I know it is only by Gods grace I am afforded the work opportunities He gives to me. I am very thankful to Him and to my firm!

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Reminds me a wonderful post my friends the Angells posted recently on their web site about being thankful in ALL things:

http://www.bentleyfarm.org/2008/11/greatest-saint.html

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I didn’t study biology at university (accounting, actually) but left the corporate world after several years to pastor a congregation of the small denomination I belonged to. Served there for four years, and was transferred to another for two more, before some heartbreaking stuff best not discussed here took place, and my denominational apparatus decided, together with my second congregation, that they’d had enough of me.

Could see it coming for a few weeks before, but the official bad news came along … wait for it … on my 40th birthday. Happy birthday, RR, and welcome to your mid-life crisis!

Being neither professionally qualified nor spiritually ready to do ministry elsewhere after all the bruising (I didn’t go to seminary, but was essentially an employed lay preacher for six years), and uncertain how to re-enter the corporate world, I was looking at substitute teaching and bus driving, and such. And worrying about losing our house and moving in with my MIL. Resumes to companies doing the sort of work I’d once done got nowhere.

Then I got a call from a fellow pastor (ministry part-timer) who worked for a local government near me that had an opening in its treasury management function. First glance: I don’t know how to do a job like that! Second glance: what could it hurt? Interview practice, right? Well, they offered me the job; they’d had trouble filling it. Both parties to this deal were desperate, so it was a good match!

I’ve been here for four years, have done good work, and have enjoyed myself. I also took the opportunity of having been run out of town on a rail to bring my family to a much healthier church. We’ve thrived there, and have found plenty of opportunity for gospel ministry.

Couldn’t have said it then, but getting fired was the best thing for me.

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Being in newspapers, I’m very concerned about future layoffs, especially now with the economy all topsy-turvy. We’ve already been through several rounds of deep cuts as it is, any one of us knows we could be next. There’s such a domino effect also: Mervyn’s goes out of business, we lose another big ad.

Ten years ago the small newspaper I worked for completely folded and ceased publication (after some 100 years in the community). Everyone was let go except for the editor, me and 1 other reporter. We were all transferred to our larger sister paper across town, where I still work.

But I’ll never forget that day, with all my co-workers packing up their desks (I’d also started hauling things out to my car that morning, assuming the rumors that had been going around all week were true and all of us would be let go).

The other “spared” reporter and I finally went out for a long lunch as it was way too uncomfortable after learning we were being kept on as our co-workers all were being laid off. While we were relieved to still have our jobs, there was certainly no joy in any of it. I think someone called it “survivor guilt.”

Interestingly, everyone who was let go that day landed on their feet, most getting better jobs, but I’m sure it was no fun going through the unemployment. And so many good and talented people are lost through these things, often those with the most experience (and higher-end salaries compared to newer hires).

I’ve only been laid off once in my life, 26 years ago, right before Christmas, and I was out of work for only about a month. But it would be much tougher now, I’m afraid, both due to my age & the fact that “my” industry — the thing I’ve done all my life — is basically imploding.

MIM: So what’s a Christmas bonus?

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So it was not a complete surprise, a month or so later, to have a conference call with the HR director and the company president telling me that our whole department was being eliminated. But I had to sit on that information for about six weeks, even going to a publishers’ meeting in DC and talking to clients as if we were going to meet their needs in June of that year, when I knew very well that no one would be working in my office past the end of April.

The HR director and president flew to Maine for a meeting with all the employees, and didn’t want me to tell anyone why we were having the meeting, but I insisted on breaking the news myself before they arrived in the office. Not a pretty scene, as I recall, but probably better than if the out-of-town corporate folks had been the ones to tell them.

God’s hand of providence was at work through every detail of that messy, uncomfortable spring. But it still was messy and uncomfortable!

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By the ides of October on a bright Monday morning I was called into our meeting room (the kitchen), and I knew what was coming because the three chairs were set up that are set up for when we had our evaluations.

I had been praying for wisdom to know if I should quit because I thought it would be good to get done with school and simultaneously study to get ready for the PE (professional engineers) exam. But, I had been memorizing Psalm 62 and the main idea that I was trying to live out from that passage was being content with where God placed me and resting in Him rather than trying to change the circumstances myself. Needless to say God made it abundantly clear what my focus needs to be on now!

I had two bosses who were completely equal. The boss that told me I was going to be laid off was shaking when he gave me all the paperwork I needed regarding the IRA and health insurance. They wrote me a letter of recommendation and stated in the letter that I was being laid off because their big projects were put off or on hold. I asked if I should finish the day or leave right away–right away.

My two former bosses started the company four years ago, and there were six of us total. I was one of two that were laid off. Now there are four.

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However, I do have a marketable set of skills that is adaptable, and I’m already compiling a list of places to begin the job search should the need arise. I suppose it’s nothing to be proud of, but in my 26+ years of employment, I’ve had 16 or so jobs. The good thing is that I’ve only been out of work a few weeks total during that time. And one of those weeks, I took off on purpose just to get a breather. So if I know how to do anything, it’s find a job. Of course I don’t really want to do that right now… I love my job, and don’t want to let it go.

I should tell my boss that he has to wait til my birthday in May to let me go. It’s traditional. I’ve been laid off on my birthday so many times that it’s almost funny….

However, I was sad for all of my co-workers today. One of them was let go on his birthday yesterday. What a Christmas present. No need to ask about the Christmas party or the bonus. It’s more appropriate to ask if we’ll have any work in the next couple of weeks.

Or.. go beat the bushes for it. We need to find opportunities opening up and take advantage of it. When businesses fold, it usually means those customers have to find other places to buy….

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