from “The Soul of Steve Jobs”…

We all know that Steve Jobs was not a professing Christian. While he respected Jesus, he walked away from Christianity at an early age—at least in its organized and doctrinal form.

So why write about him in a Christian journal? Answer: because his life yields valuable lessons, positive and negative, on the subject of leadership. It also highlights areas that Christian leaders can enlist to touch the souls of people like him.
Early Influences

The Steve Jobs biography reminded me of how many leaders are shaped by events in their earliest years (even days) of life.

Jobs, for example, was born to an unmarried couple who chose to give him up for adoption. The good news? The newborn child came to the home of a working class couple, Paul and Clara Jobs of San Francisco, who lavished great love and care on him.

Paul Jobs, Steve’s adoptive father, was a Coast Guard veteran, a man of exceptional mechanical and carpentry skill. When Steve was old enough, father and son began to tinker with cars, build furniture, and repair things about the house. “I wasn’t into fixing cars,” Steve Jobs said years later, “but I was eager to hang out with my dad.”

In their time together, the father planted a powerful work ethic in his son. All work, Steve Jobs learned, was to be marked with excellence. When father and son painted a fence together, for example, the boy learned that the unexposed side was to be treated with the same thoroughness as the visible side.

“(My father) loved doing things right,” Jobs reflected. “He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.” Decades later this principle learned in boyhood would shape the development of Apple devices. Jobs always insisted that the inner parts of anything bearing the Apple name be as perfectly designed and built as the outer parts, even though a customer would never see them.

(Note: you never see a screw or latch that permits you to open up and tinker with an iPod or an iPad. Jobs didn’t want you or me “screwing up” his stuff. A control freak? You betcha.)

But then there’s the perceived rejection of his biological parents. That’s the bad-news side of the story. What’s it like to know that your mother put you into the arms of someone else and walked away? This appears to have haunted Jobs all his life and may partially explain his shortfalls in many human relationships.

When Jobs began school, his parents and teachers soon discovered that he was a “problem child.” It showed in his rebelliousness, in his boredom with the curriculum, in his unwillingness to fit into ordinary classroom regimens. He resisted learning in the traditional cookie-cutter ways.

It’s startling to realize that Steve Jobs might have ended up a social discard—a delinquent—had it not been for an observant teacher who suspected that she had an exceptional child in her classroom. Under her guidance Jobs quickly accelerated in his learning experiences. “I just wanted to learn and to please her,” Jobs said, looking back on her efforts.

Unfortunately the same did not happen in his church experience. When Jobs was 13, he asked his pastor a simple (yet not so simple) question.

Isaacson writes: “In July 1968 Life magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church’s pastor, ‘If I raise my finger, will God know which one I’m going to raise even before I do it?’

“The pastor answers, ‘Yes, God knows everything.’

“Jobs then pulled out the Life cover and asked, ‘Well, does God know about this and what’s going to happen to those children?’

“‘Steve, I know you don’t understand, but yes, God knows about that.’”

The pastor’s answer badly underestimated the young teen’s intellect and left him unsatisfied. According to Isaacson, Jobs walked away from the church that day and never returned.

For the pastor, that brief exchange was likely incidental and forgettable. Yet it was a turning point that would point Steve Jobs toward eastern philosophy.

The story generates a prayer in me: “Lord, make me aware of the implications of any (any!) word I say to people during the course of the day. Who can know when a spoken word directs someone toward the right path … or the wrong one?”

“Wow.  Tim Tebow, the famously religious quarterback who kneels in prayer before, during and after games, led the Denver Broncos to another apparently miraculous win yesterday.  And, as if the win itself weren’t dramatic enough, the football phenom passed for an astonishing 316 yards in ten throws.  That would be 31.6 yards a throw.  Does that number sound familiar?  It should.  It’s the verse from the Gospel of John (3:16) that Mr. Tebow had written on his “eye black,” the patch of paint under his eyes to cut glare.  For those without your Bible handy that would be: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

All this raises the inevitable question, and one that I’ve been asked numerous times over the last few months: Is God answering Tim Tebow’s prayers?

Well, in good Jesuitical fashion the answer is: Yes, no, and I don’t know. First, the yes.  Well, before I tackle the yes, let me say something else.  Mr. Tebow is obviously a prayerful man and a faithful Christian.  I admire him for his ebullient belief and his deep trust in God.  So nothing I say in this piece is meant to disparage him or his faith.  I genuinely like the guy, and I’m not even much of a Broncos fan.  (Go Eagles?)

Okay.  Back to the yes.  Yes, God is hearing Mr. Tebow’s prayers. God hears everyone’s prayers, no matter who you are; just as Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, God causes to the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and sends the sun to shine on the evil and the good.  That part is easy to answer.  And God is certainly helping Mr. Tebow in his life, as God helps anyone who asks for help.  God is supporting Mr. Tebow with grace, that hard-to-define inner gift that was defined by one theologian as God’s “self-communication.”

