Unemployment, You and God's Rescue Ladder

By Andre Fourie

There are generally three options when you are unemployed:

1.Seek new employment (work for someone else).
2.Start your own business (work for yourself).
3.Stay unemployed.

This book highlights the entrepreneurial way where you’ll have to grasp the nettle and start your own business. It will attempt to take some of the sting out of the nettle and guide the reader to get back on his feet again.

THE ROPE LADDER
After losing my job, I found myself at the bottom of a dark, black well. God reached out to me, a sorrowful bundle of despair and I saw His two arms as two ropes. My eyes were opened to all the God-given resources around me - assets I could use as rungs for a rope ladder to escape this hole of misery. Each following chapter deals with a rung.

RUNG 1: YOU
As God’s creation you are unique – equipped with distinctive talents, abilities and gifts. This chapter will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, how to optimise the former and deal with the latter.

RUNG 2: YOUR FAITH
With “real life” illustrations of God’s helping hand, this chapter aims to reinforce faith in the almighty God. It also leads the reader to (re-)discover a day-to-day relationship with God.

RUNG 3: YOUR ATTITUDE
My attitude to my circumstances very often dictates my actions as well as the end result. The reader is led to see how attitudes can change circumstances and, conversely, how attitudes can sometimes prevent you from reaching your potential or obtaining your goals.

RUNG 4: YOUR SPOUSE
The impact of unemployment on the reader’s spouse and the potential harm it can bring to a marriage are highlighted in this chapter. A letter to the reader’s spouse (which can be given to the spouse to read) is included in this chapter. It explains the emotions, fears and everyday-conflicts the unemployed person faces and what support the spouse can give.

RUNG 5: YOUR HOUSEHOLD
When the unemployed has a family to feed and care for, the burden of unemployment can be overwhelming. Demands of modern day life can devastate a family if not heeded. Practical hints and ideas are presented on how to break the news to the family, getting the family involved in tackling the setback and how to steer the family to safe ground by encouraging them to stand together.

RUNG 6: YOUR FRIENDS
A short passage to demonstrate the role that friends play in your life - “friends” who will abandon you, but also those gems that will support you during your troubled times.

RUNG 7: YOUR COMMUNITY
Your community is an untapped treasure. This chapter briefly illustrates what an important role the community can play during troubled times. The key, however, is to get involved. A few suggestions on how to engage with your community are outlined.

RUNG 8: YOUR PLANNING
Without using too much academic jargon, the reader is introduced to simple planning techniques. These guidelines are applicable not only to a business environment, but particularly to bring order into an upside-down life again.

RUNG 9: YOUR TIME
Time is an inevitable requisite for planning and for this reason the reader is alerted to pitfalls and other threats that should be taken note of in order to prevent unnecessary wasting of time.

RUNG 10: YOUR MONEY
Practical hints are given about financial matters, both for personal and business purposes. The dangers (and benefits) of debt and the importance of saving are highlighted.

CONCLUSION: YOUR’E OUT... NOW WHAT?
Although the reader has managed to get out of the depths of that gloomy, dark hole, he has to realise that he is now standing on the first step of a new episode in his life. Brand new challenges lie ahead. The reader is given an inkling of what to expect from suppliers, friends, life, mood swings and many more.

EPILOGUE: ELVES AND DIESEL ENGINES
Unemployment, You and God’s Rescue Ladder concludes with a final inspirational a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andre Fourie
• Release date: Apr 9, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476089751

Andre Fourie

André Fourie was born, bred and educated in Bloemfontein, South Africa.In 2002, after the company he had worked for was liquidated, he and his wife decided to embark on a family adventure and moved to England with their three children. This venture has now extended to thirteen years and they have settled in the United Kingdom as British citizens with dual nationality.After obtaining an Honours degree in Marketing and Customer Relationship Management (1988), he followed a career in the financial sector in South Africa. His career took him to different jobs where he was, among other things, able to exploit his writing skills as copywriter and writer of training manuals. His first e-book, Unemployment, you and God's rescue ladder, is a blend of his firsthand knowledge of being unemployed, his financial/marketing education and the knowledge/experience gained over more than thirty years (the last twenty in senior positions).In the mid 1990’s he became highly inspired and seriously put finger to keyboard after winning a national competition for first time writers – resulting in the publication of his entry.His second attempt, a motivational book, was published by one of the major publishing houses in South Africa (Van Schaik, now Tafelberg) in 1998.He subsequently has seen many articles under his name being published in various magazines and other publications in South Africa. Most of the formerly mentioned publications, though, were in his mother tongue, Afrikaans.His latest project in Afrikaans (Monochroom Reënboog) the story of a boy growing up during the 1960’s - the height of the Apartheid-years - in South Africa.

Book preview

UNEMPLOYMENT, YOU AND

GOD’S RESCUE LADDER

FROM DOWN IN THE DUMPS TO SEVENTH HEAVEN

By André J Fourie

Cover design: Melissa Fourie

Unemployment, You and God’s Rescue Ladder

© Copyright: André Fourie 2012.

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

Smashwords Edition

Thank you, God, for your love and guidance

… and thank you for my wonderful wife and children,

and family and friends.

A special thank you to

Rose Peacock and

Melissa Fourie.

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be terrified;

do not be discouraged,

for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1: 9

CONTENTS

PROLGUE

THE ROPE LADDER

RUNG 1: YOU

RUNG 2: YOUR FAITH

RUNG 3: YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIFE

RUNG 4: YOUR SPOUSE

LETTER TO YOUR SPOUSE

RUNG 5: YOUR HOUSEHOLD

RUNG 6: YOUR FRIENDS

RUNG 7: YOUR COMMUNITY

RUNG 8: YOUR PLANNING

RUNG 9: YOUR TIME

RUNG 10: YOUR MONEY

YOU’RE OUT… NOW WHAT?

