day 1094: I-9's

"Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people." 

Unless you own your own business and are intimate with legal hiring requirements, or you work in HR then you probably don't know anything about an I-9 form.  The I-9 is the core piece of paper that verifies whether or not an individual to be hired is legal to work in the United States.  Every employee is supposed to have one on file and if you do any contracted work with the U.S. government and these forms are not up to date and on file for review at all times, then the government can slap you with a substantial fine that multiplies with each missing or incorrect form.  Even if you aren't a federal contractor, you are subject to violations from the Labor Department of INS.  To complete an I-9 it actually takes a human being to check two forms of valid forms of identification, including social security number and to certify with their personal signature that everything is in order.  So, it takes some discipline, process, follow-through and trustworthiness of the person doing the validating.  I-9s are going to be in the news again soon as they have recently gotten a revision and whatever passes with new immigration reform will shine the spotlight back on the I-9 form.  If you don't know anything about these and you think you should, it might be worth a quick check-in with your HR Head or office manager.

While I-9's verify our working identity, we don't need anyone but God to validate our identities for Him.  He knows who we are better than we do and wants us to know Him just as closely.  I love our Father for so many reasons and who could ever turn away a God who seeks for us to know who He is by giving us His Word and Spirit to access freely and deeply.  The only barrier is our level of faith, belief and willingness to surrender our lives to Him. There is no question of identity in the Kingdom.  We are God's children and He is excited each time we reaffirm that as we call upon Him as our Father and Lord.  If today there is any question who you belong to and who is there with you on the job, at home or throughout the day, then remember that He validates you and affirms His love for you as His, each and every day.

Reference: 1 Peter 2:10 (New Living Translation) 

day 545: Becoming Too Attached

Let's face it, our jobs are a huge influence over who we think we are and our self-worth and identity. It is common for me to have discussions with people about this as they they think about changing jobs or companies, especially when they have just lost their job or something has changed from a decision that was out of their control. That is when it becomes painfully obvious that we have become too attached to our work as the signature of who we are. Somewhere, along the way, we allow work and our job titles, to become that important to us. In reality, we all allow this to happen and as much as we want it to not be so, it is nearly impossible to separate the "who we are" from "what we do". So, what do we do so that we don't fall into the trap of becoming "too" attached? Not only do we ensure that we have many outside of work activities and relationships that can also define us it comes down to an attitude of attachment. We must always monitor this level of attachment to our job, to our company and to our work so that we can answer to ourselves who we would be if tomorrow it was all taken from us. The best advice comes from Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:31, "Those in frequent contact with the things for the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away." This is a good time of the year to evaluate our level of attachment to what we do. Has it gone too far? Does it need to be recalibrated? Is it time to ensure that what we do is not the full definition of who we really are?

Reference: 1 Corinthians 7:31 (New Living Testament)