Joe Gibbs on Steve Jobs’ Leave

Posted on Jan 22, 2011 in Blog | 13 comments

Each week when we have these little updates I try and give you something that has reached out to me from an inspirational standpoint or where God has laid something on my heart and made some kind of impression on me.

This morning something jumped out at me.  I had picked up USA Today and the very first headline I saw was talking about Steve Jobs from Apple and the fact he was going to have to take a medical leave.  This really got me thinking because the biggest struggle in my life that I have shared with ya’ll is having the right priorities in life.  At different times in my life I have been caught up in winning football games because I wanted to be successful.  I wanted people to think I was someone special in the sporting world.  I have been caught up in winning Motocross and NASCAR Championships.  Obviously at different times in your life you say to yourself that you want to make money for your family and you are working hard to provide all these things for the family.  That struggle for me has been a hard one.  As I have shared before, many times I have asked God to forgive me for having the wrong priorities in life.  This article in USA Today jumped out at me because here we have is what is probably one of the most successful businessmen in the world running one of the most successful companies in the world.  When I see a medical issue like this come up it really speaks to me because I am quite a bit older than Steve Jobs.  I am 70 years old.  How long do we have on this earth?  It grabs me and makes me think – Am I storing up treasures in Heaven.  Do I have the right priorities in life?  It is a constant struggle with me.

Maybe some of you out there are having some of the feelings that I have so I say to you that life is fleeting.  God says in his Word many times that we are like a mist – we are here and gone.  I have shared with you the story of Sean Taylor – 24 years old.  He was a young guy that I was coaching.  He goes down at night to defend his family and his life was taken.  I think reality jumps out at you and me – how long do we have on this earth?  Certainly to me I think – Am I investing my life and in particular my time?  That is the most important thing to me – am I investing my time and storing up my treasures?  Wherever you are in the walk of life or whatever age you might be, we have to realize that life on this earth is fleeting.  We don’t have a long time here.  The great news is that if we are on God’s team, we get to spend an eternity with him.  God says there are only two teams in the game of life.  We either play with God and have asked him to come into our lives and be our personal Lord and Savior or we play against him forever.

It’s my prayer that you have had that serious time with God, where you invited him into your life, asked him to forgive you of your sins and be your personal Lord and Savior.  Eternity is then taken care of.  I pray for everybody out there that you will have the right priorities and for me that is my kids (both boys), my grandkids, Pat and the influence I am having on others.

I want to finish with a prayer and pray for Steve.

Father I appreciate the way you made us and took care of us.  You know everything about us.  You are all powerful, all knowing and all loving.  I pray for all of those out there who are sick or going through struggles.  I pray for Steve as we saw this in the paper this morning.  We pray for him and his life.  We pray for Victory over these health issues.  We pray for all those out there who are struggling.  Father, give us the right priorities in life and give us the right desires….Amen.