Steve Jobs
Yesterday afternoon, we got an ichat message; “Steve Jobs died”. There was a mad scramble to google Steve Jobs, which resulted in an interesting string of comments, “One person tweeted it…no, its wrong…she removed it…its being apologized for..no, it might be real?…..Oh man, look at the apple page.”
It was an interesting way to end the day. We’re definitely Apple fans around here. The common table we work at is filled with a mixture of macbooks, ipads, and iphones when we’re at the office. So, you could probably call us devoted.
My first response was a feeling of almost panic. Apple is a company that has earned my trust. I know that when other companies fail me, I can turn to Apple. Steve Jobs was the face of that trust. He developed something with Apple that set them apart. It can be easy to set somebody on too high a pedestal, and that’s something we need to be cautious of. With that warning, here are just some quick thoughts I’ve had about things worth admiring in Steve Jobs:
- Focus: Steve Jobs was good at certain things, and he concentrated on doing those things. His single minded focus gave us products that were the best. Apple managed to produce a handful of things, that are generally accepted as being the best at what they were meant to be.
- Passion: There was something moving about the way Steve Jobs presented his keynotes. He believed with all his heart the things he was saying. Everyone could see that. He didn’t spend time saying things he didn’t feel strongly about.
- Vision: Here’s an excerpt from a post in The American that summarizes well Steve Job’s ability to see the future, “Lots of ninnies can give customers products they want. Jobs gave people products they didn’t know they wanted, and then made those products indispensable to their lives.”
There are definitely some principles we can apply to the things we do, that can be taken from this man’s life. Part of the curse at the Fall, is a frustration with the work we’ve been given to do. We can follow the example of being focussed on the task which has been set before us, and doing it well. The grass will seem greener on the other side, but success will often come with focus and longevity, not moving to an easier task. Secondly, do we believe the things we are saying, or are we just trying to say all the correct things? We don’t have time to talk about everything, but we should be talking passionately about the most important things. Finally, are we willing to look beyond what people are clamoring for, and give them what they need? We saw Steve Job’s ridiculed more than once for a product he believed in, only to have the entire world embrace it quickly. We need to be visionaries, willing to provide what people aren’t asking for.
Sadly, with the limited knowledge we have, he never submitted to Jesus Christ. And for Steve Jobs, while we are grateful for the expression of God’s image that did much with what he was given, along with the others that die every day without knowing Christ, we grieve.
Art by Dylan Roscover: http://www.cultofmac.com/10527/incredible-steve-jobs-portrait-in-apple-typefaces/
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