Waffle House Culture

If you don’t live in the south, you may not know what the Waffle House is.  If so, then you are missing out on a true staple of southern cuisine.

For someone who has never heard of it, let me assure you that it is not a building made out of breakfast pastries.  It’s not a magical place where elves live and happily create magical waffles while singing and dancing.

It’s a place where humans live.  It’s where we go to have feel good food.  Food like greasy bowls of grits.  Hash browns that are loaded with everything under the sun.  Mediocre cups of coffee and golden brown, buttery waffles.

It’s where we go to step into a different culture.  The Waffle House culture.

The Waffle House culture is unique.  Waffle House people like to stick together.  You’ll often see the same people there every time you visit.  It’s where they congregate.  People who work at the Waffle House will often hang out at the Waffle House, even when they are off duty.  People even get married at the Waffle House.

The Waffle House is not for pretty people.  If you want to see pretty, perfect people, then you might want to drive on by.  The Waffle House culture consists of imperfect people.  Real people.  People that are full of life but have flaws and hang ups.  Waffle House people will accept you for who you are.

I once chatted with a Waffle House cook.  He talked about his family and how he and his son were estranged but he always had a smile on his face.  And when I asked how his day was going, he always answered “Blessed”.

“The food was great”

“Bless you.”

“Where did you learn to cook?”

“I was blessed.”

And when all the food was cooked, he would slide into a booth by himself with his big King James bible and a pack of Marlboro’s.

Thats the Waffle house culture in a nut shell and it mirrors our own culture.

We don’t want to fellowship with perfect people because perfect people are fatally uninteresting.  To be perfect is to be fake.  It’s an impossible achievement.

We surround ourselves with imperfect people like ourselves.  People that struggle.  People that have hurts and deficiencies.  People that we can learn from and rely on.

There was only one perfect person in this world and He didn’t come to be with perfect people.  He came to be with imperfect people.

If he were to visit today, I’m sure you would find Him at the Waffle House, drinking a cup of coffee and munching on a piece of chocolate pie.  Because that is the kind of culture He came to be a part of.

And just like the cook that I met that day, we would all be blessed by His presence.