You Are Waffle House

If you haven’t heard this before, you’ll probably be shocked at it as I was. According to FEMA, the top four corporations for disaster response are Walmart, The Home Depot, Lowe's, and, if you read the title, you’re ahead of me, Waffle House. Really? Waffle House in that rather expected group? Waffle House has an extensive disaster management plan. Ahead of hurricane’s and other natural disasters they ship portable generators and food and ice. This helps them be ahead of the effects of a storm on the power grid and the supply chains. They also prepare 'jump teams' of recovery staff and supplies, brought in from outside disaster-affected areas, so local staff can focus on their own homes and families. 

This is so extensive that FEMA coined a phrase, The Waffle House Index. They judge the severity of a storm event on the state of the local Waffle House. Either open with power, open with a limited menu, open without power, or closed denotes the storm’s effect from less severe to a disaster.

It got me to thinking about how churches react to a disaster. For centuries, it is not Waffle House or Lowe’s or even Walmart that is the first to react, it has been God’s People. We developed the relief agencies, the hospitals, the shelters. And today, you can’t really judge a disaster by the churches reaction. The fact is there is not a disaster to which the church does not respond. From personal, like a family going through tragedy to national like Ethiopia going through a famine. The church shows up. Our building convert quickly from houses of worship where God’s love is preached to facilities to dispense goods where God’s love is practiced! 

So, welcome to being a very upscale version of Waffle House. Don’t quit. Keep doing good! Keep showing up! Keep dispensing the best! Just wish I could get an order of hash browns, smothered, covered, and peppered!