This morning I got out of bed before the sun was even up. Before there was a sign of light in the sky. What got me out of bed this early you ask? CRACKER BARREL BABY! I ain't playing (in my most country/redneck voice). I love me some Cracker Barrel. I love their coffee, their biscuits, their cornbread, their veggies, their meatloaf sandwich (yes I said meatloaf sandwich-get over it), everything basically on the menu. But it has not always been that way. I have only been a huge fan of Cracker Barrel for about two years now.


When I was a teenager, even after Paige and I got married, I had some bad experiences at Cracker Barrel. Bad food, bad service, bad attitudes, it just was not good at all. I actually refused to eat there for a long time. A couple of years ago, a friend wanted to catch breakfast and wanted to go there. I, because I am a people pleaser, caved in and went. Guess what happened? Yep, you guessed it! Food was good, service was good, it was a great experience. I started believing in Cracker Barrel again. I realized my bad experiences were isolated incidents and I was judging all Cracker Barrels by the couple I had eaten at. That was just plain stupid. I now eat there often, so often for breakfast, I do not even need a menu and the waitress knows what I want before I sit down.

This whole blog sounds pointless, I know. But there is a reason behind my randomness, stick with me. This is how we do church and God. We have a bad experience somewhere. People are stupid and we put too much faith in them and they let us down, they hurt us. Then we start playing the blame game. We blame God, we blame the church as a whole and we walk away from it all. When in all actuality it was just a couple of isolated incidents.

But I was hurt! Really? So you have never been hurt before? You have always gotten everything your way in life? If so, slide over, I am coming to sit with you and want to see life from your view.

Life is hard sometimes, people make mistakes. People will let you down. Sorry. On behalf of the Church as a whole if you have ever been hurt, let me apologize to you. I am sorry people are people. I am sorry you caught them on a bad day, bad week, bad month, or in a bad season. But that is not a reason to give up on the rest of us. That surely is not a reason to give up on God.

If you have been hurt by church, religion, or anything to do with ministry, take a chance again. Step out and try a new experience. I would love to hear from you and talk to you. I do not have all the answers and I will not pretend to, I just love you and want what God wants for you.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

One Responses to "Cracker Barrel Church"