Reflecting on Steve Jobs

Before Steve Jobs passed, I was going to write a blog on Homecoming, which I attended last weekend at my alma mater Valparaiso University.  I am still going to write that blog, but they actually are kind of related. 

Steve Jobs passed away this past week and many of us who use the technology that Steve Jobs created are very grateful because it has indeed changed our lives.  I am an iPhone user and my life literally has changed as a result of this device.  I do much of my bible study on that machine, I receive e-mail, manage my calendar, listen to tunes, map to my next destination, and on an on it goes.  I literally run my life on it.  I also use iTunes which has revolutionized how music is distributed.  I listen to Podcasts every day and it has become a staple of my life. 

So in reflecting on Steve Jobs, we reflect on his legacy of innovation.  We need innovation pioneers like Jobs.  But unfortunately, we don’t reflect on Jobs as a person who influenced our lives in our relationships, whether relationships with each other or relationships with the Creator God.  I can’t speak for Steve Jobs’ relationship with his wife, with his God, with his children, or with his Apple employees.  Steve Jobs had no influence on me with any of those corresponding relationships with me either.  So as a result, his influence is confined to the time and sphere of this existence and it makes our lives clearly better on this earth.  However, it has no eternal ramifications.  Did it draw me closer to God?  Did it impact my relationship with my wife or my kids?  Did it cause me to more fully or deeply desire Scripture?  Those are the things that have a much longer shelf-life than the improvement of technology.  Again, don’t misunderstand me – the innovations have great impact, but not for eternity.  But the fruit is grocery perishables. 

I am CEO of a technology company that desires to implement and expand technology at lower costs.  That is an admirable ambition and one that I invest my time in.  However, I don’t want to be remembered as a technology CEO, but as an individual who made a difference for eternity in people’s lives.  Technology cannot do that by itself.  I want to be remembered for the impact that I make in people for eternity.  I can use the vehicle of my company, my class, but in the end, it is our lives that create enduring value.