I’m terrible at helping them. I don’t know people who do hiring. I don’t have five quick tips for anything, let alone finding work.

Several friends are in their late forties and early fifties. Other friends are younger, others are older.

Some have been in “church work” and it hasn’t gone well. Because church work is more tricky than you might imagine. Senior pastors have expectations. Parishioners have expectations. Managing well takes a set of skills that is often different than providing pastoral care that is often different than preaching that is often different than being part of a team.

Some of my friends moved from organizations to self-employment and have found it challenging to do everything that running a business takes. All the selling of services, all the doing the work. All of the all of the.

And I don’t know what to tell them, what advice to give.

Well-meaning people are full of advice: “God’s got this”. “When a door closes, a window opens”. “My uncle was in your shoes and he did this one thing. You should try that one thing”. “You are a wonderful person”. “Have you tried this job listing site?” “Have you considered Uber?” And so many sentences that start with “at least” or include the word “just”.

So here’s what I’ve got:

This is hard.

Your work is not your identity, but that realization doesn’t pay the bills.

There aren’t as many jobs as the people who have jobs think.

Cashflow can come from many places, some of them unexpected. Asking for help is an okay thing. (Giving people help is an okay thing, too.)

I was going to say, “not everyone can do a paper route, but some people can.” And then I erased it. And then I wrote it again for some reason.

I’ve heard from many people that the application process is really frustrating right now. So, if you are frustrated by it, it’s not just you.

Do something so you feel like you are doing something. I’m not sure what that is. But my guess is that you do. This is my affirmation of that.

I love you. And you.