RIP Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, the genius behind Apple, died today.  When I found out I began to think about how many ways a man I had never met affected my life.  He has impacted so many people in so many ways.  His ideas changed American culture and created a subculture of Kool Aid drinking Apple followers (of which I am one).

Due to his death, you can find out all about Steve Jobs from the numerous reports and bios… that he was a college drop out, that he left Apple for a while, and you probably even heard that he has been battling sickness since 2004. I always knew he was sick, but never realized how sick until I came across the Commencement Address he gave to the Stanford University Class of 2005.  Here is a little of what he said…

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that 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.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

A lot to think about…

I am not sure of Steve Jobs’ spiritual condition, but he was so right.  Life is short.  I blogged about that a few months ago.

Psalm 89:47 says… Remember how short my life is, how empty and futile this human existence!

Steve Jobs died today… it could be anyone of us tomorrow.  We should live our lives in light of eternity.  What are you doing here that will affect those around you?  How is your life changing the people around you? 

You have been given one life to live… don’t waste it.

(thanks to Ed Stetzer for posting the commencement address)