Bun, Box or Bubble

I really like the Taco Bell campaign they launched last year. "Think Outside the Bun" was a clever reminder that you don't have to grab a burger every time you do the fast food thing. Instead of a bun - grab a taco shell!
Of course it's an obvious play off the old "think outside the box" saying that has been done to death, but it works. By the way, can't someone come up with a new thing to say to challenge people to push themselves beyond their usual, stale paradigm and think creatively? The box has been done to death. It needs to get out of it's own box!
In Christian-ese we refer to our own kind of box - but we call it 'the bubble'. When you spend 85% or more of your free time doing church activities, hanging out with other Christians, reading Christian publications (including the Bible) and listening to Christian music you are in the Christian bubble. Like the boy in the bubble back in the 80's you can see the world outside the bubble through a transparent film surrounding you and although you have a pseudo-relationship with the rest of the world, you are really removed from up close interaction that would allow you to become infected by it.
Unlike the boy in the bubble we become quite content inside because ...well good grief there are lots of wonderful things we love in the bubble....like our family, friends, good books and music, and even safe places to shop and work out. Who wouldn't love the bubble? It's easy to believe that we have no need to get outside the bubble because, after all, we might catch something horrible outside the bubble, right?
The problem is...God so loved the world, not just the bubble. And while we can stay in the bubble and avoid infection, we cannot infect others with His love if we're inside the bubble....and there are so many who desperately need His love. It's nearly impossible to love those outside the bubble from inside it. How can we love from such a distance? Any connections we might make with those on the outside tend to be superficial and distant because we've been in the bubble so long...and we've forgotten what it's even like to live out there.
I'm living outside the bubble now. It's a little bit scary because I've been in the bubble for so very long. At first I wasn't sure if I would learn to like it out here. But it's really not bad at all. I've not been infected by those on the outside and after 1 year I can say with certainty that I have been privileged to carry His brand of loving "infection" to many others through up close friendships. I've developed some new skills for life outside the bubble and I've had to learn to rely on Him more than ever - but maybe that's the best reason of all for living outside the bubble.