The God who laughs.

See that pink jacket I’m wearing? It’s vital to the story I’m about to tell. Remember it! 🙂

First, an acknowledgement: I wouldn’t be writing today’s post if it weren’t for my mom.

Well, if we want to get reeeal technical, I wouldn’t be writing any posts without my mom…or my dad, for that matter.

But about today: In Wednesday’s guest post comments section we had a lot of chatter about BBQ sauce—’cause, you know, it’s awesome. Especially on chicken. And pulled pork. And fries. (Excuse me while I go raid the fridge.) Among those comments was one from my mom, encouraging me to tell my “sauce story.”

Beause I like to be an obliging daughter, here goes:

Forget my usual oatmeal.
Can I please have this for breakfast?

A few years back, when I was still living up in Northwest Iowa, my sister, brother-in-law and I headed to good ol’ Sioux City…to one of my favorite places. Ever. Famous Dave’s. 

Famous Dave’s is like memory city for me. There’s the time the huge guy in the pig costume sat down beside me. The time a waiter caught me sampling all the BBQ sauces while I waited for my meal. The time I came the closest I ever have to punching a guy. (Don’t worry: I didn’t. ‘Cause I’m a lady. I’m genteel. And I also had no desire to break my knuckles.) The time I spilled my pop. The other time I spilled my pop. The time my sister exclaimed loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear that the cornbread muffin take-home containers were “soooo cuuuute!” 

And the night of the sauce story.

So, the three of us had a pretty lousy day. Honestly, I have no memory of why. I just remember that we were looking to cheer ourselves up. And as any good Iowa girl knows, pork tends to do the trick. 

Now, you need to know this about me: I’m a napkin in my lap kind of girl. So, all throughout this meal, as we’re chatting, laughing, giving the grumps a good heave-ho, I’m wiping my sticky fingers on my napkin, right? Nothing unusual about that.

Then, it gets to the end of the meal. We’re feeling stuffed. We’re feeling good. I reach for the napkin in my lap…

Only to pull up my favorite pink jacket. 

Yes, I’d mistaken my jacket for a linen napkin. 

(No, Famous Dave’s does not have linen napkins.)

Yes, it was covered in BBQ sauce.

Yes, we laughed so hard I hit my forehead on the table.

Favorite Famous Dave’s memory ever.

Okay, okay, so Fridays are supposed to be devo day around here. And I’ve tried to think of ways to twist my sauce story into something spiritual. Find the perfect verse or use my stained jacket as a metaphor for sin.

But maybe I don’t have to. 

Because God likes simple, undiluted laughter, don’t you think? And don’t you think sometimes, perhaps, He takes delight in our delight? Smiles at the silly things we do…maybe even plans or prompts those moments of “I can’t believe I just did that” when He knows we need a pick-me-up?

I think He might. I think even with all the war and famine and disease going on in the world, He has time to laugh with us. 

And for me, today, that’s enough.

What do you think? Does God laugh? If so, when has He laughed with you?

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    Comments 13

    1. I. Love. This. Story. (And I love Famous Dave’s too!)

      And yes, I think we are reflections of God, and because humor is such a big part of us, He must love laughing too. I can just imagine Jesus, hanging with his disciples, lounging and laughing some good hearty laughs. Those are my favorite!

      And I love reading your blog because you make me laugh! (Can’t wait for us to meet in person and be silly together, ha.) Happy Friday, Melissa!

      Reply

    3. You made my day, M-Tagg.
      Made. My. Day.
      Please come move in with me. We have a Famous Dave’s about 10 minutes from my house. No lie.
      Which brings me to a Famous Dave’s story all my own (but really it features my daughter, Christa.)
      So, a friend of mine starting as a waiter at FD. And our family decided to support him in his new job. So, we showed up all ready to eat hearty and tip big.
      He came out, greeted us, took our orders.
      All going great.
      Until … he came out with a huge tray of drinks. I’m at one end of the table. Christa is seated at the other. One minute, normal conversation going on. The next minute, I look up and see the entire tray of drinks tipping over and a flood of soda dousing my daughter.
      Oh. My. Word.
      Laughter abounded.
      At least it was us, ya know? If you’re gonna dump drinks on somebody, dump it on friends-who-are-family.
      Our friend got it all cleaned up — saying something brilliantly witty which escapes me at this moment.
      Yeah — laughter.
      All about that. And I think it is a direct gift from God!

      Reply

    4. Absolutely. To your coming to visit.
      And, yes, Christa was fine. She handled it with grace and laughter. I took her to the bathroom and she put on a spare shirt — Rob was wearing a button down shirt over a T-shirt, so he shared.
      LOL

      Reply

      1. Glad it made your day, Pat. It sure made mine the day it happened. I remember we went to a movie right after that and I waited to put my jacket back on until we were in the dark theater…hehehe…

        Which reminds me of the time I went to a movie with the same people – Amy and Chip – plus another friend…and we accidentally walked into a supply closet – all four of us ramming into each other! – instead of the theater. Ahhh, so many good times. 🙂

        Reply

    6. Yup. Great story…even the second third or fourth time. Read it out loud to Dad and we laughed and laughed again. Thank you for honoring my request! 🙂 Mom

      Reply

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