Maybe once every century, God seems to bless humanity with a person who changes the world in a way that alters the form and function of our lives, ultimately changing the way we live our lives. In centuries past, the planet was blessed with names like Da Vinci, Edison, and Ford. In our lifetime we were blessed with Steve Jobs.
A week ago today, I was on the phone with a dear friend who is a regular visitor at the Jobs' home in Palo Alto. At some point in our conversation I asked him if he had recently seen Steve Jobs. Martin grew eerily quiet for a long moment. Then in a broken voice he said, "He is not going to make it, he will pass any day." He went on to describe the atmosphere at the Jobs' home and shared tidbits from a recent conversation he’d had with Steve's wife Laurene. When I hung up the phone, I found myself deeply saddened. I walked back to my room in a cloud of depression. For the second time this year, I was about to lose a hero.
A few months back, David Wilkerson was tragically killed in a head-on collision. His vehicle was hit by an eighteen-wheeler near his home in East Texas. The news of his tragic death devastated me. He was a spiritual mentor to me, and a life hero. Now six months later, the second of my three heroes in life was about to die. And it was very difficult for me to fathom, understand, and accept.
Once I was back in my room, I grabbed my Bible and read various stories of miraculous acts of healing. It seems I wanted to remind God of what he could do. If he could raise numerous individuals from the dead, he could certainly heal a very sick man in Palo Alto. Eventually I dropped to my knees and began to pray. I fervently pleaded with God to heal Steve Jobs. He was way to young to die. I pleaded for mercy and grace, for a miracle to take place. I asked God to please extend the life of one of my heroes. My prayer was not answered. Steve passed away four days later at the age of fifty-six.
There is so much to be said about the life of Steve Jobs. Instead of recanting all he has accomplished, I would like to tell you why he is one of my heroes. He made the world smaller. His ideas and inventions turned a very large planet into a global village. He was a man of vision, of brilliance, of passion and he was blessed with the ability to figure out what we wanted before we knew we wanted it. He rebuilt the world to fit his own digital vision.
Steve Jobs was a pioneer, a trailblazer, a man who believed he could make a dent in the universe. With a messianic intensity, he preached a message that technology was a tool to improve human life and unleash creativity. He had complete faith in his intuition and embraced personality traits that some considered flaws – narcissism, perfectionism – to lead Apple in a stunning comeback from near bankruptcy, turning it into the world's most valuable company.
Steve’s life and the battles he underwent inspired my life in numerous ways. From my earliest days of leading others, I embraced his style and example. Employees and friends would often hear me mention his name in relation to some vision, some hope, some dream I had for my own life, my ministry, or the organizations I led and directed. He had a profound impact on my life in two distinct ways.
Steve Jobs was a creative genius. He believed anything could be accomplished. He lived in a realm seemingly above obstacles, limits, borders and possessed a convention-bucking vision of what something could become. He was committed to excellence and made sure that the tiniest details were perfect. His example was my inspiration to launch an organization that conducted nationwide youth conventions designed to be powerful in content, creative in presentation, and life-altering in experience. In these gatherings, thousands of teens were inspired to sacrifice a few weeks of their lives to serve others in foreign lands on trips we provided.
Everything that went into the development and planning of this organization was driven by a desire to do something no one was doing and to give teenagers an experience unlike any they had previously encountered. We tried our best to do everything with a spirit of excellence and this extended to all facets of advertising, production, communication, publication, and presentation.
When I initially started the company, I was met with opposition. We were affiliated with a worldwide Christian denomination that was somewhat rigid and conservative. For the most part, the large organization was entrenched in a traditional style of communication. Many thought my style and vision was too "secular" and way over the top. However, I would not let the naysayers hinder me. I did not allow their opinions to compromise my vision, belief, and creativity. Back then it was difficult to wade into old industry with a new idea. But I would not give up and the results of chasing a dream were astonishing. Because I was blessed with an amazing staff of individuals who were extremely gifted, talented, and supportive of my ideas, the lives of tens of thousands of young people were greatly impacted and inspired. Thousands traveled to nations on every continent to aid and assist others. This was a direct result of Steve Jobs and the enormous impact he had on my life. His example taught me to never give up, to do everything with excellence, and to pursue my passion and dreams. His life also taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned: Do not waste the years spent in exile.
In 1985, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. In a boardroom coup, the company he founded ousted him, deposing the tech king from the palace he had built. "What had been the focus of my entire life was gone and it was devastating. I was a very public failure," Jobs said in a speech given at Stanford University. This was one of three serious reversals in his life that illustrated rejection, exclusion, and extinction. It sent him into exile, into the wilderness. And he did not let those years go to waste. Instead of resting on his laurels and fading into oblivion, he allowed the time of being away to strengthen him and shape him into the lateral thinker and innovator he became.
In the twelve years he spent in exile, Steve Jobs reinvented himself. Scrupulous examination of faults, failures, and personal shortcomings enabled him to make adjustments. The heaviness of going from America's wunderkind to a perceived failure was replaced by a lightness of beginning again, of starting over, of transforming himself. The years of living in the wilderness – where people abandon you, where they write you off, where they believe every negative story – were not wasted. They prepared him for a comeback, and what a comeback it was. In 1997, he returned from exile to retake the helm of his beloved Apple – teetering on the edge of extinction – and saved it from collapse. For the next fourteen years he forged his singular vision through a combination of inspiration and gut instinct. He upended entire industries. Personal computing. The music business. Publishing. Hollywood. Cell phones. All have been radically transformed by Steve Jobs.
Living in exile, in the wilderness, is very difficult. It's a barren and empty and lonely existence, a stark contrast to the days you stood on top of the world, basking in success, surrounded by friends and admirers. When failure casts you into the outer limits, a majority of those who once stood with you no longer stand. Individuals you helped are nowhere to be found. People you opened doors for now slam those same doors and shut you out. Often you are abandoned to your own wanderings with little support.
Steve Jobs' years in exile have inspired me to not waste my years in such surroundings. I have learned to use this time in the wilderness to reinvent myself, to rediscover my passion, my calling, my purpose. In the incurious world of today, one focused mainly on comfort and ease, his example pushes me down the harsh path of self-examination to ask painful questions of myself: How did I allow my life to get into this situation? What was my role in the failure of my marriage? How can I be a better man, a better father, a better husband, a better friend? The years in exile are shaping me.
Self-examination is the most difficult path to travel. But introspection is the one path we must travail during our time in the wilderness. It was this path that transformed Steve Jobs into the remarkable individual he became, a man who changed the world for all of us.
Rest in peace Steve Jobs. I and the rest of humanity will sorely miss you. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with all of our lives. You changed how the world works and how the world imagines itself. You have shown us how to use our gifts to make the world a better and brighter place. May we follow the shining path you left and illuminate the world around us.
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