Yesterday was a game changer. I was leaving church last evening and received a text on my iPhone that said Steve Jobs, the former CEO and chief innovator of the Apple Family, had passed away after fighting multiple forms of cancer the last several years. Thirty minutes prior I had been using my iPad and 2 hours prior I had been typing an update on my MacBook Pro laptop. I’m a Mac guy (which is mainly due to my father-in-law’s indoctrinating me about 8 years ago). I have an apple sticker on both of my cars and the folks I work with have been offering me condolences all morning long because they know I’m a follower of this product.
So, when I got the word that Steve has passed away, I was saddened. Now, I’ve never met Steve, never been in a room with him, never knowingly been in the same city as he had been, but as I read the outflow of condolences and memories that even his fiercest competitors had, I felt a real sadness – a loss of a friend. Steve Jobs and the Apple brand have impacted my life and do so every day and to lose his drive and innovating spirit will be real difficult for us Apple folks.
As I was having this emotional reaction, my brain fired a question at me – why is this man’s life affecting you so much? I didn’t know him and yet I was reading column and story and feeds left and right. Why is this so personal to me? Now, at first I thought about the typical “Jesus Juke” – would I feel that way about Christ? – kind of stuff that is so easy to spew. But, I quickly dismissed that, it’s a totally different thing. I reflected a little more and I think I had, am having, this reaction because of the influence and vision that Steve brought to the world around him.
He was an innovator and a vision caster and he went after life with all he had. Those are the elements that I found so engaging and intriguing. Again, not to “Jesus Juke” but it’s similar characteristics that Jesus shared as he walked this earth. Jesus had a very clear vision about what he was to go after and accomplish. He lived life wide open. He met people where they were and if they needed the challenge, he was okay to offer it. Christ not only lived this way, but he also invited his followers to the same kind of devotion and identity.
Followers of Jesus are called to live his LIFE. We get to be like Jesus. We were “blind, but now we see” and we’ve been invited to bring that same sight to those stumbling around us. We get to take his innovations and passion and drive with us in to the world we live in. We get to be released to LOVE like He did and to do “even greater things” than He did! You and I get to look at the world and say, “hey, we have an answer, a solution to these problems.” We get to offer the life changing purpose of Jesus and we get to stare down obstacles and barriers and know that we’re taking up the same HOLY charge that Jesus lived and passed on to us.
The reason the world will mourn Steve Jobs is because he led forward and this is a great reminder for us followers of Jesus. We’re called to Lead forward in the same way that our leader leads us. We are called Christians, little Christ’s, for a reason – to be known and seen as little examples of Jesus here and now. I’d invite you this weekend to take some time and look at our leader and examine your life. Are we leading in his way? Are we leading forward? Are we innovating new ways that people can fall in love with the Creator and be restored by the Redeemer and renewed by the Sustainer? Are we letting the Spirit whisper to our souls to stand and be holy? The Church is a place to move forward – in our personal faith, in our life as a community and in our engagement with the world around us. Lead forward and follower our leader who calls us to lead.
No comments
Jim – I felt the same way about Steve Jobs. Remember, followers of Jesus were followers of a movement called, "The Way" and were derided as being "Christians" which they wore as badges of honor. It makes me think of those of us who carry our IPads and IPhones with honor.