Brand Loyalty

On Ash Wednesday I filed into a sanctuary with a number of my colleagues, and while there we received the sign of the cross on our foreheads. There were guided prayers and quiet, reflective music, and words like: "From dust you were created...and to dust you will return."

Such was the beginning of what we were encouraged to observe as: "A Holy Lent". When we returned to our place of meeting we couldn't help but notice that some of us bore more distinct and darker crosses on our foreheads. Some of us bore faint signs of the cross and others were emblazened with smudges that were more noticeable.

The same words...and the same prayers...and the same simple symbol - a cross. All of us covered by the same sign. Each of us different from the other, but the same because we all needed (need) a Savior.

Maybe that's why I found it ironic when the first news clips of Akio Toyoda, (President/Ceo of Toyota Motors, and grandson of the founder), captured the great inconsistency. There, for all

the world to see - Toyoda completed his initial news conference, vowing that he and his employees would get to the bottom of the problems which were/are perplexing the company, and when he finished ......he climbed into an Audi sedan...and sped away. An Audi sedan??? That's probably going down as one of the great p/r blunders in human history.

And so several days removed, Toyoda appeared in Washington, D.C. this week. This time Akio took full responsibility for the crisis at Toyota. And before he finished, said: "I will ensure that members of the management team actually drive the cars and that they check for themselves where the problem lies as well as its severity...."

At the moment Toyoda is an easy target, but I wonder about my own loyalties. Do I proclaim a faith which I don't actually drive? Am I loyal to the brand, or to myself....and my craven desire for self-preservation?? It's one thing to walk around for a few hours with a smudge-cross on my forehead........Its another matter to die to self. That is to say, die to self-centeredness.

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after (follow) me....then let them (first) deny self (allegiance to self vs allegiance to God) and take up their cross (choice) and follow me." It sounds as simple as submitting your forehead to the art of ashes. But in reality it is a call to die......Jesus didn't wear the cross - he ws nailed to it. How's that for brand loyalty????