Yellow and Black

Wherever we go, we can possess a sense of calling and purpose, knowing that the Lord walks with us and empowers us by His Spirit. 1st John 4 states:
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

At Christmas time, we think about the name, Emmanuel, which means "God With Us."  When we consider His abiding presence and our ability to know and follow Him, we can have a sense of anticipation of what He will do.  We can depend on Him in order to act properly, and to speak in a manner that influences people to come to Him.  We belong to Jesus, and we can reflect His presence with us each day.

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We can be encouraged by the thought of Jesus being with us - we have been born again and we now have the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts. So, where we go, He goes. Jesus said in John 14:
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

I came across a Twitter thread recently that painted a wonderful picture of an American landmark.  The writer said this; maybe it sounds familiar:

Two eggs, over medium; bacon, hash browns covered, smothered, and covered; one waffle with butter and maple syrup; and a cup of black coffee. That has been my standing order for decades and there’s been no need to get any more ambitious than that.

The symphony of yellow and black that has greeted diners for years has also been a place where special meetings occurred, according to this writer, whose handle is Canon Theologian of the Bible Belt:

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you’ve come from, you are welcome here. Straight-laced or strung out, drunk or sober or in that fuzzy place in between. In blue jeans, a business suit, or pajamas. No one is turned away.

Waffle House may not be a church, but I know several people who have met God there. And many of our churches could stand to learn a few things about open arms, hot meals, and second chances from this wild, wayside diner.

In response to this thread, Terry Mattingly of On Religion posted a link to his own story from five years ago.  In that piece, he told the story of a minister in North Alabama.  Mattingly stated:

The Rev. Gary Liederbach is a Waffle House regular in Madison, Ala., where he leads the One Direction Community, a circle of house churches, community meals and kid's groups targeting people who may not feel comfortable in regular churches. He's an ordained United Methodist minister, but doesn't wear that on his sleeve when using the Waffle House as his unofficial office.

Once, an incident took place involving a man who had temporarily left the restaurant to go outside and smoke.  When he returned, he lit into the pastor with a series of profanities.  That outburst was met by a counter-profane rant by two waitresses.  Mattingly points out that:

Waffle House is a great place to listen to blue-collar people, said Liederbach. He recommends the bar, which means sitting elbow-to-elbow. That's where "you're gonna get pushed to talk about real stuff," he said. Folks in booths usually want to be left alone.

Still, he said, lots of people are listening and paying attention.

"You have to just hang out at first, without saying much. … After a year or so, you're real. You're part of the crowd," he said. "But you hear everything at the Waffle House. That's where the stories are. … You hear people asking, 'What's going on? What's your story?' You see who tips the waitress an extra $10 if they know her family is struggling."

Even the man who verbally attacked the pastor later asked for prayer for prostate cancer; seems he was suffering from what appears to be PTSD, and after returning from Vietnam, "he stopped going to church, sure that God could never forgive him," according to the article.  Apparently, not long after that previous encounter, the man's son was killed.  As Mattingly puts it:

The family has no pastor and cannot afford a funeral. Would Liederbach come to the house and say a few words over the body of his dead son?

Lots of Waffle House regulars have "real religious questions and real needs. But they're terrified of being judged," said Liederbach. "Their lives are often pretty unstable. They lose jobs a lot and their families get pretty messed up. … It took me a long time to realize that the Waffle House is their church."

Church doesn't always have a steeple, maybe not even its own building.  Sometimes church can happen in a most unlikely place.  Maybe that's not unlikely at all.  Because where there are needs, there is Jesus.  We know that wherever we are, Jesus, because He lives in our hearts, is there as well.

Certainly Waffle House is not just for the down and out, but we can certainly be sensitive to who walks among us.  We cannot be insulated from human pain, and we can open ourselves up to allow God to speak and love through us.  And, He just might put us in the right place in order to be a conduit of hope for those who do not possess it.