The God fearing father in Israel was concerned for more than himself and his time. He knew the importance of passing on the ‘decrees’ of God and the story of Israel, so that the nation might ‘always prosper and be kept alive’ (Deuteronomy 6:24). Personally he looked forward to the blessing of seeing his children’s children (Psalm 128). Israel, of course, were not particularly good at following decrees, including decrees to pass on decrees, and so we find the time of Malachi assuming an age in which fathers were indifferent or hostile towards their children, waiting for a future age when this would no longer be the case.

Jesus, then, brought in an age where we would once again be concerned for those who came after us, for our biological children, yes, but also for children generally – witness Jesus’ response to those who would seek to stop children getting to Jesus (e.g. Luke 18). Sadly, it seems that this age has not arrived for some men. We remain, I think, frightened that children will get in the way of all the Things we would like to Do, and it has become passé for us to speak ill of them; I, for one, was never challenged about my “blood relative” rule.

Now if Malachi was referring only to the work of John the Baptist in those few short years before Jesus took over, then perhaps we don’t have anything to worry about. If, however he was also pointing to the pattern of life that would become evident as people started following Jesus – then it is a different matter (see the rest of Malachi 4:6 to get what I’m talking about). If that is the case then reversing men’s attitude to children becomes one of those Things we ought to Get Done.

Now I’m assuming that a good number of us are already married, so to avoid this question being purely hypothetical let me rephrase: What is a good age for your children to get married? Most of us I think will answer something like “mid-twenties”. And if we were to be asked whether we thought it was a good idea to get married at 18 most of us would answer “No”.

Behind these answers I think are two thoughts about maturity; one about its timing, and one about its goodness. Before I am misunderstood, let me clarify:

• I AM NOT SAYING EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET MARRIED
• I AM NOT SAYING EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET MARRIED YOUNG
• I AM NOT SAYING THERE ARE NOT GOOD REASONS TO DELAY MARRIAGE
• YOU CAN BE A TRUE/REAL/MATURE/GODLY MAN WITHOUT BEING MARRIED, JESUS WAS (and yes, I was shouting)

I am saying though, that our attitude to those who marry young (and to the prospect of our children marrying young) diagnoses and discloses some things we believe about maturity – and it is the attitude I wish to challenge.

The first aspect of this attitude concerns the timing of maturity – simply we do not expect it to coincide with adulthood. Now at one level it’s a good thing we don’t expect it to coincide with adulthood – as it rarely does. It is quite another though to think it’s a good thing. So often “I’m not mature enough for the responsibilities of marriage” really means, “I’m not mature enough for the responsibilities of marriage and I’m really happy about that fact.”

And perhaps our joy at delaying maturity comes from the fact that we have a negative view about it: we simply don’t believe maturity is good. Certainly we may concede its necessity, but only reluctantly so. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) tells the story of servants with varying levels of ‘productivity’. The productive servants are rewarded, the unproductive servant are punished. Notice the reward. The productive servants get more opportunity for productivity. The parallel in reality is something like this: the reward for faithful service of Jesus… is the opportunity for more faithful service of Jesus. This only makes sense if serving Jesus is good; if serving Jesus is not only duty but delight, not only obligation but joy, not only what is right to do, but what is good to do. It is the same with maturity. And perhaps if we became more convinced about the goodness of maturity we would welcome it a little more readily.

These aspects are of course related:
Taking responsibility for people will involve any number of tasks, and taking responsibility for tasks may involve a whole lot of people. However it remains that our responsibilities will almost inevitably take the shape of:

• A number of ‘jobs’ (whether paid or volunteer)
• A number of people (perhaps a wife and children, an extended family as
  well as a few others in the church and community)

I went on to suggest that taking responsibility for task (or ‘jobs’) had its own
two-fold shape, summed up in firstly the Creation Mandate (Genesis 1:28) and
secondly The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The temptation is to see
these as competitors to each other, or to see the second eradicating the first. This
is to confuse ‘new age’ with ‘new creation’. The resurrection has indeed brought
about a new age, but the old creation remains for the moment, and with it, its
 mandates.

Secondly it fails to adequately draw the connections between the two. The call of Genesis was to bring order and create life, the fall wreaked disorder, death and destruction; Jesus brings new life and new order. Fulfilling the Great Commission will inevitably have implications for the people we take responsibility for, but it will also mean that we will make one or more of our ‘jobs’ something that contributes specifically to the cause of ‘making disciples’, the cause of advancing the name of Jesus.

OK, so this point was a bit obvious, but I had to find a way to round off this series. Again there is tons of stuff out there to help so I’m probably not going to say anything original. Here are a few quick thoughts.

1. Don’t just send a resume, either make a phone call and then send the resume, or send a resume and then make a phone call.

2. Don’t limit your search to companies that are advertising. Approach companies you want to work for.

3. Go and talk to people. Ask people to introduce you to people and then go and talk to them. You are not at this point asking them for a job, you are asking them what they know about the industry, about what you need to do to improve your resume, about what they would do if they were in your shoes, about what opportunities they are aware of and so on.

If anyone has other thoughts, feel free to let us know in the comments.

At some point you will probably need a resume. Writing a resume is a time consuming and painful exercise, however help is available. I’ve linked to a couple of places that offer advice/templates here and here. I’m also developing my own template (which includes comments on why the different components are included), which can be found here.

There is no exact model, rather it is helpful to understand what you are trying to achieve with a resume. In a few short pages, with lots of white space, you are attempting to:

• Present highlights of concrete achievement in your past
• Which prove you are a person with certain kinds of skills and traits in the present
• Which show how you will be able to contribute to your potential employer’s future.