ELVES AND DIESEL ENGINES

REFERENCES

PROLOGUE

Redundancy. Unemployment. Lay-offs. These are today’s buzz words, words echoing on TV, in the newspapers, through the hallways and at social gatherings – how they affect other people. Until, all of a sudden, the harsh reality comes knocking at your door: you’ve just become one of the statistics. Your thoughts run amok. They change from panic over lost security, to illusionary visions of how you are going to indulge yourself with your golden handshake – if you were one of the lucky ones. Frequently, however, it is the run-up to an immensely traumatic experience and unless you have an immediate safe harbour to sail to, this will be a journey that could be a potential back-breaker for even the toughest amongst us.

Your emotions yo-yo through the whole spectrum of feelings – up one day and down the next. You feel guilty of something, heavens knows what. You may even feel worthless; suddenly you are everything, except something meaningful.

You may be one of the fortunate ones who have received a severance package or perhaps a month’s salary in advance, some have received nothing. Even if you are one of the fortunate ones, a severance package will not be a passport to everlasting fortune. In many cases, a large part of it is retirement funds that should be invested very sensibly for old age. Any pay-outs you may have received for leave or other benefits are nevertheless not going to last forever; you have to draw on those resources with extreme caution. What's more, you’ll have to pull out all the stops very quickly to start generating an income again, either temporarily (until you have found new full-time employment) or on a more permanent basis. Ideally you would prefer to have a permanent position again, but this may not prove to be as easy as in previous times. You will have to consider all your options.

So, what options are there?

Well, basically there are only three options:

1.) Work for someone else. 2.) Work for yourself. 3.) Don’t work at all. The one thing that is really not an option is to go curl up in a corner and wallow in self-pity.

The first option, to work for someone else, is the safest - or is it? These days one wonders. You send out your curriculum vitae to as many employment agencies as possible in an effort to land a new job without solely relying on them. You have to market yourself, your skills and your knowledge. Remain open-minded about possible job offers as you will probably find that you cannot be as picky as you would like to be, because there are now scores of applicants for far fewer vacancies.

The last option, not to work, can really only be considered by those whose circumstances force them into that situation - pregnant women, people with small children who need care, other carers and people who face physical or mental challenges in the work place. Oh yes, and of course those fortunate ones who financially can afford not to work.

The option that this book highlights is the second option, self-employment – the entrepreneurial way out of unemployment. Not because it is an easy way out, but because, with hard work, perseverance and faith, it can, in the long run, lead down a very profitable road. I want to repeat though: it will not be plain sailing.

This option could be a permanent one or simply a temporary solution to fill the gap until you have permanent employment again. It is extremely important, however, to ensure, through careful planning, that this temporary solution doesn’t degenerate into a prolonged nightmare – a nightmare of accumulated debt and unfinished obligations.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t really matter what your decision about the future is; the fact of the matter is you are NOW without a job and income, it is causing you loads of distress and for a while you’ll have to grasp the nettle

This book will attempt to take some of the sting out of the nettle. It is not so much a manual as an attempt to provide you with a few pointers, a route map. My wish is that people in this situation will benefit from advice based on the knowledge that I gained during my own learning process.

If the thoughts reproduced here help just one person to find the way through the jungle of unemployment, then this book will have accomplished its goal.

*****

THE ROPE-LADDER

SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION.

Robert Schuller. Translated from Sukses is oneindig. Struik Christian Books.

The company that I worked for had to close its doors due to the financial dilemma it ran into. Wrong decisions and wrong choices by top management lead to the inevitable. This left all my colleagues and me without employment - no severance package, no more medical insurance or other company benefits, and no more company cars. It was final. No negotiations, nothing to discuss - the company was liquidated.

To me it felt as if I was pushed - in slow motion - over the edge into a dark, dry well. All sorts of emotions interchanged with each other while I was plummeting down this black hole: Shock. Bewilderment. Dismay. Anxiety (I have a wife and children to support). Anger (why me?). Anxiety, again (how am I going to find a new job?). Uncertainty (how will I settle my bills, my mortgage payment?). Embarrassment (what will the neighbours think?). I was, still in slow motion, tumbling down this dark well and all I was aware of was the dark depths of despair that had became a reality.

Then I hit the bottom, in pieces, sorry for myself. Oh, you know the usual old story. I thought I was down and out, a goner. How can anyone in my position ever see the light again? I felt something of David’s sentiments when he was fleeing from Saul. In Psalm 25:16-18 he pleaded:

"Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart have multiplied;

free me from my anguish.

Look upon my affliction and my distress

and take away all my sins."

After David was appointed as king by Samuel, it took quite some time for him to ascend the throne. During this period he had some rather extraordinary experiences. He defeated the giant, Goliath; he had been summoned to stay in the king’s palace to play music for Saul; and he formed a very close bond with the king’s son, Jonathan. On the other hand, an element of friction started to develop between David and Saul, and it escalated to such an extent that David had to run for his life. He encountered treachery and had to struggle and fight for existence under exceptionally harsh circumstances. We read, though, that he triumphed over his situation because, amongst other things, Michal, his wife; his friend Jonathan; and, above all, God, stood by him. In the face of death and despair, he never gave up, and in the end he ascended the throne as conqueror, and ultimately the King of all kings was born from his lineage. His route from the depths of the dark well to the throne was full of obstacles; yet, he is regarded as the greatest king in Israel’s history.

We know in faith that God will always come to our rescue, frequently, however, not in the way that we as humans might have anticipated (or originally