I saw the sign posted at a Burger King on a Facebook page and just knew it would end up being the topic of one of our groups. Sure enough it happened twice this week. The actual wording of the sign:

Why eat with a clown when you can dine with a king?

My disclaimer is that I actually still eat at both although my health says I need to stay away.  The message in the topic is that for too many years those of us in an addictive lifestyle need to stay away from the clowns that are dragging us down to become a clown and move toward a relationship with God that allows us to dine with a king.

In that topic I talk about how my younger days led me to think I was not enough, was never gonna be enough and always wanted more. More to achieve, more to make me feel like more.......you can fill in the blanks here of all the dysfunctional things I did to get there. Then I found more actually provides less. This was the root of my addiction which all of us need to find if we are to stay clean, joyous and free.

There was so much more than a blog can contain but I used the Parable of the Prodigal Son as an example of two sons who felt like they did not get enough from their father. Both wanted more though one toughed it out until he had to ventilate. (Look at Luke 15:29).  In the fathers reaction to his wayward son coming home and to his other son's complaint there seemed to be a complete family reconciliation in a representation of how much God loves us despite our past behavior and many flaws.

Truth is only God alone is enough to satisfy our deepest needs that may not always match up with our greatest wants.  As a reminder check out the Rolling Stones song, "You can't always get what you want but if you try, sometimes you get what you need." So, the thought that we need to eat with clowns (or pigs as the prodigal son did) to get what we want (when we realize that more = less), is completely cunning and baffling.

Read Revelations 3:19-20: Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

​That's what I call dining with a King!

In 2023 we applied for  a grant to Waffle House and within a month or so their director of store operations came out to visit us. She took the tour, congratulated us on what we were doing and said after a few months the Board would meet to decide grant awards. I told her that the All Star breakfast was always my favorite.

They awarded us a $20,000 grant and since that time I have done my best to eat as many times at WH that the budget allows. There is one within walking distance of where I live and my grandson and I frequent it at least once a month. When we do I run into a server who I went to church with years ago who remembers how ATB began and she attended our Sunday School class.

Yesterday we went there and to my surprise ran into a couple who had been helped by our ministry at another church about 25 years ago. They came with three of their grandchildren and I thought how great God is in restoring families that deal with addiction. The server was also there being the beautiful person she is.

On our way to leave I heard a voice shout "Glenn" and it was a man in our current ministry who is a cook for WH and been facing the opposite direction while he was cooking. All of this in a Waffle House that maybe had 30 people in it. The irony of it all hit me this morning, understanding that God is always a God of confirmation.

There was a couple from where I started in recovery ministry 35 years ago, a woman form a ministry we started at another church 15 years ago, and a man from ATB now. God had lined up his own All Star breakfast of folks to let me know that he had been with us from then to now and he will always be with us as we stay on the path he has laid out for us to follow. 

And it happened in a very small setting speaking to my heart that what we think makes a small difference is actually a very big thing because almost 20% of the people in that Waffle House were affected by our recovery ministry. (Including me, that's a preachers count).

Just imagine if we could affect 20% of the ATL area? One can only dream, but I am certain the God we serve is a dream maker, and his All Star breakfast is a veritable buffet!