Thanks to the very technology that he inspired, everyone immediately received the news of his death. Steve Jobs, the “visionary and creative genius” who founded Apple Inc., died Wednesday October 5, at age 56. He built the first Apple computer in his garage and eventually built one of the most successful technology companies in the world.
We owned one of the early Macintosh computers back in the early 80s. Our Mac jingled as it powered up, because our toddler had stuffed coins in the disk drive. I guess it did sort of resemble a miniature juke box.
Jobs’ birth (as his life) was providential. His biological mother chose life for her unborn baby. His adoptive parents chose an unexpected baby boy. Steve Jobs tells the story at the Stanford University commencement in 2005:
“My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: ‘We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?’ They said: ‘Of course.’"
His biological mother followed her heart when she chose life and so, too, did Clara and Paul Jobs when they said that – of course! – they would take the unexpected baby boy. And Steve Jobs followed his. With prophetic insight Jobs counseled the Stanford graduates, “Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
From the Macintosh to Pixar to the iPhone, Jobs was brilliant at envisioning exactly what would captivate our hearts. An interviewer once wrote that Jobs was “preaching the gospel of salvation through the personal computer.” We can only pray that in his heart of hearts, if not in his words, he embraced the love of Jesus Christ. No one knew better than Jobs that technology could not save him.
Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.
Topics: Culture , Current Events