If you do this well, and you are what a prospective employer is looking for, then you are likely to get an interview.

You need more clarity. If you have just been retrenched you are probably thinking that you need more money. A friend of mine used to walk around saying to himself “I need more clarity”, now you need it to.

And you need it for three reasons:

1. For your own good. Most of us are wired and skilled in such a way that we will perform much better in some contexts than in others, and for the sake of sanity, for the sake of being useful in the world and also (likely) for the sake of being better paid, it is worth spending the time thinking how we are wired and skilled and where we might be put to use.

2. So that others can help you. Despite original sin, most people are keen to help, especially if that help is of an incidental and incremental nature. Most people will give you half an hour of their time, and an introduction to someone who could assist you. BUT it is very hard to help if you don’t know what you are looking for. And don’t think this is because they are somehow being selfish – it’s just hard to help.

3. Because of your future employer. For good and bad reasons. The good reason is that they want to know how and whether you will be able to make a useful contribution. The bad reason is because employers don’t want people to want jobs, they want them to want ‘careers’, and the longer you have been dreaming about and focused on the career in question the better. So they will ask you where else you have been looking. This is a trip wire to find out how focused and motivated you are (supposedly). A man I knew had an interview terminated when he disclosed to the person conducting an interview for a Mergers and Acquisitions role that he was also looking at Private Equity firms. They took the view that his heart would always be with Private Equity, he was taking the view that he wanted a job and would investigate anything he was suited to

Finding clarity, or having it find you, won’t necessarily be easy, and probably requires the input of others, so if you have the time, and can get the help, take it.

English theologian, Oliver O’Donovan, suggests the metaphor of a series of lenses coming into focus, is a useful way of thinking about these kinds of decisions. That it, it is not so much about making one either/or decision, rather about making and locking in a number of considerations which eventually leave (hopefully) a clear picture. These considerations could be concerning skills, personality, preferences, constraints (financial or otherwise), concrete opportunities and so on.

There are any number of resources which can help with this, if anyone has found anything especially useful please leave a comment letting us all know.

You may have some negative emotions concerning THEM:

“Don’t they know who I am? They can’t do this to me”

“They are going to regret this, I’ll show them”

You may also be deluded:

“They are going to call back when they realize how much they need me”

You need to get this sorted.

Bay’s Talk will help you gain a Christian perspective; let me offer something more secular.

You need to distinguish between THEY and ‘they’, and you need to distinguish between YOU and ‘you’.

You see THEY were just doing ‘business’ – providing ‘products’ to ‘customers’, utilizing ‘suppliers’ and ‘capital’ (even Human Capital) to do so. THEY used to use ‘you’. THEY also used to make a ‘profit’, which meant THEY could use more of ‘you’, now THEY need less of ‘you’, much less of ‘you’.

But THEY are also ‘they’, and ‘they’ may well be married, sometimes with children and usually with a mortgage (one of ‘those’). ‘They’ didn’t necessarily think of you as ‘you’ but YOU. ‘They’ got told by THEM to do something about ‘you’, so ‘they’ had to do something about YOU. ‘They’ liked YOU: THEY didn’t need ‘you’.

‘You’ may no longer have anything to do with THEM, but YOU can still be good friend with some of ‘them’. And YOU still have a life.

*Michael Jensen has written a book called YOU available from here.

Since my last post I have been retrenched – a victim of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC); my continued employment was deemed ‘unsustainable in the current economic climate’. This means that I have had a whole lot more time to write, but to start with at least, felt a whole lot less like writing.

Now though, it is time to start trying to be useful again. By the providence of God I have been through retrenchment before, I have worked in the recruitment industry and I have received some excellent help from some outplacement consultants. I thought then I would offer a few thoughts about responding to retrenchment and unemployment.

First up though, I’d like to draw your attention to a talk given recently by a friend of mine, Bay Warburton. The talk titled “Redundancy: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly - and How to Deal with It” is available for download here. Bay works in the corporate world, went through redundancy a number of years ago, and if the first five minutes of his talk are any indication, is extremely well connected to people being made redundant. He offers some great insights into how to think about what has gone on from a Christian perspective, as well as some great practical advice regarding moving on.

Today I want to suggest that taking responsibility in turn has its own two-fold shape, summed up by two great moments in Scripture: the Creation Mandate (Genesis 1:28);

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Now clearly the Creation Mandate includes the raising of families, but for now notice that it includes things that aren’t. Adam is placed in garden and starts ‘work’ before Eve is even created (and before sin enters the world). Since then men are required to go outside the family and work; to bring order out of chaos. Work is the way we get to bless the world outside our families, while simultaneously providing the means to support them. By way of implication here are two quick thoughts about men and work:

1. Men need to work. The idea of ‘work/life balance’ has the risk of communicating that work is not part of life. But work is part of life, and for men it is an essential part of life. It is cold comfort to tell a guy that he is a ‘good husband and father’ if he is not performing at work; he won’t believe it, and in some aspects it won’t be true. Men need to do well outside the home, if they are to do well inside the home.

2. Men need to undertake work that blesses. Emergencies aside (and a poverty struck nation is one in a constant state of emergency), we should take advantage of the opportunities presented to undertake work that not only provides for our families, but also blesses the wider world. These jobs probably won’t be the easiest, particularly if they involve difficulty, risk or significant levels of responsibility. There is in our Christian culture a temptation to find ‘the easiest job that allows the most time for ministry’. Leaving aside for the moment the suitcase full of assumptions about the nature of ministry, we can note in passing that there is something unmanly about claiming to bless the city, and then systematically discouraging men from taking on the kinds of roles that would most do that.