No, Mom, of course it wasn't a school night....

     I was already in bed, pajamas on, winding down for the night. My phone told me two things: 1) it was midnight 2) Valerie was calling. Before the word "waffle" was out of her mouth, I was out of bed and putting on shoes. And so begins another late night journey to Amarillo for Waffle House.

     Plainview has an IHOP. It's open all night and is frequented by hungry, nocturnal college students, especially during finals season. But Waffle House is on an entirely different level. The entire experience is much more than nighttime snacking. Five of us pile in a car and take off to satisfy some of human beings' most pressing needs. It is something like escape, freedom, familiarity, independence, hanging your head out the window and turning up the music. And hope. Waffle House nights mean that this isn't all there is. Not Plainview, not college, not this year, not myself. Life isn't about waking up on time and doing what you're supposed to do. There is magic in every moment.

     Chocolate chip waffle with a lot, a lot of chips. The cute old lady taking our orders knows exactly what this means. Holy deliciousness, Batman. You see some strange folk in the night at Waffle House. Next to a truck stop. And the jukebox makes for a sort of musical roulette.

     And then we came home. And how does this even matter? And am I seriously going to relate things to God again? Come on folks, have you been here at all?

     He made us for community. He made us for abundant life. He made us for ADVENTURE! The Christian life was never a safe life. We can be so content going about our business and then going to church and lather, rinse, repeat. We accept IHOP as all there is. Sometimes God does pretty cool things in our lives but that is the exception, not the rule. I don't want that! I don't want a life that tastes like cardboard! I want to follow Christ into the world. I want to jump out of bed when he calls and do whatever it takes to go where he is going. I want to meet the strange folk. That's what he did.

     It's ok to have a home, a routine, a pancake. Put your life in a box if you want, but leave the lid open. Besides, God can't be in a box. Climb out and experience him for real.