Waffle House Goodness

Waffle House Goodness

Five-year-old Josiah was having dinner with his mom at a Waffle House in Prattville, Alabama, when he spied a man near the door who looked dirty and disheveled. Curious about the man, he began to pepper his mother with questions. Did anyone know him? Why was he standing there alone? Didn’t he have a friend?

Josiah’s mother told her son the man was probably homeless, then tried to explain what homeless meant. He didn’t have a place to live. He was poor and maybe hungry. Josiah took that in . . . then had one more question: would his mother buy dinner for the man without a home?

She agreed. Only, when he sat down at a table, no one waited on him. Undeterred, Josiah brought him a menu. “Because you can’t order without one,” he reasoned. Josiah’s new friend ordered a cheeseburger, and when Josiah’s mom assured the man that he could have whatever he wanted, he asked if he could add bacon to it. (Yes.)

When his food came, the homeless man prepared to eat—but Josiah had one more question. Could they pray? Both bowed their heads, and Josiah prayed. The man who ordered the bacon cheeseburger cried. Josiah cried. His mother and the eleven other customers in the Waffle House cried. Then the homeless man ate dinner and went on his way—and Josiah and his mother went home.

“I just wanted to say the blessing with him,” Josiah said later when asked about his prayer. And he did. But he didn’t just speak the blessing. For a few moments he became the blessing—and served up a little Waffle House goodness for everyone in the room.

An adult might look at a homeless man and see a systemic social problem. But Josiah saw a person. An adult might fear embarrassment or “an incident.” But a child saw no cause for fear. An adult might resist praying in public, but a child wanted to say a blessing over someone’s meal.

Josiah’s act made news—good news. And there can never be enough of that.

In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father.

2 Corinthians 2:15, THE VOICE