I had a conversation with a friend over the last couple of days. I won't go into specifics to protect the people involved, but this friend is in the unfortunate situation of being surrounded by people with problems.

You may have noticed I haven't written about faith and Christianity in a while. And I'm not sure when I will again. Probably not until someone asks a question that consumes my every spare thought for a day or two. That happens more often than you might think--a couple of times a year--but definitely not every day.

I'm a bit disillusioned today. Actually the last few days. I don't deal well with pride and elitism.

Charlie Sebold (on Mormonism): Part of their strategy is to convince you that they are normal Christians and not weird people who revise history to exclude painful moments like Brigham Young's Avenging Angels, racism, polygamy, and so forth. And now (as Tracey said a moment later), they are appropriating Luther's name to set themselves forth as good Protestants. Clever.

I led a workshop at a retreat this weekend. It was awesome. I want to do this again. Several times a year, ideally.

I went to a Bebo Norman concert last night. Bebo Norman is a Christian singer/songwriter. I saw him open for Third Day a few months ago, and as good as Third Day was, Bebo kind of stole the show.

It's September 11, and I'm mad.

I just found out that one of my best friends was in a terrible accident on Wednesday. Traffic stopped on the Interstate for no good reason, like it does all too often. So they stopped. Jon was talking on the phone in the passenger seat when he heard this big screech. A semi plowed into them, sent them hurtling up into the air. They came back down, hit the back of the semi in front of them, and landed on the driver's side. As they were in the air, Jon said, "God, don't let us die." He's got a wife and a seven-month-old daughter. Bill, the driver, isn't a believer. Well, Jon looked over, expecting to see Bill dead. He was conscious. His hand was really messed up, but he was coherent. Bill said, "Jon, get me the h--- out of here." So Jon opened the passenger-side door, pulled Bill out of the seat, picked him up, and pushed him up out the door. By then a couple of people who happened to be paramedics from New Jersey had pulled over and started to help Bill. Jon walked away with just a couple of scrapes and bruises.

"Promise Keepers is here in St. Louis, but not without controversy..."

I don't have much time, so I just want to say one thing in response to the legalistic second message I heard at Promise Keepers last night.