one of my favs

One of my favorite places in town is the Waffle House... that is, when I'm in the mood for a very cool breakfast served with attitude.

Since 1955, the WAFFLE HOUSE system has served over:

• 495,264,367 Waffles



• 957,041,599 Cups of Coffee



• 1,173,838,328 Hashbrown Orders



• 370,545,935 Sausage Patties



• 786,449,152 Bacon Strips



• 14,899,594 Slices of Ham



• 1,527,602,959.24 Eggs



• 22,217,455 Slices of Pie



• 123,587,123 T-bone Steaks



• 115,220,427 Hamburger Quarters



• 479,312,699 Glasses of Coke



• 1,108,574,633 Order of Grits



• 72,567,509 Cheese n’ Eggs



• 204,164,660 Omelets

One of the big reasons I enjoy the Waffle House is because of where it is located. You'd might think it's because it's located near my house, but it isn't. In all disclosure, I'd probably be in griddle trouble if it was anywhere near my home. I swear, they must put something illegally addictive in their stuff.

Actually, the reason I enjoy the Waffle House is because it's located near the main highways a number of people in our church either live or travel to and from their jobs. When you throw into the mix that the Waffle House is open 24 hours, it means that I can meet with anyone who has to get up early for work. Since the people I serve all keep different hours, this makes for a fun meeting spot.

Location, location, location.... this is why I like the Waffle House (although you can't beat a place with a jukebox that has songs about grits and hashbrowns).

I've been thinking a lot about this lately because accessibility is one of those necessary evils in our culture. While we would need a level of privacy, we recognize the benefit of having people get in touch with us through healthy channels. This is why if you carry a cell phone and regularly use it there is a part of you that feels naked when you suddenly don't have it with you. Or how if you're used to having access to a person all the time and suddenly they move away you wonder if your friendship will ever be the same again. And so on.

This is why anything we can do build bridges in our relationships and culture is so important. There's the power of making the first phone call to someone you haven't spoken with in a while... or being willing to take ownership of your end of the argument whether or not the other person will... or seeing someone in need and showing up into their world with assistance before they have to ask.

I'm still trying to sort this all out so I can regularly practice it, but I'm thankful for the example Jesus made on our behalf.

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.(2 Corinthians 5:15-21, NLT)

So yeah... believe it or not, that's why I like the Waffle House. Through it I get to know the stories behind the faces I see all the time, and then I bring home a pecan waffle for my bride to enjoy.

Because when we build bridges... the Bride gets blessed.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)