But does believing in God mean that you’ll get what you want?

That answer is no.

At first blush, however, that seems to be what the Bible promises.  Jesus, again in the Gospel of Matthew says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  That seems clear enough.  Later on (that is, later on in the Christian history and later on in the Bible) St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians: “The Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”  Or in Romans:  “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.” I could go on.  There are several passages that promise good things for those who believe in God, and call on God’s name.  And I believe that God does bless those who believe in God. The question is this: How does God bless them?  What about all people who call on God and seemingly fail to receive good things in return?  To bring our theological question down to earth, surely there are players on other teams, just as devout as Mr. Tebow—even if they don’t sport Johannine eye black—who aren’t being blessed with victory.  Why not?  Doesn’t believing in God bring you good things?

This gets us into what is often called the “Prosperity Gospel,” which tells people that if they believe in Jesus Christ, their lives will be one of constant success.

This is demonstrably false. The twelve apostles believed in Christ, to take one obvious example, and many of them met with difficult, painful, even tragic ends. Does anyone think that St. Peter, who was crucified, had insufficient faith?  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the great religious figures of our time, suffered greatly, was jailed and was assassinated. Did he not have sufficient faith?  Mother Teresa, toward the end of her life, was often in terrible physical pain. She even suffered from a great interior darkness, a “dark night of the soul.”  Was she unfaithful?  Of course not.  Suffering—interior and exterior–is the lot of all people, including believers, including devout believers, and including those who strive to lead joyful lives.

While the Prosperity Gospel has a number of important highlights—its focus on joy is a needed corrective in many Christian circles; its emphasis rock-ribbed faith in God is essential; its encouragement to believe in a God who desires your ultimate joy is an antidote to so many terrifying images of God—its denial of suffering means that it doesn’t fully embrace the human condition.  (This may be one reason why so many of its adherents shy away from Good Friday services.)

Nor, as an aside, do I believe that people encounter suffering or illnesses have somehow failed to “think positively.” Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Dancing in the Streets) takes aim at that idea in her piquant book Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. While it is often helpful to look on the bright side of life, and salutary to strive to be cheerful, the belief that the sick have failed to “think positively,” is monstrous.  Such a belief finds its ultimate end in the notion that cancer patients, to take but one example, are somehow “responsible” for their illness, because of their faulty thinking patterns.   That approach can compound the misery of the sick.  Ehrenreich, a cancer survivor herself, writes, “Clearly the failure to think positively can weigh on a cancer patient like a second disease.”

The problem with thinking that God is answering Mr. Tebow’s prayers–directly and individually and exactly as he asks–is that it raises the question of what you say to a believer who feels that their prayers are not being answered.  And if you’ve spent any time with people who are suffering, this is not an insignificant question.

Let me put it this way.  I believe that God hears our prayers.  I even believe in the possibility of miracles, that is, divine intervention in individual cases.  But why are some people’s most fervent prayers answered, and others not?  Over the past few years, I’ve visited and prayed at the Catholic shrine of Lourdes, in southern France, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to a young shepherdess, St. Bernadette Soubirous, in 1858.  (She’s the protagonist of “The Song of Bernadette,” which airs frequently on TCM.)  Some 67 healing miracles have been authenticated over the years—dramatic, immediate, irreversible.  Those cures have been documented by often non-Catholic, non-Christian and non-believing physicians.  (To be clear: while the cures are documented by the doctors, the doctors do not say how the cure happens.  That’s up to the church.)

I believe in these miracles.  But what about the other millions of pilgrims who have come for over 150 years to Lourdes and leave still sick or suffering?  I don’t know the answer to that question.

And that may be the best answer to the questions we are asking: I don’t know.  God answers prayers, but sometimes it seems the answer is “no.” Why is that?  If it is frustrating when your team loses, what about when the stakes are higher—much, much higher?  Why are the prayers of the parent of the child struggling with cancer not answered as she would wish?  What do you tell the poor person whose village and family have been swept away by a tsunami?

This is what is known as “the mystery of suffering.”  These are questions that have no conclusive answer.  The Bible and the Jewish and Christian traditions offer us perspectives, but no answer that has satisfied all believers.  And easy bromides do no good by the bed of a sick patient.  Yet I do not need to believe in a God who I understand completely.   As the Book of Isaiah says, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”  Amen to that.

So I wish Mr. Tebow well, and I hope that he is able to continue to speak about his Christian faith and bring new people to God, and (since I’m speaking as a Christian) to Jesus Christ.  But we need to set aside the notion that if we pray, all will go well.  For that is a false idea of religion.  False religion is the idea that if you believe, all will go well, and there is nothing to worry about.  Real religion is the idea that if you believe, all may not go well, but, in the end, there is nothing to worry about.

