I Lost My Job Yesterday!

Good morning! Today is the first day of a new life for me! What happened yesterday still hurts, that will heal with time and a good dose of listening to the Holy Spirit. I have sat up and laid awake trying to think of the reason why I was selected to be among those let go, but that is a useless exercise; I may never find out the true reason or reasons. I have read and reread the company announcements and compared what was said with those I know lost their jobs and just cannot reconcile any one set of criteria, other than the number. Those of us let go are "honored" to be one-third of ten percent, usually I don't do that well in raffles and prize drawings. If a raffle awards 3.3 percent prizes, I usually don't get anything!

Today, I start anew. I slept in, though that will not continue, I read the Omaha World-Herald, and I studied the Bible for longer than I usually do in the mornings. At 0724, when I am usually on the way to work, I am just sitting down with a cup of coffee to start writing. Today, I plan to list my writing projects for at least the next 3 months, some will take longer than that, but starting them is the main thing; I am going to work on some cabling down in the basement to get ready for my new Internet service, and work on some cleanup. I also need to make a trip to the bank, which unlike most days, I can do at any time. As I move forward, and past this perceived humiliation (heavy emphasis on perceived), I will no doubt find many advantages to self-employment. While I don't enjoy the golden parachute of the CEO's and other executives, you may note in the article that a severance package has been offered. I have a parachute, even if not a golden one! However, one of my first thoughts about that is ... God is my strength and shield! I will not of course refuse the severance, but I will trust in God first.

How God works in seemingly quiet ways! During my cold about a week ago, I rebuilt my office in another room. A lot of work for a sick person, though a cold is by no means incapacitating. The good thing is that now I am set up with a lot of desk space, two pc's, and a couple of printers. I did mess up on one printer though. I thought only of the advantage of having the power switch on a strip near at hand... and then plugged the power strip into my little UPS. Needless to say, the first time I fired up the laser printer last night, the UPS gave an angry "squeep!" and started to shut down. That will be another little project for today.

Did I mope about last night? You bet... while making chocolate chip cookies. There is something very comforting about baking or cooking something after a traumatic event, and that activity really helped me last night. Oh, boy! Talk about the outpouring of support! We all hate to see this happen to anyone, and I only hope that I can respond as well when someone else needs this kind of support. I pray that no one else loses their job at Cabela's or any other employer. Sidney will no doubt see some very serious conversations around the water coolers, bakeries, and coffee shops today. Today, my recovery begins, the town and others may take a bit more time, and I will do my best to write supportive and encouraging words for all. I want to thank all of you for the notes of support, and all of those who stopped by yesterday to lend a helping ear.

A note on the "perceived" humiliation. We are taught from early in our lives that a job is the thing to have. A grown man, and now grown women too, support their families and themselves through having a job. A job loss was then, and is now, a traumatic event for a family and for a man (this one in particular) or woman. However, I did nothing wrong and this was not a firing for some cause. While it seems humiliating to be singled out in this way, I need to get past that and see this for the wonderful opportunity and message from God that it is. Not that long ago, I did ask God to show me beyond any doubt when He wanted me to start writing. The sign may be painful and unexpected at the time of my receiving it, but there is no doubt in my mind that it has arrived and cannot be missed. Ouch! Yes, Lord, I hear you loud and clear!

May God strengthen those who need Him on this day,

Bucky

Running on and on today

Good Saturday morning to you! Wow, the prices at the retail stores are really biting hard these days. It doesn't seem to matter which store; they are all biting the wallet hard. The question that must come to mind is: if the prices of many things continues to rise, will my paycheck see a similar rise? Probably not. We will get some letter from one of the company officers about how we must control costs in order to stay competitive in this tough economy. The number one cost they are referring to will of course be employee pay raises. However, we cannot give out pay raises and price increases all willy-nilly or you could get a boom town kind of thing going where everyone earns a lot, but everything costs a lot too. As you can tell, I don't have the answers to the economic troubles. My understanding of economics and how it all works is not going to win any prize. Like you, I read the news and magazine articles and trust those with titles and/or letters behind their names to explain things to me. Is there a possibility that some or all of them are misleading me, deliberately or otherwise? Yes, that is one of the reasons why my faith is in God. When a person is among what some would call the "little" people, or others might call the middle or working class, we simply don't have a lot of personal knowledge of the large institutions that we hope are managing the even larger things well, like the economy, for example. Now hold up a sec, isn't God even larger, or more powerful, or more unknowable than any human institution or activity? Yes and no. Certainly God is all-powerful, but unknowable? Imagine if the federal government had a direct message pipeline to your heart or mind, a pipeline that you knew was trustworthy, wouldn't it be easier to know the workings of that institution? We come to trust God with everything that we have, and He accepts us just as we are when we first believe in His Son. The institutions of this world do not know our thoughts, and would probably want to change some of them if they did know. While the powers of this world seek to control us as a population, the real power in the universe wants to have a personal relationship with each of us... on an individual basis. How incredible and wonderful is that?

I am going off the deep end today. I read about the passage of the rescue or bailout package through our government, and like many am left wondering what it all means for me. The fact that a new car loan might be easier in a month or so doesn't mean that I should run out and buy one. While I ponder the potential effects of the latest move by our government, I wonder if there is a book that I can read to better understand the institutions and bureaucracies of the government. God gave us a wonderful handbook into His desires for us, His love for us, and His Son, who came to save us. The Bible is a fairly imposing book for length and complexity, and yet is also short and simple. Compare that with the Code of Federal Regulations, the rules our government and its citizens are supposed to abide by. Don't run out to buy one, Title 47 covering telecommunications is more than twice the size of the Bible and comprises only a small part of the CFR. God's handbook looks much simpler when compared to the rules handed down by our government, and for content the Bible is hands down much more valuable.

Actually, if everyone obeyed the Bible, we wouldn't need the CFR at all! A person who loved everyone else would not try to drive a truckload of hazardous material through a town. A person who loves doesn't try to embezzle from an institution. A government wouldn't need extensive rules to govern if all of us faithfully obeyed the two important commandments as stated by Jesus: love God with all of your heart, your mind, and your strength. And equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. That is not an exact quote, but you will recognize the words from your reading in the Gospels.

What other news do we have today, since I am going on at such length this morning. My cold is finally letting me live again, though a sniffle and hack or two remains today. Our favorite football team, the Huskers, stands a good chance of breaking another long streak as the 5th-ranked Missouri Tigers come to Lincoln. Missouri's team has not won at Lincoln for like, 30 years, but the decline of our college team may be evident today. Even with a new coach, it will take some time for Nebraska to regain a place among the top teams in the nation. So which is more important, the news about the economy or the football team. In most households in Nebraska, the football game will take precedence until sometime on Monday, after the game is well discussed of course. Perhaps in this case, a sports diversion is good for us, the news about the economy will take a lot of explanation and pondering. I haven't had the courage to check my 401K balance in the past two weeks; call me a coward if you will, but I figure there isn't much that I can do about it anyway. The time to move money out of stocks would have been about a month ago, long before I had any knowledge of the "panic". The worries of today are more than enough for me; trying to gaze into the economic crystal ball only leaves me with a headache.

Alright then! I think I have rambled on enough for one day. Let us think on the glory of God today!

Bucky