I am an Unemployed. I won’t say exactly how long I’ve been such. Just that it’s been longer than William Henry Harrison’s term as President and shorter than James Garfield’s. (Thank you Wikipedia.)

One day I’m confidently standing on – the next, I’m laid off. My obvious expendability, slightly humbling. Like not playing in the Big Game and my team still winning 54 to 7 without me.

But hey – us Unemployed, we didn’t like our job that much anyway, right? Yes, maybe being an Unemployed is going to be one of those blessings in disguise, an open window next to a closed door, a glass of lemonade produced from our severance package of sour lemons. Maybe, we’ve been given exactly what we’ve prayed for all along – our life back!

Time, truly, is now on our side. We can wake up at 10:45 AM and stay in our pajamas until 1:00 PM, calling all our cubicle-confined-friends to let them know of this eating-Captain-Crunch fact. We can exercise at 2:30 PM at the gym; every machine usually occupied by the sweaty, after-work-mob, now waiting for us with pristine, open arms. We can eat First Dinner at 4:30 PM, then Second Dinner at 7:00. Go to bed at 9:00 PM or 2:30 AM, it doesn’t matter. We are our boss! Sure we don’t pay well, but we have our freedom!

Now we have time to finish all those projects – clean out the garage, finish that scrapbook, and finally write that article for our favorite website. (Uh-Hum.)

Better yet, we can even start constructing that novel, hammer out that business plan, or find that lead guitar player for our band.

Yes, maybe this unfortunate termination is going to be an unfortunate, fortunate. Maybe God does have his hand on this, working all things out for good like we’ve been promised. Years from now we’ll look back at this time in our lives and say, (on our interview with Conan O’Brien, after our book/band goes international) “You know Conan, it’s funny. Life really began the day I got laid off.”
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But if there’s a heads on one side, there’s a tail on the other. And unfortunately around the month-unemployed, still-can’t-find-a job-anniversary, the tail hits a growth spurt.

First, there’s no denying that your bank account has taken quite ill. First Dinner – now consists of chicken, Second Dinner – shrimp. Not these actual meats mind you, but broth-flavors for your bowl of Top Ramen.

Then your ad on Craigslist for a guitar player only gets two responses. One from a thirteen year old who plays the violin in his music class, Tuesday and Thursday. The second from a guy named Rosco, who doesn’t seem to really play any instrument whatsoever, but desperately wants to meet in person to “figure it out from there.” Umm…

Then someone asks you for the 49th time, “Soooo…what do you do for a living?” Forcing you to put on that conversational magic show once again, attempting to pull a rabbit out of your hat that died two weeks ago.

Now it’s 2:30 PM. On a Tuesday. You’re prostrate on the couch and watching that Saved by the Bell DVD set you secretly own, getting angrier with every episode because how can Screech be on television for ten years and I can’t even get hired at Starbucks!!! Where’s that bottle of wine! (I might be speaking from experience here.)

Yes, being an Unemployed begins losing its luster, the shine turning quite dull. You can never truly relax, because you don’t feel like you’ve ever done any thing worth relaxing from.

Discouragement, Depression, and Despair begin silently following you around like three sick dogs, jumping on your lap whenever you sit down.

“God, why have you forsaken me? You saved the lepers, tax collectors, and prostitutes. Now please God, save me – an Unemployed!”
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However, after watching Disc Four of my Boy Meets World set, I decided to open my Bible and stumbled upon this verse:

“Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us” (Romans 5:4-5).

This verse starts with “suffering,” and funny enough, suffering can actually mean suffering. And I guess every step from suffering to perseverance to character to hope is not a Sunday stroll through the park. Perseverance is doggedness. It’s a steadfast and long-continued application, action, and belief in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and discouragement. It’s continuing forward, one simple step after another, with shoes smothered in quick drying cement.

Why in the world did I think the reality of this verse was going to be easy? Why did I think people would lavish praise on me throughout the job-searching process, as I take one unglamorous step after another? I forgot that we praise perseverance only after someone has completely and officially persevered.

I need to keep moving forward, get creative, and look for ways that God is changing my course. Perseverance doesn’t necessarily mean continually running head first into that brick wall, if there’s a half-open door to the right. Perseverance means an unwillingness to not hope. To refuse disbelief. Perseverance is an all-consuming trust that God is working out every thing for our good. Even when it feels quite the opposite.

Maybe you’re not even unemployed. With so much shifting around us – in the church, the nation, our world, you don’t have to be unemployed to be suffering. But in this time of 7.5-Richter-scale-shaking, let us hold tight to Hope. (And by that I don’t mean bear-hugging Obama. Secret Service doesn’t like that.)

No, let us cling to our ultimate Hope. Let us remember that the “testing of our faith is developing perseverance” and becoming faitheverance – forming something within us that is forever indispensable.

God, grant us all – Unemployed and not, the strength to move forward in Faitheverance.

Even in these times of doubt, let us be obsessed with Hope.

God save us: the Many, the Humbled, the Unemployed.

About Paul Angone

I recently completed a manuscript titled To Be Determined: An Un-Christian Story of a Christian Finding His Way.