The upside of down

Pick up the newspaper, listen to the talk at any coffee shop, look at the faces in the crowd, and you’ll know that times are tough. It seems that nearly every industry has taken a hit, dragging investments, housing and basic security into the dark pit of uncertainty.

We’re scared.

And the personal toll has been huge. We all know people who have been laid off, fired or whose jobs have disappeared altogether. For millions, months have now turned into years of unemployment or under-employment. Maybe this is you.

I’m one of the blessed ones, with a period of continuous employment through this whole mess, but not so for my friend John.

John was a sales representative for one of the nation’s largest drug companies, with a solid 23 plus years behind him. To be “fair,” the company didn’t lay off by seniority – rather they used a lottery system and his number was pulled.

With a wife and children at home, he could have, he should have got angry. But his very first reaction was of expectancy. “I don’t like it. I don’t understand it. But I look forward to seeing the hand of God in our lives,” he wrote in his journal on the day he was laid off.

Photo Courtesy Kirsten Michelle Photography