So easy to get comfortable in the bubble.. I've wrestled with it my whole life... Trying to find the balance between resistance and expansion.. Two completely different outcomes depending on which side you apply your weight.. Lean too hard on the former and it can lead to resentment and compromise.. Lean too hard on the latter and you'll start dwelling in conformity and irrelevance.. It can be a complicated balancing act.. A thin wire to walk across; straight and narrow and open to the elements.. It's a line that is different for every-one.. Yet it's one I think we all need to balance for ourselves...

For the most part, especially on tour, we are camped in the bubble.. Poking at it as much as we can.. Stretching it with all our energy.. But today we had a day off in palm desert.. Got given passes for 'coachella'... Tired as we were.. It's fair to say we were all pretty keen to get out of the bubble.. And so we did.. And it was an amazing experience... I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a more diverse assortment of people in all the earth.. Doing everything imaginable to escape reality and have a good time... I was like a kid at the circus.. Just soaking up the creativity; the atmosphere; the whole experience.. There's an undeniable emptiness to the frivolity.. But my eyes were re-opened; my heart re-ignited by the beautiful mess that is humanity.. People being people.. There was a strange authenticity to the facade.. I know that makes no sense.. And I'm perhaps the only person who understands what I mean by that... But there's something to be learned from everyone.. And for me; the other side of the bubble proved a day of learning... That perhaps the idea is that there should be no bubble.. That the bubble is something that we created - not God.. That we've surrounded ourselves to protect ourselves.. To comfort ourselves.. To separate ourselves and ultimately feel better about ourselves.. When all the while, If we just stopped focusing so much on ourselves, we might actually be awakened to the idea of 'others'... it's still a balancing act.. And I reckon if your gonna walk that line you've gotta be pretty established in at least one rule.. 

matt 16:24_ if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me....
 
If we learn how to deny ourselves.. then we don't need the bubble.. But ‘denying ourselves’ is a journey; an every day. Every moment decision.. But in understanding it there is MASSIVE freedom.. Endless opportunity..

I’m pretty sure Jesus had this bit sorted.. and I’m pretty sure if He was on earth now you wouldn't find Him in a bubble...
Love...
+jth

Fleet foxes.. And a floating apple-man....

Sunset in the desert..

Earlier in the day.. We got lost on golf-carts in search of a starbucks.. It was pretty awesome..

A beautiful mess..

+jth