LIFE AND DEATH OF STEVE JOBS

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 in Blog | 6 comments

I wanted to share with you today current events.  One of the biggest things we have had happen in America is that we lost Steve Jobs.  Here is someone who built Apple.  He changed the way America communicates.  As you read about his life, there are a number of parallels about my life.  Maybe they parallel some of you out there as you make your journey through life.

One of the first things is your occupation.  How do we get to do what we do?  We know that Steve Jobs was totally committed and had a great passion for what he was doing.  He spent a big part of his life building that company.  How do we get to be successful in our occupation?  I think back to my own personal story.  I was coaching at different places around the country.  I had a chance to go to Tampa and I was going to be the offensive coordinator there which looked like the next step to being a Head Coach in the NFL.  Everything blew up that year and it was awful.  I made up my mind I was going to go visit my Spiritual Father in Fayetteville, Arkansas so I could talk with him and say “I am working as hard as I can.  I want to be a Head Coach.  Why isn’t this going the right way?”  I was questioning why, why, why.  The bottom line is we were trying to fly into Fayetteville and had to divert the landing because of bad weather and went back to Fort Smith.  Now I am sitting in Fort Smith.  I tried to get a ride by hitchhiking a ride to Fayetteville but the weather was so bad I was not able to do that.  Now I am sitting in this airport in Ft. Smith again questioning why, why, why.  I happen to look over and there was a Bible next to me.  I picked it up and I had been kinda studying that first chapter in James.  Any of you out there trying to make a decision I recommend you read that because it talks about how to make a decision, you don’t want to be double minded and blown back and forth.  I am reading that realizing that it was God who was speaking to me during that period of my life.

I am sitting there totally dejected saying “why?”  About that time someone tapped me on my shoulder.  I turned and it was a young guy about my age (at that point) and here is what he said without me saying anything:  “I claimed that chapter in my life six months ago.”  Without me saying hardly anything he relayed a story that was so close to mine.  He was struggling in his occupation, took a big job in another state and realized after he took that job he was going to have to pass a new state exam for that occupation.  He said he knew there was no way he could do that.  He said he was looking at his whole career crumble before his eyes.  Basically what he said he did was “God, I am going to turn my occupation over to you – you are in charge.”  Here is what he said happened.  “With a limited amount of time to study, I passed that test”.  He said God reinstated his occupation and there was nothing he did.  It was strictly the Lord doing it.  He relayed that whole story to me.  That paralleled my life – exactly what I was going through trying to be a Head Coach.  I jotted down his phone number in my Bible, I ran and jumped on an airplane to head back home and basically I said “OK, God, I get it.  That man spoke to me.  I am going to put this in your hands.  I am going to do just what he said.  I am going to turn this over to you.  You know what I want but I want what you want.”  The bottom line is I took a job in San Diego as just a back field coach.  I was not going to be offensive coordinator. I went there really concerned about that but I was trusting God.  Two weeks after I got there, the person who was the offensive coordinator got another job in the NFL as a head coach.  Don Coryell, head coach of the San Diego Chargers, called me in and said “Joe, I want you to take this job”.  Two years later after two successful years on offense with the Chargers, I became Head Coach of the Washington Redskins.

Steve Jobs worked extremely hard and I felt like I worked extremely hard in my occupation but I wanted to share with you the journey I had to go on.  Maybe some of you out there are struggling trying to make a decision with your life vocationally.  Maybe the situation that happened to me will lead you to say “God, I am going to put this in your hands”.

There was a second thing I drew from Jobs’ early death.  He was 56 years old and I am 70.  I think we can definitely say that our time here on earth is limited.  I talk about game plan for life – our life game plan.  There is a clock ticking on you and me.  Steve Jobs only got 56 years.  I am looking at my own life.  How much more time do I get to play the game of life?  Here is the point for you and me.  I think as we play out our life we need to make sure we are on God’s team when that last tick takes place.  How do you get on God’s team?  Acknowledge to Him with meaning in your heart that you know that He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to this earth, He wants to have a personal relationship with you, He loves you so much He sent his son and He allowed him to be crucified on a cross so that you can ask Him to forgive you of your sins and come into your life and be your Lord and personal Savior. Once we do that we are sealed and we are on God’s team.  No matter what happens in life, no one can take you out of His hands.  He has promised in the end you will get to spend eternity with Him in heaven.  The parallel I took from Steve Jobs was that we have a limited amount of time here on earth.

The third point I wanted to make was very important in Jobs’ life.  Towards the end of his life, he had somebody writing a book about his life and he was a pretty private person.  Someone asked Steve why he would have someone writing a book about him.  Here was his statement – “you know I spent a lot of time with my work and to be truthful I am not sure how good a father I was”.  He was second guessing the time he spent at work as opposed to the time he spent with his family.  He wanted this book written so his children would know who he was because he had some real concerns there.  That speaks to me as I’ve talked to you before.  I was in football.  Steve Jobs was building Apple.  I was trying to help the Washington Redskins win Super Bowls and I was totally devoted to that.  The one thing I second guess about my life now is the time I got to spend with my two boys as they grew up.  I share that with anybody out there from an occupational standpoint the balance of life.  Spend more time with your children.  Make sure you allocate the time for them as they grow up because I missed so much with my kids.  Now I am trying to make sure with my grandchildren I don’t do that.

So there are three things there with Steve Jobs’ life –

1)    His journey – how he arrived at his occupation;

2)    The time we have here on earth; and

3)    Our right priorities in life

My hope for me is that I can store up my treasures in heaven by impacting others.  That includes my grandkids, my two boys and also everyone I come in contact with.  There might be somebody out there today who I could speak to and help reorganize their priorities.  Make sure we don’t miss the most important things in life.