49’er Flap Jacks…

Janet and her friends like to have lunch at the local pancake house. They have been doing that for years and have told me that it is really good and tasty! So, when I needed a place to hold a breakfast meeting, Janet suggested that I try her local spot.

First of all, the place was terrific, the portions large and it was a place that wasn’t too modern but reminded me of a place that we used to go to back when I was a growing up. Of course, there are pancake houses on almost every corner these days and I have been in some that really weren’t worthy of the name, but there was something strangely familiar about the menu at this place.

It was the picture of a German pancake that gave me the first indication that this wasn’t some ordinary pancake place. And when I saw the 49’er Flap Jacks, I was immediately transported back to my youth on the south side of Chicago. 49’er Flap Jacks were my favorite and the only place I could get them growing up was at our local pancake house. I’ll cut to the chase – our local pancake house here in Indiana is part of the same chain that ran the one I grew up going to – The Original Pancake House. I couldn’t believe it. We have lived here for years and I have never had a meal there before last Friday.

My guest loved it! Janet told me it would be good – but not this good! The meal was terrific. For old times sake, I had the 49’ers. Just as I remembered them 60 years ago – awesome. And I haven’t had pancakes like that since the mid-sixties.

Make no mistake – growing up, we didn’t eat there very often. It was a little expensive for Dad and so it was one of those places that we went for dinner – never breakfast – when there was a special occasion. Most of the time we ate at home, but every once in a while we had the treat of heading up Western Avenue to The Original Pancake House. It was always the 49’ers or the German Pancake.

The pancake house on 104th and Western Avenue is still there – in the same place – I just looked it up to make sure. And it is just as I remember it from the photos. When I remember my youth, I can’t help but also remember the church that we attended. That is where I first met Janet, in 1959. Our mothers were pregnant at the same time. Our folks became best friends and we ended up getting married at the same church that we had attended from our earliest recollections – Trinity Methodist Church at the corner of 99th and Winchester.

We have both believed in God from our early youth. We were both baptized there, received our third grade Bibles there, went through confirmation classes there, joined that particular church and, as I said, were married there. My parents had also been married there back in 1948 – a generation before Janet and I. So you can tell, my memories go way back with Janet and our family had a history at Trinity before I was even born.

Our verse tonight reflects the journey that Janet and I have taken together since our youth – from the pancake house, to the church, our faith journey and 48 great years together since we have been married.

Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, tells us, in Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” – before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop…”

Granted, we aren’t at the point that we have major troubles in our lives, but we do remember our faith from the earliest days. And that is important. there is a much greater chance of faith staying strong when people profess a belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior in their early years.

My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to pour our lives into our youth so we can have an impact in their early years. My prayer is that we will all remember to invest in our kids, grandchildren and other young people so they can have the kind of faith lives that so many of us have had the chance to experience. And along the way, if you ever get to An Original Pancake House, try the 49’er Flap Jacks – you won’t be disappointed. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…