Death and Life

I have an old iPod Nano and a new iPod Classic, if that's the name. My husband has an old Shuffle and a new Classic and just got an iPhone a few weeks ago. We're contemplating an iPad. The fact that we have those and aren't considered Apple junkies says how pervasive Apple products are in our American lives; really the entire civilized world. (But a junkie would never be typing this on a PC. It was cheaper, what can I say?)

I admire intelligence. I admire invention. Probably because while I don't count myself as dumb, the skill sets that I lack are definitely captured in inventors and innovators. I can talk well, I can write well, I can analyze well and I can be creative in certain arts but I cannot grasp technological innovation. Just last week, while in the air, I turned to my husband and said, "I still cannot believe that airplanes can fly. I simply do not understand it." Thinking up inventions and machines not yet existing, I don't understand. Who thinks of it? Who knows how to do it? (One time, I did come up with the idea for a crib-wedge for babies with reflux or congestion. I was sure it was my golden ticket until I looked it up and there it was, already available for purchase.) The creation of technology is amazing to me. And, frankly, a huge indicator of a Creator God in who's image all men are created. Because intellectual gifts like that are not totally random from spontaneous combustion.

I am sombered by the news of Steve Jobs's death. What a great American innovator of my time. He changed the technological landscape of the world. Of course he had a team of genius with him, but he was the face and he was among them. America just lost a champion.

Once I learned of his death, I was struck by a very small reminder about his life posted on National Review Online - that he was adopted. The author thanked his birth mother and his adoptive parents by name. What a great reminder that every life is valuable and who are we to judge who is worthy of life? I posted as my Facebook status that "I am glad that Steve Jobs was adopted and not aborted. 56 years of genius is better than none. You'll be missed." My how much we would have missed if Jobs's birth mother had chosen to end her pregnancy rather than allow life to live and find wanting parents to parent him? She had no idea then but she found out and I'm sure that information blessed her. It would have blessed me if I were her.

How much have we missed by the others' who were never given such an opportunity? We will never know what society lost or what individual blessings women and families lost. It's just loss.

If you believe the Bible, which I do, technically Jesus was an unplanned and probably at some point, to some extent, an unwanted pregnancy from Mary's perspective. Immaculate conception to a betrothed woman. Totally not cool. But it ended up very, very cool. And what an eternal blessing ensued! Obviously, that's a bit different from the situation that you or I, or the girl next door would find ourselves in, but it is an example to show that there is value in life and there is a Creator of life, and it's not just the girl and the boy in the bedroom.

When you think about Steve Jobs's death; when you praise his life and call him a "visionary," as the President just did in a statement; think about your position on life, too. Whether you belive the Bible or not.