Because finally, the answer to our prayers is not a touchdown, or a series of passes, or a Super Bowl victory, or a new car, or a raise, or even good health.

The answer to our prayers is much deeper than that.  And much more lasting. The answer to our prayers is God.

James Martin, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, culture editor of America magazine, and the author of “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything” and “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life.”

So what are we to make of the Occupy Wall Street movement?

This morning I had the privilege and pleasure of playing basketball with a young man who is among the “very disgruntled”.  He was one of the millions of young people (18-30 demographic, called “Millenials”) who voted for Barack Obama but have become very disillusioned with Washington and the political process in the years since.  My young friend (who is 27) feels that Barack Obama has bowed to the “capitalist forces in New York, Washington, Boston, etc. who control the banks, businesses, political parties, and just about everything else.”  Here’s what I can draw about these “forces”.  First of all, these forces are very greedy.  Their greed is at the root of all our current troubles.  They are very rich and have gotten rich at the expense of all the rest of us.  It’s the 1% vs. the 99%.

Now here’s my take on the Occupy Wall Street movement.  They have an axe to grind that is not fabricated from nothing.  They have an important point.  How have the corporations like Enron and Worldcom (etc.), capitalists like Bernie Madoff, the interest rate debacle, etc. ever happen?!?!?  Without getting into the breakdowns of regulatory agencies and free market checks and balances, the answer is human greed, plain and simple.

Proverbs 28:25 says, “The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.”  Ain’t that the truth?  I think we have some conflict on our hands!

But what is the solution?  Is it to shut down cities and traffic, keep people from work and kids from school, engage police with sticks and get pepper sprayed?  Come on.  We can do better than that!

I believe we should seek a healthy and vibrant economy where the maximum number of people can be working hard and making money—in a word, “prospering”.  Ever since I worked as an entrepreneur I have been enamored with the free market.  I started a beach volleyball camp for kids in Redondo Beach called the “Dave Goss Beach Volleyball Camps” (please excuse the self-aggrandizement).   I ran it for five years, made decent money, and led 34 kids to Christ.  I am so glad that I live in a country where I could do that!

When the Israelites are about to go into captivity in Babylon for the tremendous accumulation of their sins and idolatry, the prophet Jeremiah gives this instruction: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7)

Let’s take these words to heart and pray for our country, then fully seek both its peace and prosperity.  Amen.

I have to confess that the primary takeaway from the morning with Jesus on the mountain was the realization that I am selfisly hedonistic when it comes to worshipping God.  I, personally, got so much personal pleasure and joy from it that I, for one millisecond, felt guilty.  I didn’t receive any orders for feeding the homeless or rescuing prisoners from unjust imprisonments or marching for peace on the capitol steps.  Should I have?

Some might say “YES”.  I wouldn’t argue with them.  It is true that God is deeply interested in all such causes.  Jesus was constantly doing good and speaking out against injustice.  If I was listening better perhaps I would have heard his voice calling me to join him in one these.  No doubt, God is there working on behalf of the orphans, widows, poor, and imprisoned.

But at least for this morning…for me personally…I believe this answer was “NO”.  I think Jesus just wanted me to enjoy Him and I believe that Jesus just wanted to enjoy me.

John Piper wrote a book some years ago called, “Desiring God”.  The byline of the book is “Confessions of a Christian Hedonist”.  I understood that this morning.  From just a few short hours of time spent in prayer and seeking God, I caught a gust of his “Ruah”.  I spent moments in His Presence.  He was very near.  And I got so much personal pleasure, joy, and sheer delight from the time!  It affected my heart on a deep level and has slanted my day toward the things of God in a dynamic way.  I have had a clear “divine encounter” already this morning.  So what do I make of it all as I try to keep perspective on the vital causes of Christ in a world so corrupt and in need of Christian workers (“spiritual soldiers”)?

I believe that such times of worship and joy in the Presence of God are, in fact, the cause of Christ.  We are to know Him and make Him known.  That was Jesus’ own prayer for us, after all.  The only hope for the world is Changed Hearts.  We need that FIRST.  Without the heart change, most, if not all, of our noble efforts to heal, feed, clothe, etc. will end up on the ash heap of eternity.  That’s a pretty bold statement, I know.  Do you agree?

I certainly needed my time with Jesus this morning!  I believe that my resulting efforts to build the Kingdom of Christ and join Him in his work are now much more likely to produce eternal successes.  He’s at the wheel and I am more tuned in to follow His lead.

Going forward we find that we are in the period in the church calendar when we anticipate Pentecost.  The theme of this season is WORSHIP.  My prayer for you is that your week would be full of transforming worship and heart-changing encounters in the Presence of Jesus.