Says Haseltine, “I went to a funeral, and I sat there; and it was an amazing event because person after person got up and described this person that had died, and you could tell they really knew him. And at that moment, I had this kind of crisis. ‘Who knows me? Who would get up at my funeral and say those things for me?’ I don’t know, and I couldn’t find anyone. And I went to the people who were close to me … and my perspective is kind of skewed because I have a sense that people know me less than they actually do. My own family, a lot of times, I’ll be surprised what they know about me. But, for the most part, I have the sense that I’ve lived a very protected life; and I recognize that there’s folly in that and some emptiness in that. So especially that lyric was just one way to say, ‘I don’t know which is better – not having anybody show up at my funeral or having a lot of people that don’t know me at all.’”

Mason chimes in to punctuate the point, “All set within the backdrop of a really poppy guitar song!”

There is a sense within the Jars of Clay camp that this kind of unabridged personal and spiritual revelation is very naturally striking a nerve on a large and growing scale. Evidenced by the groundswell of maverick authors and speakers such as Donald Miller ("Blue Like Jazz") or Rob Bell ("Velvet Elvis"), unhinged and unsettled faith is gaining prominence within a generation that exposes its own shortcomings to diminish their power.

Miller, in fact, toured on a series of dates with Jars last year and says with regard to the band’s process, “As they were writing many of these songs, we talked through what they encompassed. Dan said that he wasn’t afraid to bring the full weight of who he was – and that’s what he and they have done.” As to the band’s vulnerability in the context of their roles as spokesmen, Miller adds, “The Scriptures say, ‘Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, and you will be healed.’ Modern Christian culture says, ‘Hide your sins, and you will be a role model.’ If you don’t admit your humanity, then you have no place speaking into each others’ lives.”

“In Africa,” explains Haseltine, reflecting on the band’s visits to the continent, “People embody their experiences, their emotions. When there’s a funeral, there’s wailing, and it isn’t a bunch of people standing around trying to be strong for everybody else. When they’re thankful or happy, they’re not taking anything away from that experience because they’re dancing or they’re singing, and there’s real joy. In America, there are structures in place that keep us from actually experiencing the fullness of those emotions in life. You find in Africa they don’t have much of a suicide rate – it’s extremely low. Compare that to the U.S., where we have these structures in place to keep us at a certain level of emotional status. And what are we doing with our emotions? We’re killing ourselves. It’s stuff like that that’s definitely informed this record.”