The Cloud

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The New Revised Standard Version The Example of Jesus

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Progress

The Best Company in the World

There are a few IT folks in the room, so I tread lightly with this next story...

In 1984, Apple released the first Macintosh Computer.

It cost $2,495

It had a 9 inch black and white screen at a 512 x 342 pixels

It had 128 KB of RAM.

It weighed 16 pounds, roughly the same as a gallon of paint.

It was considered at the time one of the most powerful, if not revolutionary pieces of technology available.

In 2020, Apple released the iPhone 12.

It costs $799, or 70% less than the Mac.

It has a 6.1 inch color Retina HD OLED Screen with 5 times the pixel density.

It has 4 gigs of RAM, 31,000 times the memory of the original MAC

It weighs 5.12 ounces, and fits in my pocket.

Now, I’m an Apple fan boy, but the truth is that almost all technology companies can chart a similar trajectory.

From here to there.

Now imagine two slightly different scenerios:

After creating the MAC, Steve Jobs and the team at Apple sit back and say “We’ve done it! This is the best computer there is, so it’s probably the best computer there’s ever going to be! No more research and development, let’s just make a million of these!”

Or...

Standing on the shore of the original Mac, Steve Jobs and team tried to jump all the way into the future and build the iPhone 12 in 1984.

One scenerio is a horrible business model, and the other is quite literally impossible.

What happened between here and there was a whole bunch of upgrades, tweaks, and innovations.

Year over year, sometimes the updates and upgrades were barely noticeable for the user.

And what’s more, Steve Jobs passed away in 2011.

This means that somewhere in the midst of all those upgrades and tweaks, a new team had to step in and help get the company from Mac to iPhone.

What one started, others had to finish.

And they’re still going!

The Saints

Who is it that taught you about Jesus?

I remember when I was a boy learning about Jesus at Beulah Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh from Reverend Jim Guyer.

I remember how animated he would get in the pulpit, how much passion he had.

I remember Sunday school lessons with my friend Jeremy’s dad as teacher.

I remember a kindly old couple Jack and Helen who worked with our youth group.

As luck would have it, they moved to Westminster shortly thereafter, so I had some baked in mentors working with me at my last church.

I remember a good friend Carl Lindstrom, who has since passed away, who served as a chairperson for our youth committee once.

He was in his 90s, but carried such a deep affection for the teenagers of our church as well as the (still then) young youth pastors in charge of them.