Waffle House and the Holy Spirit

On Saturday, on my way home from a prayer retreat, I saw something. It was beautiful. I saw a sign. Of course, it was a sign along the highway. It was a golden sign. It was a Waffle House sign. The last time I saw one of these I was in Mississippi.

I was driving through Kansas (and yes, I did play Dust in the Wind) on my way home from Buffalo Ridge, a hospitality and prayer retreat center for pastors and missionaries and their families. I took some time walking with buffalo and praying.

On my way home, I saw the sign for Waffle House. And so I stopped. Why? Because I felt the urge. I’m doing this ADD experiment: Is it ADD or the Holy Spirit. Is it ADD that gets me all impulsive to do something sometimes weird and out of place or is it the movement of the Holy Spirit moving in my life leading me to do God’s will and advance His Kingdom?

While in my room during the prayer retreat, I saw this banner:Which, if you have ADD, this can be a hard decision. Is it self control to not do what you’re feeling prompted to do or is it God’s Holy Spirit moving you to do something. And so, I’ve created this rule: If it is something that will benefit someone else and advance the Kingdom of God then it is the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Back to Waffle House (I just like “saying” Waffle House). I had already eaten a nice healthy breakfast (bagels and low fat cream cheese) and was just 20 miles into my journey home. But when I saw the sign, I felt the urge (prompting or impulse?) to go to the Waffle House. I came in, sat down at the counter and struck up a conversation with whom we’ll call Waitress #1. She wore a button that said “I speak blarney.” I started talking with her. Then I started talking with Waitress #2 as well. She had an ear infection. I know a little something about that. We talked some more. We talked about Waffle House. We talked about coffee. We talked about a bunch of stuff under the sun.

Then some older ladies from north central Iowa came in and sat down. Some how I started up a conversation with them and Waitress #2. I told some groaner jokes and we laughed. Soon the eventual question came up. What did I do for a living? Me: I’m a pastor. And then I apologized for one of my groaner jokes that embarrassed me a little bit.

And for some reason, they kept talking with me as if I never mentioned what I did for a living. In fact, I stayed there for an hour or so just chatting, about 40 minutes after I stopped eating.

Now, here’s the question: Holy Spirit or ADD? Who benefited from this? I know I felt good about it after leaving. I felt calm and happy. It was something I needed I think. But I don’t know about them. Did they need someone like me showing up to make their day better or did I annoy them and they were just nice and polite to me?

Was this prompting of the Holy Spirit or just me and ADD?