Abner, a young professional in Los Angeles, had a Christian roommate who was part of a local church for twenty-somethings. This church sponsored an outreach event called The Edge. The Edge was an event designed for skeptics, and these edgy meetings were not designed to call people to conversion, but only to get them ignited or reignited to pursue the spiritual side of life. Jesus was talked about, but in very non-cliché ways. For instance, one meeting was based on the adult cartoon South Park and was entitled "Jesus vs. the Easter Bunny." It was held during Easter season. Abner's roommate invited him to check it out. Abner wasn't interested in Christianity, but he was a South Park fan! So he came.

Later, Abner recalled his response. He was very upset. He had written off the Christian faith a long time before, but the people he heard that night were not like any Christians he had met. They talked very honestly about struggles and failures. They admitted they didn't have it all together, not just before they "got spiritual"—they still didn't. Doug, the speaker, told of his experiences with marijuana and marijuana look-alikes. He had tried to smoke oregano once, having heard that it gave a similar high experience. In the midst of the laughter, Doug then challenged those present, reminding them that neither oregano nor marijuana ever really delivered on what they seemed to promise. He also challenged people to pursue the spiritual part of life, not through getting high but through opening their hearts to the possibility of God.

Abner was ticked because he was a well-known stoner and drinker. He was rarely completely sober. And he felt like Doug had been reading his mind, or at least his mail. He disagreed with Doug, but Abner couldn't ignore the powerful way Doug's story connected to his own life story. So he asked to get together with Doug. At their meeting, Abner decided he would give God three weeks. And if God didn't show up in three weeks, Abner was done with God. Doug just smiled and nodded.

That night Abner got drunk again. He felt like a real hypocrite: he knew that if he kept getting high and drunk, he would not really be giving God a chance. That night he saw what his life was really like. He saw it going down the drain. So that night he stopped drinking and smoking. That night he felt Jesus' presence, and he knew that in that presence he could stop getting drunk and high. During the next three days, he continued to sense Jesus' presence, and it freaked him out. So this is what it feels like to feel God, he thought.

That weekend, at a party with his friends, he took out his bong (his marijuana water pipe, for you non-stoners out there), and his friends got ready to get high with him. But Abner took the bong, lit it on fire, and burned it to ashes. His friends were shocked. "What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

Abner responded: "I'm getting rid of what I love the most. I'm not going to do this anymore. My life is going down the drain. I have to trust God." His friends were blown away. So was Abner's old way of life. He had committed himself to building his identity around a new center: Jesus. He was going to trust Jesus for his security and sense of well-being and no longer look to alcohol and pot…. Today, just a few years later, he works in ministry with a campus group, reaching out to students struggling just as he was.