Five weeks ago at VidSummit, I expected to walk away with better creator tactics—but what actually happened was way deeper. At the opening party I ran into my friend David Altazer (a legit YouTube thumbnail legend), and I finally asked him something I’d always wondered: why he walked away from his successful tech channel (back when he was Dave Maze) to go all-in on thumbnails. David told me about a moment where he was fasting and praying, and he felt God tell him to delete his channel. He obeyed—and then had to figure out how to provide for his family, so he leaned into a skill he’d built over time: thumbnail design. That decision turned into a thriving business, and hearing that story hit me hard. I realized that even though I’ve been a Christian most of my life, I don’t think I would’ve listened if God asked me to do something that costly. Over the next several days I wrestled with what that revealed in me: I’d been living for myself, trying to build my own destiny, and even my “good” motives around entrepreneurship and money were tangled up in selfishness and validation. Since then, I’ve had a new hunger to pray and read the Word, and I feel like God’s been speaking to me in a new way—calling me to prepare for a new season. I’m not ready to share the full story yet, but I can tell you it’s stretching me, humbling me, and drawing me closer to Him every day.