Albert Einstein is world-renowned for his Theory of Relativity, which was a monumental scientific discovery in the 20th century. Here we will dissect this theory and prove that I have no idea what I’m talking about. Speed, light and time are all very fascinating but did you know the genesis of Einstein’s discovery was from a dream that featured some cows getting shocked by an electric fence?

We will not be delving into the depths of Einstein’s theories as I have roughly the same qualifications as a bag of rocks when it comes to that. Basically, Al saw the cows do one thing when they were shocked and a farmer saw them doing something different. That got Einstein thinking deeper on the subject. If you need to know more about his shocking cow dream check out the book E=Einstein: His Life, His Thought and His Influence on Our Culture.

A teenage boy’s dream altered the course of history. Well, I’m sure that sort of thing doesn’t happen very often. Or maybe it does. Dreams have played major roles in creative works and incredible breakthroughs including the writing of Paul McCartney’s Yesterday, Niels Bohr’s structure of an atom, Elias Howe’s sewing machine and Frederick Banting’s insulin discovery. These are just of the few amazing additions to mankind that can be credited to dreams.

Not only are dreams a common way that God will speak to you about your life and things that you face, but in a significant way they are answers to real problems. God is about solutions that work. He is about bringing joy to the world … all the boys and girls. Sometimes that joy is a beautifully inspired song. Others times it is a medical breakthrough that saves millions of lives. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father above. James said that in the Bible. It was true then, true when Einstein’s cow showed up and it is absolutely true for you right now.

Some of these dream discoveries were given to people that may or may not have made our “Best Christians Ever” list. Of course, God only fully knows each individual’s heart, but this is an encouragement for those who are pursuing wholeheartedly the ways of our Father. If He will do it for them, He most certainly will grant you the same privilege of finding solutions in your night parables.

If you are facing a problem that the Bible does not directly address, go to bed meditating on the goodness of God and how He has the answer. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal is wisdom through dreams and visions. Knowing that God is intentional about speaking to you and having a desire to hear are two necessary steps in hearing from God. Whether your hear from His word, divine dreams or one of the many other ways, He is constantly speaking.

Take notice that the world changers were pursuing the passion of their heart when a supernatural sleep interruption changed everything. Here lies the key. God, not you, put the desire to accomplish that impossible dream into your heart. He is eagerly waiting for you to dive headlong in agreement and pursuit of that desire. This is when this thing starts to get awesome. You and God want the same thing … to change the world. You have a unique set of gifts, talents and experiences. No one else can quite do the things that you can. No one else can quite impact the people that you can.

When you live with an abandon to go after the very thing that you were made to do, God will start giving you the answers to the problems that the world has been searching for. He is carefully watching us do the little things that no one else sees. At the right time, He will send us our electrocuted cows and we will shock the world!

Have you ever had the realization that a phrase you have been using your whole life makes no sense? I had this epiphany the other day while driving and asked my wife, “What does ‘brand new’ even mean?” Of course, through many years of hearing the phrase in context we understand that it means something new that has never been used. But where does the “brand” come into play? And then add “spanking?” So confusing.

The Phrase Finder helped my understanding immensely:

A hot burned wooden stake has been called a brand since at least 950 AD. To brand means to ‘make an indelible mark of ownership’, especially with a hot stake or iron … The earliest citation of ‘brand new’ is in John Foxe’s Sermons, 1570: “New bodies, new minds and all thinges new, brande-newe.” … It appears that whoever coined ‘brand spanking new’ did so by appropriating the imagery of ‘spick and span‘, the rhyme of ‘bran’ and ‘span’ and the meaning of ‘spanking’.

Well, that clears everything up nicely … not really. We may never really understand the origin of this phrase, but we can understand the importance of branding. No, not so we can keep track of cows. Your company should have an indelible mark of ownership in it’s branding, though.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Laura Lake of About.com says, “It makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem.”

Two areas of importance in branding are consistency and credibility. Your brand should have a consistent feel and should inspire confidence in your company.

Consistency. If you are tweaking your logo or slogans every month, you are confusing your customers. Pick a font and stay with it. Slogans do not change with the seasons. Debeers has been using “A diamond is forever.” since 1948. This does not mean you cannot have short term advertising campaigns centered around a specific statement or idea. When you are ready for a major overhaul in branding, be committed and go all the way. Having multiple versions of your brand floating around will also create confusion. The goal is to inspire confidence not incompetence.

Credibility. Does your branding communicate your expertise and professionalism? (Side note: Incredible means “not credible” or “impossible.” It does not mean “really credible.” You’re welcome.) Pulling your logo out of Word’s clip art catalog is not choice number one for establishing credibility. Significant time is needed to research your target audience and then marry that information to what you offer in order to successfully brand your company.

Branding is very important to the overall success of any company. If customers cannot figure who you are, what you do and why they should purchase from you in a short period of time it decreases the probability of capturing their confidence and winning their business.  Today, make a brand spanking new effort to have consistent, credible branding … until the cows come home.