to experience the Surprise Birthday Party of your lifetime. She will be flabbergasted. Her mouth will fall open because this interaction is truly without expectation. Ask her to sit down as would be done for a real princess and invite everyone nearby to sing, “Happy Birthday;” and don’t forget to tell her as she blows out the candles not to tell anyone about her wish, because it is a request between the Lord and her and no one else.

One of two things will happen: She will either happily share the cake with her “neighbors” or she will look to you as if to ask, “Can I the take the cake and celebrate alone?” If she stays – offer thanks to the Lord before cutting the cake, keep your eyes open and trust Him. If she leans toward taking her leave, usher her away from the gathered group. Because poverty is never really understood until we touch it, put your hand on her shoulder and wish her a very Happy Birthday. She will recognize the Lord through your eyes. Further words are not necessary.

This is an example of the church of the Catch – a family that likes to extend itself in celebration of life – a church that throws birthday parties for the homeless and others in need worldwide, one person at a time.

The Catch is the church of Jesus. He loved to throw parties for prostitutes and all kinds of left-out people.  He touched the lepers of society, ate with them, and he loved them.  And while the solemnly pious people could never relate to his surprise parties, those lonely people who usually didn’t get invited to parties took to him with excitement.

Thank you, warmhearted people, for responding to John’s wish that you remember my birthday. It really is very important to me. And thank you for giving the gift of life by allowing the invisible Jesus to become visible to the vulnerable and poor. God is among the poor and so are we. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.