My dad said my last letter sucked.

And I think he's right.

In my [last letter] I talked about the struggles I have faced the last 2 years:

Chasing performance, chasing fulfillment in approval, and generally ... chasing "ego hits."

I thought a shared a pretty compelling story with you.

And so did my dad.

But he made a valid point the other night:

"You talk only through your lens – through social media views and stats. The story was good, but unless you explain it better, people won't realize it relates to them."

Alright, fair enough. Here we go:

I have come to realize something bigger is at play.

I swore once in a Facebook post. A nice older friend of my mom asked me why. I thought, "geez, I'm talking about my dead brother. A swear here or there is surely permissible."

And it is.

You are going to fucking die miserable – maybe staring at the panel ceiling while simultaneously being blinded by fluorescent lights in a hospital, at the ripe age of whatever, or maybe in a car accident this evening – if you keep having your life dictated to you by the world.

How many people — Christian and non — say they can’t hear from God?

It is no wonder, man. 

You are distracting yourself in every waking moment.

Everything I’ve done in my life the past 5 years — driving to the Arctic, backpacking the Alps, now getting married — is because of one single moment where I decided noise was not going to dictate my life.

One afternoon, after meeting with an advisor and touring Clemson University, I realized the truth:

The life placed before me, wasn’t for me.

I couldn't have put it into words, and I couldn't have justified my feelings, but looking back it's clear:

It wasn’t a life lived in faith.

It was a life lived in routine.

It wasn’t a life built with the understanding that the Creator of the Universe cared about me.

It was a life built on the thought that no one cared for me.

Maybe God is sending you to college. Maybe God is sending you into investment banking. Maybe God is sending a promotion, a lambo, and a two million dollar home your way.

But maybe He isn’t.

Are you okay with that, or not?

Maybe the desire for something more that you are feeling — around college, family, purpose… whatever it is — is actually about the more that God has for you.

And maybe that more won’t make you rich.

And maybe people will think you are absolutely insane.

Maybe it will make you lose old friends, maybe it will make your parents worry.

But maybe it will force you to live by faith, and not by sight.

And maybe it will lead you closer to God, rather than further from Him.

Honestly, the most impressive thing I see in people I admire is not the car they drive or the boat they might have or the title on LinkedIn.

It's whether they know they're going to die or not.

It's whether they're living for something or they're not.

For me, that was literal.

My dad was supposed to die, he didn't.

My brother had life, and chose to end it.

But if this concept isn't that explicit for you, learn a thing or two from them.

Which path forward, man?

See you Out There,

Bryce C