Bryce Crawford talks Waffle House, Bonnie Blue and being the 'worst human'

2. Crawford shares the Waffle House experience that transformed his life

As a teenager, Crawford said one negative experience on Christmas Day nearly led him to take his own life. But before he did that, he wanted to “escape the chaos” and enjoy one last meal, only to discover that every restaurant was closed except for Waffle House. 

Noting that the restaurant was filled with families who were getting seated before him, Crawford shared that he offered to pay for another man’s meal if he sat with him so that he could “eat and leave” without having to wait any longer.

During their meal, the unnamed man shared his problems with Crawford, specifically his impending divorce and his wife’s plan to take their children with her. 

The man’s observation that “there’s no growth in a relationship if the love isn’t mutual” struck a chord with Crawford.

He later told Mandel that although he “grew up in church” and “went to private Christian school,” ultimately, he was driven away from the faith because he got “rubbed the wrong way because of hypocrisy.”

The pastor at the church he was attending at the time had cheated on his wife and stole money from the congregation. That, coupled with his grandfather's death from pancreatic cancer, led him to distance himself from Christianity. 

Although he had “blamed God for killing [his] grandfather,” Crawford said the Waffle House encounter marked a turning point in his life. “It’s as if time stopped,” he said. “All these Bible verses and things that I had learned growing up were kind of like flashing before me like a film reel.” 

“I asked myself, ‘Maybe I don’t realize that God loves me because I haven’t given myself a chance to love Him back,” he insisted. “I started weeping and … I threw my money on the counter, and I ran to my car, and I prayed, ‘Jesus, if you’re real, take away my anxiety and depression.’ And in that moment, He took it away.”