Unemployment

 When I was a kid, I went with my daddy to Calera, Alabama to the unemployment agency to “draw his pennies.”  I had a hard time imagining why pennies.  Why not nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, or dollars?  The first time I went with him I had images of him bringing out large sacks of pennies.  He said that when you are unemployed you got to draw pennies, which was money you paid to the state that you could get when you were on layoff.  Of course, I asked him why he did not pay the state dollars where he could draw dollars when out of work.

Daddy drew his pennies a whole lot when we moved back to Alabama from Illinois.  Having moved back to the South, unemployment was something that we grew accustomed to experiencing.  Dad was often the low man on the totem pole where he was employed.  With many younger men in the employment pole, daddy had difficulty finding a job.  When he did, at the first economic downturn, daddy got to draw his pennies.  When Christmas season approached, we knew that daddy would be on layoff.  When the weather was inclement, daddy would be sent home.  When the mill quit taking logs, daddy got to stay at home.  When the lime stockpile was overstocked, the plant sent daddy home for a few weeks.  Layoff became a way of life.

I would watch daddy during these layoffs.  He would get depressed.  He did not suffer depression, which I am thankful.  If he had, he would have been suicidal.  When times were hard, he would talk of it since his dad had committed suicide due to a crippling injury.  Daddy did have many days that he would mope around and have feeling of hopelessness.

In order to draw his pennies, he had to be actively seeking employment.  I have watched him on many occasions return home discouraged.  Place after place would turn him down because of his age, repeated unemployment, and dozens of other reasons.  During these times, we never received food stamps or government assistance.  Daddy did not want the government to control him by funding him.  When we farmed, he would not take government assistance saying he wanted to plant what he wanted and not controlled by Uncle Sam.

I was in the sixth grade before daddy had a job where he did not have to worry with a layoff.  He worked at this plant for more sixteen years as a heavy equipment mechanic.  Diagnosed with cancer in 1982, he had to take disability.

I experienced my first layoff while working with Hiwassee Land Company.  We were ahead of schedule one summer and the supervisor gave us a few “Moon Days” off.  It was when Neil Armstrong and crew landed on the moon.

My second layoff came in 1973 from Keystone Metal Moulding when there was the “Oil Crisis.”  I had survived several layoffs by Keystone, which made chrome moulding for automobiles, but new car sells were down and unemployment was up.  I was a die-setter. 

My third time off came in 1976 from Linefast Corporation working as a machinist.  I was beginning to think that I was following in my daddy’s steps.  Times were harder.

The real hard layoff was 1982 from Martin Marietta Cement.  I was an oiler with a new house, a new truck, and two babies, Andy and Angel, it was very hard.  This was the first layoff in the history of the plant.  It was a corporate takeover of Martin Marietta by the Bendx Corporation.

This had nothing to do with an economic turndown, my job performance, or my work record, but I, as did everyone on layoff, took it personal.  I remember as dozens of us went to the unemployment agency.  We felt abandoned, dirty, guilty, and ashamed.  We told it horrible to draw our pennies and then told to apply for food stamps.

With that in mind, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the men and women who are suffering layoff in our area.  Join with me as I pray for them.  I have been there and had it not been for the help of the Lord I would not have made it.  My family and I struggled during that five-year layoff.

 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever (Psalm 73:21-26 KJV).

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes (Haggai 1:6 KJV).

PS Aaron came at the end of that five-year layoff. 

Somebody Help Me

Hope is something that this world desperately needs.  People are confused about hope.  I think most people are like Stanley Johnson in the Lending Tree commercial on the riding lawnmower.  If you remember, he says, “I have a great family, a four-bedroom house in great community.  Like my car? It’s new. I belong to the local golf club.  How do I do it? I’m in debt up to my eyeballs.  I can barely pay my finance charges.”  He seems to be living the American Dream until he looks into the camera and says, “Somebody help me.”

Stanley’s idea of hope was getting help and out of debt.  He killed his hope by spending more than he made.  Debt is a “hope killer” unless it makes you hope that you can pay the debt.  People in debt “Rob Peter to pay Paul.”

I remember in one of the churches I pastored that a deacon wanted to give more to the church, but he could not because of debt.  I asked him how serious he was to increase his giving.  After a discussion, he decided either pay off his debt or consolidate his bills and have money to increase his giving. 

Numerous believers do not give due to indebtedness.  I encourage couple contemplating marriage to live by the 80/20 rule.  It is give ten percent to God, save ten percent for themselves, and live on eighty percent of their income.  I tell them to base their income on thirty-two hours, rather than a forty-hour income.  This principle allows you to have room for an unexpected event that you cause them to miss a day’s work.

Unfortunately, most believers do neither.  The first place people cut from their budget is in giving.  I think it is important to remember that the Bible teaches the tithe and that God holds us accountable for the ninety percent He has blessed us.

Momma reminded us of hope every day my brothers and sister were growing up.  She taught us that a better day would come.  We had to focus on the Lord and his plan for our lives.

I remember one time when daddy was on layoff.  This seemed to be quite regular when I was young.  Daddy would “Draw His Pennies.”  The best I could tell was he did not have enough pennies to pay the bills.  One day a man, the dad of one of my classmates, and another man dressed in a shirt and tie drove into the yard in a pickup.  I watched momma cry as the two men loaded our furniture into the pickup truck.  When they left, we did not have a living room or dining room suite as well as some other things.  I felt sorry for momma as she pleaded with the men not to take her furniture.  I found out at school the next day that my classmate’s dad got the furniture for hauling it away from our house.

I do not remember a time that daddy and momma were not in debt.  Daddy had a tendency to make debt and then not pay for it.  Sometimes it was due to a layoff, between jobs, or at other times pure negligence.

Sometimes when I see or read the news, it seems that America spends more than it makes.  In recent days, there have been reports of America’s indebtedness to China.  Our National Debt is astronomical.  The Outstanding Public Debt as of 16 Feb 2011 at 09:29:29 PM GMT is: $14,142,147,989,931.15.  According to the National Debt Clock it was $27,898,933,000,000 as February 11, 2021 12:26 pm CST.

Speaking of the National Debt, I recall my friend “Big Ugly” complaining about it twenty years ago.  He wanted Uncle Sam to print more money.  I told him that he was part of the National Debt.  After he gave me a few “choice” words of admonishment, I asked him if owned any money.  He had mortgages on an auto, a pickup, and a mobile home.  After a long discussion on economics, I helped him see he was part of the National Debt and that the government was a reflection of the people.  If people do not have hope, how can a government of the people, by the people, and for the people give hope? 

Money is a medium of exchange.  Escalating debt is greed.  According to Charlotte Johnson’s article, “The Reason People Get into Debt” says, “In 2007, the average American household possessed $9,480 in credit card debt.”  There are many reasons for this.  She continues saying, “Although many people would shy away from calling themselves greedy, the simple fact is that greed leads to debt. The age old problem of matching or exceeding your neighbors' wealth status still exists. People often see something they want and hastily purchase it rather than saving for the item over time and waiting to purchase it when they have enough funds (or refusing to purchase it all together if it is unnecessary).

Greed is a “Hope Slayer.”

Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.  And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee (Psalm 39: 6-7 KJV).

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it (Romans 8:24-25 KJV).