On Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. It wasn’t something unexpected since his latest medical leave from Apple was speculated to be a result from his fight with cancer. Nonetheless, the news took me by surprise.

While I was standing in line at Peete’s, I was reading the newspaper that was left on one of the tables. The paper printed a cover story about the innovator, inventor, and black turtle-neck-wearing-czar of cool technology. As I was reading the article I was asked by a fellow patron, “pretty sad news, huh?” Yes. Of course it is sad news; death is rarely ever anything but.

The Patron calmly asserted that his death was probably better than what he was going through with cancer. “After all,” he said, “better to not exist than to exist in that kind of state.” I don’t think he really meant that. How, in any world, is it better to not exist than to exist? Non-existence can’t be better for anyone. It certainly isn’t better for the one that doesn’t exist because “better” is probably a state for people that actually exist. It certainly isn’t better for those people that do exist because a person’s existence may be inconsequential to most, but incredibly personal to others. Neither group would affirm the situation to be better. This truth seems self-evident. I can see it played out in the way our legal system functions. We send more people to prison for life than we sentence them to death because a fundamental human principle is that existence is better than non-existence.

I realized this comment revealed more about my fellow Patron than he was willing to talk about. What he didn’t say was that he did not believe in an afterlife, and, consequently, didn’t believe in God either. For him, death was simply non-existence. Somehow he found solace in knowing that Steve Jobs doesn’t exist anymore. How in the world is that comforting? It seems more pointless, empty, hollow, hopeless, senseless, and downright ugly than it provides any sort of consolation. I don’t know how belief in non-existence after death is more noble, open-minded, and rational than it is to believe there is some kind of life after death.

Steve Jobs had cancer and it eventually took his life. This reaffirms my hatred of cancer. It also causes me to realize that cancer is evil, outside of the original program of God for humanity, and it is therefore, hated by God too. I’m reminded today the simple and profound truth that God weeps too.

I have to write this blog because I am very appreciative of the creative work of Steve Jobs and all those other technology innovators at Apple, Inc.

In 2001, I was first introduced to the personal music player called ipod. A couple of friends of mine came to visit me while I was in college at Biola. We sat at a coffee shop called McClain’s in Fullerton, California at an outdoor patio, reading the Bible and discussing life. My friend Chris pulled out his ipod and boldly proclaimed, “this is going to change everything. You need to get one.”

I got my first ipod six years later when my dad found it at a park and gave it to me. I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate that little music device. Admittedly, I don’t use my ipod very often because it’s old and the battery is shot, but I do listen to itunes every day of my life – it seems, anyway. This leads me to my appreciation for Steve Jobs.

Although I never met Steve Jobs, am not a technology Geek, not a PC hater, nor do I read technology blogs to keep abreast of all the latest developments, or own an iphone, or ipad, I am thankful for his innovations.

I am profoundly thankful for this computer I type on because I use it to write messages and sermons, I use it for study and research, and to keep in contact with countless people throughout my week. I’m most profoundly thankful for the innovation of the ipod and itunes. There is seldom a time when I’m reading, writing, and thinking and not also listening to some sort of music. Steve Jobs enabled me to read the Bible while listening to Shai linne, Jim Croce, Jack Johnson, David Crowder, Trip Lee, and The Cross Movement. His creative genius has given me an avenue to sit in a corner of a crowded coffee shop and allow my heart to soar in worship while having two rubber ear buds lodged in my head. I’ve been brought to tears while listening to an ancient him through a modern invention and ingesting the timeless truths of the Holy Scripture.

Some folks have ridiculed technology and called it evil because it causes people to waste time and to be more involved with their technology than other humans. I have been known to challenge people to close facebook and to interact with people in real life. I have asked people to close their laptop and go on a walk to smell the fresh scent of pine needles or enjoy the crunch of stomping on a few Maple tree leaves.

But God has also chosen to use such technology as a means to draw people unto Himself. I can’t recall how many times I have been brought to the Throne of Grace because of the music playing in my ear, or because I have read some profound insight from John Calvin on my laptop. In essence, God used the creative genius of Steve Jobs to draw some people closer to God’s own heart. Not everyone, but some. I am one of the some. And I am thankful for Steve Jobs.