How a Florida governor hopeful came to Christ at Cracker Barrel
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U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, pictured earlier this year at the annual CPAC DC conference. Photo: Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Amid the MAGA meltdown over Cracker Barrel's (now-reversed) logo change, one post rose to the top like fat in gravy:
- "In college, I worked at Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee. I even gave my life to Christ in their parking lot," Florida Congressman Byron Donalds wrote on X before lambasting the change as a "woke rebrand."
- The post has since amassed 9,600 reposts and 47,000 likes.
Why it matters: Whether it's the latest sign our national discourse has devolved into satire or a righteous notch in the right's anti-woke crusade depends on where you sit.
- But the virality, and the story behind it, sheds light on Donalds' background and faith as he makes a President Trump-backed bid for Florida governor.
State of play: Donalds didn't expect the post to travel so far, he told Axios in a recent interview.
- And while many X users found humor in — or poked fun at — the post's bouillabaisse of American culture, Donalds doesn't see it that way.
- "I don't find humor in it because it's my story," he said. "It's my life."
Flashback: The local Cracker Barrel was hiring, and Donalds was a Florida State University student who needed a job.
- It was a pivotal time for Donalds, whose life "was in shambles," he said. He was coming off two arrests, at 18 for marijuana possession and at 20 for writing a bad check.
- His girlfriend (now wife) Erika prompted him to start going to church.
- At work, he said, he had a couple run-ins with patrons who told him they were praying for him. It was a time "of spiritual discovery for me," he said.
That's how, during a daytime shift in 2001, he came to wait on a church group of 11 women and a pastor who told him they were coming from a revival, he said.
- They ordered. He brought them their food. Then, as he was rolling silverware, he heard the Holy Spirit speak to him: "Stop running from me."
He returned to the table and found that they had left. He heard the Holy Spirit again, telling him to go to them, he said.
- He found them in the parking lot, loading into a van, and told one of the women what he'd heard.
- They gathered around, laid their hands on him and prayed. "And I give my life to Christ right there," Donalds said. "That's the story."
Fast forward, and Donalds has maintained his faith, attending Grow Church in Naples, where he lives, he said.
- And for what it's worth, his go-to Cracker Barrel order is the Momma's Pancake Breakfast with extra syrup. "One syrup just doesn't cut it," he said.
- Finally, something we can all agree on.