I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:1, 2)

With my whole heart.  With my whole heart.  That phrase just keeps running over and over again in my being. What does it mean? Do I ever/seldom/sometimes/always give thanks to God “with my whole heart”? The other day one of you sent me a neat story about Steve Jobs, charismatic founder and leader of Apple. It comes from a guy named Vic who works with Google and has had a lot of interchange with Steve Jobs. So one Sunday morning, while attending religious services, Vic gets a call – but it said, “Caller ID Unknown.”  So, he didn’t answer, but on the way home, he listened to the message; it was from Steve Jobs asking Vic to call. He did. Steve apologized for potentially interrupting him in worship. Then he said this:

"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve.

"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

“The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient.”  (!!) That’s passion. That’s “with my whole heart.” That’s the kind of wholehearted thanks from us that would just please God’s heart to no end, I believe. Let’s pray for each other, ok, that we’ll move more and more fully toward loving and thanking God with our whole hearts?

As you know, Steve Jobs has maintained his creative, remarkable, groundbreaking (love those iPhones and iPads!) leadership of Apple through his challenging battle with liver cancer. Vic concludes his story like this: “To one of the greatest leaders I've ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.”  

Give thanks to God today – with your whole heart!