I believe in pancakes.
My last couple of years in college, my younger sister joined me at University of Evansville. We started having “Pancake Nights,” which turned into almost every other weekend, depending on schedules and trips home, etc. Some Friday nights, we would invite people over to my apartment and fix pancakes.
Even though I had a lot of friends in high school, I found it more difficult to make strong, lasting friendships in college. I knew a lot of people, and I talked to a lot of people. But I didn’t have the kinds of relationships that I had back home, the kinds of relationships that I had spent the past fifteen-plus years building. My sister, I think, was the opposite. She didn’t have a lot of strong friendships in high school but (with some good older sister advice) had some great friends in college. So I invited my roommates and sister and her friends to start the pancake festivities.
I don’t know if you’ve every thought about this, but pancakes are a very cheap way to buy friends. They don’t cost very much, which is great if you’re in college.
We would all get together and make pancakes. We also started trying new thing: Got some M&Ms? Throw those things in the pancakes. Chocolate chips. Marshmallows. Put them all in the pancakes.
After stuffing ourselves with fluffy goodness, we would sit around and play Just Dance on the Wii or watch a movie or try to top each other with hilarious or ridiculous YouTube videos.
I know, I know. Typical American college students: we were crazy party animals.
Then, pancakes helped me feel like I was part of something great when I needed to feel like I was part of something.
This past Saturday morning, my family and I hosted a Pancake Breakfast & Bake Sale as a fundraiser for my World Race adventure. We hung up flyers and put announcements in church bulletins, and my mom baked a lot. We sold no tickets, and we served pancakes and sausage for donations.
The result is that I am now over $3,000 closer to my $16,000 goal.
This weekend, pancakes made me feel excited that I was going to be part of something great again, but not because I need validation or companionship. But because I know God is going to do great things in the next year and beyond.
I believe in the power of God to come through when He calls you to do something.
And I believe in the power of pancakes.
