I was very sad to hear the news that Steve Jobs had lost his battle with cancer. I woke up during the night on the 6th October and as I often do I checked my phone, this time to see a CNN alert announcing Steve’s death.
I’ve not been an Apple fan for long. After a disastrous flirtation with Windows Vista in 2007 (which I uninstalled after 5 weeks and reverted back to Windows XP) I vowed never to buy a new Microsoft powered machine unless it was for testing purposes. It was only in September 2009 that I ‘saw the light’ and invested in my first Mac. Apple products aren’t perfect and there seems to be as many in the anti-Apple camp as there are in the anti-Microsoft camp but Apple have created some amazing products.
Their products and their innovations have truly changed the way that we connect. Whilst the Tablet PC has been around for a decade, it was Steve Job’s vision of the iPad that made the tablet such a success. Their products have benefited everyone from students to world leaders. President Obama on Steve’s passing said “there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented”. Whilst there is obviously a large team of creative geniuses at Apple, Steve’s personal involvement in the products is widely publicised. It was reported that even the day before he died, Steve was involved in the development of the next Apple product.
His keynote speeches were something that many in the IT industry looked forward to as new products and updates were announced. I have looked forward to the Apple Keynotes and trying to find the time to spend the 1.5 – 2 hours watching these when they became available online.
Steve was reported to be worth $7 billion. A phenomenal amount of money making him the 110th richest person in 2011 (Forbes). His private life was private and this was also the case with what he did for his money.
Yet despite the huge success and wealth Steve had, there was one thing that money couldn’t buy: good health. Diagnosed with cancer in 2003, this horrible disease was what caused Steve to die early.
It is incredibly sad when someone leaves this life but when it is someone who was as successful and rich in life as Steve I am always struck by how irrelevant these successes are.
We can spend a life time trying to achieve things in life:
spouse, family, good job, good home, nice car
All these things may be good and noble and there may be nothing wrong with these aims, but the truth is that one day our time will also come and it will be our turn to leave this life. We may be worth 7 billion (!) or we may not have a penny to our name, but nothing from this life can be taken with us. What counts is: do we know Jesus Christ and have we asked for his forgiveness and for Him to be Lord of our life.
Steve was know to be a Buddhist, and I don’t know if he came to know Jesus or not. No one can know the true heart of someone except God.
In this great span of eternity, these few years on earth will go and we will all have to stand before God and give an account of our lives.