I see a couple of the cooks who are always willing to step up when someone needs something. Somebody needs something fixed... "I'll stop by and look at it after work." This doesn't just apply to employees, but to regulars as well. There is a microcosm of the larger community there. There are a core group of regulars, all with nicknames...Preacher (that's me), Cowboy, Santa Claus, and Uncle Eddie (plus the one they just call the Pecan Waffle Lady). They all seem to know were the others live, crossing both ways over the counter--employees and customers.
I think it was this atmosphere that lead me to feel so compelled when one of the cooks had a fire at his house and everything in the house needed to be replaced due to smoke damage. I rallied my church and a couple other churches to DO something and we did...but it wasn't just us. Don't get the impression that they NEEDED the church. They already have that type of community within the walls of the ole Waffle House.
While we were supplying mostly money and gift cards, others (again, customers and employees) were offering rides, paint, furniture, TIME, and other items of need for the cook, his wife, and three teenage daughters. And my God, they are soo appreciative. And these are not "church folk" doing all of this stuff we consider to be "church work." In fact, most of them are right there at the Waffle House while we are in church on Sundays...
What too many of us church folk don't realize is that we don't own the patent on helping others. In fact, they seemed to do it more naturally than the church in most cases.
I watched this morning as they celebrated when one of them won $1000 in a scratch off. I realized as I listened that Uncle Eddie and his wife had cooked a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and brought it to the Waffle House for those having to work. Yup, he brought the servers Thanksgiving meals. Today, he brought Red Velvet Cake (recipe's been in the family for 150 years). The young employees all have his number so they can call for a ride if they find themselves in ANY situation where they feel they shouldn't drive, or they need a ride, or they need someone to bail them out of whatever trouble they might find themselves in. Uncle Eddie's a Vietnam Vet with a big heart and a short temper ("I've got my issues, Preacher!"...Don't we all) but he protects those kids up there like they are his own.
Santa Claus is struggling with his own issues with aging and a wife that took a tumble and had a break. Employees know right where he lives and go visit. They take care of their own. And, too, while they aren't perfect by any means, they genuinely try to share the love with all who enter their doors, whether they know them or not. Today, there was a couple there and well, based on their accents, they "weren't from aroun' chere."
That sat at the bar with me and Uncle Eddie on a crowded morning and soon, they were laughing, and asking questions about the town. Then she began to share.
We came down last weekend, me and my sisters and our families to visit our mom. She got tangled up in her walker the first day we were here...she fell...she broke her hip...she just couldn't muster the strength to survive the surgery...we're taking her body to Florida...keep questioning if we did the right thing...tears, laughter, sadness, hope, fear, feelings of guilt...waffle house sharing...
Soon, the regulars and employees (no preacher needed) were offering comforting words of support and encouragement to these strangers passing through on a tragic journey. They left as if they, too, were regulars--laughing, hollering above the noise--"Thanks everybody. Really, thank you so much! You guys have a great day! We will be back!"
Yup, there's a lot to learn about church from Waffle House. And if we could take those lessons back to church with us--there just might be hope for us yet...
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