Having a layoff at work is a lot like dying and going to heaven!

Now, I didn't say it was *exactly* the same, but a lot like it where I work at Sun. Here is how our last round of layoffs came about (oops, I don't mean "layoff", I mean "rif" - Reduction In Force. Layoff is such a harsh word, and you are now supposed to feel so much beter being "riffed," right?)

First off, the company has been struggling. There are a lot of people, since Sun is a large company, and many of them are pulling in the wrong directions. There are rivalries, and petty fighting, and often open clashes between groups. People lose sight of what is good for the company and think only of themselves. It's the customers that suffer, at first, so they start to turn to other vendors. You'd think the company woul dlearn from this, but it seems they just get worse. Finally upper management draws clear goals, lays out roadmaps to get there, and declares a reduction in the workforce.

They always tell us it is going to happen about a month before it does. I am not sure why they do that, but it's interesting to see what that means. For myself, I just continue along working on whatever project I am assigned to. Some people suddenly work harder, I suppose to save their job. Many people stop working altogether, and just come to work to gossip and get what they can before they are layed off (oops, I mean riffed.) A lot of speculation goes on, and rumors fly, but in the end no one really knows anything except what management tells us.

Finally the week of layoff comes, and by this time I am just waiting to see what happens. I requested several of you, specifically, to pray for me, in the hopes that I would be able to stay here and continue working with you regardless of the outcome, and that I would not become discouraged and fall into despair. Obviously it would be easiest if I just kept my job <grin!> but I wanted to be ready for whatever came. During that last week, some people became terrified, because they had been slacking and now it's too late. Some became angry. They know they deserve to be laid off because they haven't done all that much for the company, but they are "smarter" than the timid, quiet, harder working people who probably will not be laid off. In other words, they have made their own bed and are angry they have to lay in it.

After the rif is over, there are three ways people generally feel. Relief that it's over and everyone can get back to work. Giddiness because they undeservedly kept their jobs, and anger because my friend Joe got laid off but that lazy George didn't. So it goes, people quickly fall back into their working (and non-working!) ways...

And that is where the comparison ends. You know, for a long time we cruise through life thinking we are immortal. People have rivalries, fights, whatever. Then one day it comes home to us that we are all going to die! People start thinking of themselves, at least most of them. God gives us clear goals, and a roadmap to get there. Some of us get the hint. Some were working all along, some suddenly work harder, and some stop bothering to show any hint of godliness.

Some try to "guess" when God is coming or what he is thinking, but they know nothing except what God has revealed to us. A few ask for others to pray for them, like Paul did when he asked the Roman brethren to "strive in prayer" for him. Many become terrified at their coming doom, even more become angry because they feel they are "better" than those who have nothing to fear. In other words, they have made their own bed and are angry they have to lay in it.

As for how people feel after death, maybe you should read about Lazurus and the rich man. Or in Matthew, where Jesus describes some anount of surprise, going both ways. I only know this myself. Those who make it are worthy of it. Those who do not, are not. With a layoff, I can go get another job somewhere else - I hope! With God, there is nowhere else to go, and my hope and obedience enables me to never need to!