Unemployment rates have gone up about 0.4% a month since last September putting February set to hit 8%. Looks like I'll be in that 0.4%... although, I probably won't count until March when I actually file for "unemployment."

Surprised? I guess not, considering the billable time on the majority of the office's timesheets and the fact that the two of us on the lowest rungs were let go. Although it would, is some ways, be easier if I had done something wrong or if someone had some vendetta against me.

But being laid off is not something you "look out" for when you actually like your job and the people you work with. If you worry, you'd find yourself wasting time looking to see what's out there before you get the news. If you get the news. Worry is a waste of time. Of course, it still is, even laid off, a waste of time. It says so in the famous passage - Matthew 6:24-25. Definitely one of those days where you read that and see the obvious applicability, roll your eyes (I'm sure God appreciates that more than my mom did when I was a teenager) and look for something more profound to read. And there it is: I John 5: 3-5.

 ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. ⁵Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

When all else fails, faith, hope and love will always remain. While I feel I lost 75% of my identity in 5 minutes - those forty hours a week plus commute for the last 2 years and the camaraderie of a good, intelligent, hardworking group of peers - I will remember I am commanded to love and be loved. That, and maybe start a Facebook account.