SUGAR-WATER VENDOR OR WORLD-CHANGER?

sugar-water vendor or world-changer?

Recently, I read an intriguing article by an unknown author.  It motivated me to revisit my life-mission and life-vision.  I hope it will have the same impact on you.  Please read and prayerfully ponder.

Who among us could live without computers?  It seems they’re everywhere – in our studies at home, on our desks at work, in the library, the bank and even in the cafe.  We get pleasure from them, we get frustrated by them, but we truly need them.

It’s only a relatively recent phenomenon.  Just three generations ago, the Chairman of IBM declared that there is a world market for only five computers!  As recently as 1977, the President of Digital Equipment claimed there is no reason anyone would want to have a computer in their home!

The global technology revolution was brought to us in large part by Steven Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers.  Steve Jobs was just 21 when he and Steve Wozniak invented the Apple Computer.  Until then, computers were a monstrous mass of vacuum tubes which took up whole rooms.  These two men managed to take that mass of tubes and incorporate them inside a box small enough to sit on top of a desk.

Jobs and Wozniak offered their invention to Atari.  They weren’t interested in big bucks.  All they wanted was a salary and the opportunity to continue their work.  Atari turned them down.  Then they offered it to Hewlett-Packard, but that corporation rejected their invention.  It seemed that Jobs and Wozniak alone could envision the possibilities.  So Jobs sold his Volkswagen and Wozniak sold his calculator, and with $1300 they formed Apple Computers.  The company was named Apple in memory of one happy summer that Jobs had spent working in an orchard.

By all accounts Steve Jobs is an iconic visionary.  Spurred on by that vision, he formed a monumentally successful computer company.  However, Jobs soon realized that if his vision was to reach full fruition more managerial expertise was required.  So Jobs approached John Sculley, the President of PepsiCo.  There was absolutely no reason why Sculley should leave a highly paid position in an international firm to work with a bunch of computer nerds in a fledgling industry.  Not unsurprisingly, he turned Jobs down.  But Jobs wouldn’t take no for an answer.  He approached Sculley again.  Again Sculley turned him down.  In a last ditch effort, Jobs passionately presented his visionary ideas to John Sculley and asked him a strategic question that motivated him to accept: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared-water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

The rest is history.  Jobs and Sculley fundamentally changed the world.

JESUS CHRIST challenges us with the same question: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling ‘sugar-water’ – or will you embrace the awesome opportunity to transform our world?”  Fact is, most of us spend our lives focused on tasks that neither resonate in time or eternity.  We work tirelessly to accumulate MORE, and perhaps we occasionally find a small space for Christ and His Kingdom in our spare time.  But JESUS CHRIST has a vision – THE VISION – that has (and will) change this world!   the kingdom of God demands to be positioned at the center of our lives, i.e. to make it our very reason for existence.

In the challenging words of our Lord and Savior, JESUS CHRIST, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 - NKJV)

My friend, what have YOU been doing?  And even more importantly, WHAT WILL YOU DO TODAY?

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!