21,000,000 youtube hits

how does this happen?

1) play your commercial at the superbowl...

2) tell a story that everyone can relate to

yep. that simple. the advertising world is abuzz with their most recent win i.e. this volkswagon commercial (see below). our creative guru, tony, showed this today in our brainstorming meeting and it almost brought one of our pastors to tears. a short simple story and yet so powerful. tucked into selling a passat is a picture of a father's love for his son...echoing the gospel.

life is complicated and like this little boy, we're all trying to figure out a complex world, attempting desperately to make things happen by our own strength...we're like little darth vadars. we keep exerting all our power on the task at hand, and many times eventually we even have some success. we feel surprised by our own strength...and sometimes we even think we've accomplished a great feat all-by-ourselves.

i love this commercial because it reveals the truth: behind so many great accomplishments stands a loving Father who has given us the power to complete the task at hand. The Father quietly and adoringly empowers the good works of our lives. His power is what starts and finishes all our efforts. Even Jesus, our Father's One and Only Son, could do nothing without the Father's permission.

May You be blessed Father for revealing these things to little children and concealing them from the wise and learned. May You be blessed Father for adopting us as Your sons and daughters.

and for us, may the grace of Jesus Christ, the Father's One and Only Begotten Son, be our strength, our hope, our trust, our power and a constant reminder--we are not loved because we can do anything for God, but because He loves us we are able to do all things.