Unbranded

At one point in my life I considered marketing as a career path. My initial attraction to the field stemmed from promises of creatively reinventing outdated concepts and so forth. Branding was what I really wanted to do, and I still seem to have a knack for it at times. But the more I researched and considered the prospect, the more I came to personally associate the word branding with deception. RED ALERT! God was whispering to me...Erin (although there are some Christians in this world strong enough to compete in the realm of marketing without denying me), YOU are not one of them. Okay, so maybe God didn't directly tell me, but He did give me the good sense to know myself well enough. This instinct is right. If I were to pursue a career in Marketing at this point in my life, Satan would snatch me right up. Afterall, he is the great deceiver.

The following contains a selection of information I gathered on the topic at hand:

A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity.

Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies".
The psychological aspect of branding, sometimes referred to as the image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.

Careful brand management, supported by a cleverly crafted advertising campaign, can be highly successful in convincing consumers to pay remarkably high prices for products which are inherently extremely cheap to make. This concept, known as creating value, essentially consists of manipulating the projected image of the product so that that the consumer sees the product as being worth the amount that the advertiser wants him/her to see, rather than a more logical valuation that comprises an aggregate of the cost of raw materials, plus the cost of manufacture, plus the cost of distribution. Modern value-creation branding-and-advertising campaigns are highly successful at inducing consumers to pay, for example, 50 dollars for a T-shirt that cost a mere 50 cents to make, or 5 dollars for a box of breakfast cereal that contains a few cents' worth of wheat.

The brand name is often used interchangeably within "brand", although it is more correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of any product. In this context a "brand name" constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through trademark registration. Advertising spokespersons have also become part of some brands, for example: Mr. Whipple of Charmin toilet tissue and Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's.

The act of associating a product or service with a brand has become part of pop culture. Most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to designer jeans. A brandnomer is a brand name that has colloquially become a generic term for a product or service, such as Band-Aid or Kleenex, which are often used to describe any kind of adhesive bandage or any kind of facial tissue respectively.

GENESIS 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the
LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not
eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Pray w/o Ceasing

I work to promote the Student Impact Fund on campus by contacting Alumni via phone. It's part of my duty as a caller to ask prospects for prayer requests. I don't take this lightly. Recently, with the state of the economy, many have requested prayer concerning recent unemployment and other reasons for fiscal struggle. Other requests, which I find to be equally depressing and even more so shocking, is news of marital strife/divorce. On the other hand, I am excited to hear of new birth to a family, recent job acquisition, or graduation from a masters/doctoral program.

My job is rewarding because I have the chance to empathize and connect with previous students/parents of students. I also have a responsibility as a Christian to be honest when I say that I will lift them up in prayer. But to what extent must I pray? How do I pray? These are questions I have always pondered. The answer the Bible and the church offers is pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17). While I find this type of prayer essential, it's never enough for me to rely on small send-ups to God throughout the day. Though I struggle as a student, with an ever-changing schedule, to make a habit of setting aside time each day to truly be alone with God. Usually, I just settle for being alone with myself (afterall, I tend to be introverted).

The reality is, God is waiting me to call on Him. When I neglect Him, I am making a choice that harms our relationship. If God were a human who relied on others, He would be deeply scarred by my rejection. He'd give up after a few days/months/years of our ignorance. Instead, God amazes us with His willingness to forgive/ His grace/ His understanding.

The Bible tells us to pray on all occasions, making our requests known to God (Ephesians 6:18). It tells us never to worry about anything, and to thank God for what He has already provided (Philippians 4:6). Jesus made it a priority to pray. "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16), or He sent the crowds away and “went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23). We also read that Jesus rose "very early in the morning" and "went off to a solitary place where He prayed" (Mark 1:35).

At home, I didn't have to search for solitude. I found it in my backyard(Middlecreek). Here in Grantham, though a quiet suburb, I am often easily distracted during prayer. My most meaningful times of prayer, however, have occurred on the trails along the Breaches. I am anxious for Spring when I can go for walks with God.