It's All in the Name

By now, everyone has heard of the passing of Steve Jobs, the Founder, President & CEO of Apple, Inc. He was a great man who accomplished great feats that changed technology as we know it, with the collection of iproducts (iPod, iPad, iPhone, iTune, etc.) and the Mac products. We've come to know him as the great 'innovator' as that is one of the best ways to describe what he has done for the world at large.

So, I wanted to take a look at this great man from another perspective. There was something that Steve said at the Stanford University Commencement Address in 2005, that got to me thinking about this.

"Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

And that it what I want to discuss, connecting the dots beginning with our name. The name of a person sheds significant light on who they are and in my opinion, in some way, what they are purposed to do.

Let's look at his name, STEVE JOBS, for example.

Steve: crown, honour, reward", literally "that which surrounds or encompasses

Job: a group of homogeneous (alike) tasks related by similarity of functions.

When we look at this definition and then look at the man, himself, wouldn't you agree that his purpose did indeed coincide with his name because he deserves a crown, honour and reward for all of the tasks that he accomplished in this information age through his innovative technological ideas, concepts and insights?

So again, let's look at the JOBS that Steve Jobs accomplished:

1) Innovator
2) Founder
3) Chairman
4) Chief Executive Officer
5) Advisor
6) Father
7) Husband
8) Son
9) And many more

These are just some of the JOBS that he had to perform, the man himself. But in keeping in line with the definition of his name, Steve was also an Entreprenuer and Business Man whose ideas, concepts and insights created JOBS for thousands of people through his company, directly and countless others, indirectly.

This reminds of the stories in the Bible and how God put great emphasis on names, including His OWN. In the Bible, He has a name for each of His characteristics and those names are who we've come to know Him as. For example:

Jehovah Jireh, our Provider
Jehovah Shalom, our Peace
Jehovah Nissi, our Banner of Love
Jehovah T-sid-kenu, our Righteousness
Jehovah Shammah, Everpresent Everywhere
Jehovah Sabaoth, Our Protector
Jehovah Rapha, Our Healer
Jehovah Raah, Our Shepherd

Also in the Old Testament of the Bible, God would sometimes change people's names to represent their new purpose and characteristics. For example:

Abram to Abraham, Father of many nations (Genesis 17)
Sara to Sarah, Mother of many nations (Genesis 17)
Jacob to Israel, a prince who prevailed with God (Gen 32)
Simon to Peter, the solid rock (John 1)
Saul to Paul, humility and whose strength is made perfect in weakness (Acts)

And of course, when the angels came to Joseph and told him what to name Jesus before His birth (Matthew 1) because He would be the One to save us from sin.

So, as you can see, your name says a lot about who you are and what you are here to do. When I look at my own name, here's how it is defined:

Cassandra: a beautiful princess who was granted the gift of prophecy; a prophetess

Crane: ability to stretch, lift and move

In taking a deeper look at my own name, I see that my purpose and mission in life do indeed coincide with my name. My purpose is to help others to stretch themselves in order to see things from a different perspective and to remove the obstacles that keep them from living their best lives. I can see that there is so much more to each person and the great things that are in store for their lives.

Another is this Soulful Sandstone blog. If you go to my website, you will see that the purpose of this blog is "To inspire and empower people to discover who they are, what they were predestined to do, so that they will live the lives that they dream of, purposefully and passionately, thereby creating experiences that satisfy their souls."

The name Soulful Sandstone means, that we are a creation of a combination of delicate elements, each uniquely designed for a specific purpose, so that we may experience life that expands our souls.

I explained all of that to say this, your name (by birth, marriage and nickname) says alot about you. Just as Steve Jobs' name set the course for his life, so does yours. Steve Jobs connected the dots and lived up to his name.

"JOBS" well done, good and faithful sevant! "JOBS" well done!

So, as you go back to try to connect the dots, go back to the beginning, the day you were born and given your name. What is the meaning/purpose of your name? Are you living up to it?

"I am Master of My Fate: Captain of My Soul"