Little Favors

Just this morning I was fishing my waffle out of the toaster when it fell apart. Okay, it was more involved than that. The waffle square -our waffle iron at home is a square one, not a round one- was a left over, frozen waffle from last weekend. I had dropped it in the toaster to crisp it up a bit. It the process of fishing it out I managed to separate it into three smaller pieces and to push it further down in the toaster, down below several wires and far nearer the bottom of the unit than the top.

At that point I made an important decision. I decided to eat the three warm waffle squares on my plate and leave the partitioned fourth one for a later clean up. They were tasty -thank you for asking- and so breakfast took place and the final episode of waffle fishing was delayed fifteen minutes for a good cause.

Unplug the toaster. Pull the crumb trays from the bottom of the appliance. Shack vigorously as you turn the unit while held above the kitchen sink. Comment with a moderate amount of amazement on how much junk is flowing out of your toaster. Secure the services of a table knife for the additional steps necessary to dislodge bread crusts wedged within the toaster. Realize God did you a favor.

Now I don’t want to sound like the folks who credit God for every little thing as if the sun were always shining on their side of the street while it rained bucks just two curbs and a patch of pavement away, but I do think God deserves credit where credit is due.

If my waffle hadn’t gone to pieces and I hadn’t been required to empty the toaster of all its foreign matter, could the toaster have caught fire later and done far more damage that gobble up a part of my breakfast? Sure. Most definitely.

If you were to review the events of your life, how many times would God have used your fourth waffle to keep your house a singe and smoke free zone? Thank God for the little mishaps that prevent the big mishaps from ever taking place.

Tim Gramly
South Haven Baptist Church
May 13, 2009