I was going through my offi ce the other day looking for something, and then I saw it for the first time in many years. It was my old typewriter.
Most people today have no idea what the typewriter is. In those old typewriters, what you typed was exactly what you got. If you mistyped a word, it was mistyped. I cannot remember how many times I yanked the paper out of the typewriter, put in a new piece and started typing all over again. The thing so exciting was if I wanted several copies of what I was typing, I could use carbon paper between each page. What I typed on the fi rst page was typed on the second and third pages. That sure was exciting because now I had copies of what I was typing. The problem was, when I made a typo on the fi rst page, it went all the way through to the last page. You could not fool those carbon copies. What was on one was precisely on the other. That typewriter was a friend of mine, and we worked like a welloiled machine. The thing about that typewriter, it never tried to correct me. It always went along with what I said and wrote — and never talked back to me. I was actually in charge. At the time, I thought I had no better friend than that old typewriter of mine. To look at it now, I kinda smile as I remember how things have changed. I was writing my first book, typing each page, when I learned about this new thingamajig called a computer. The more I learned about these computers, the more interested I became. According to the people I was talking to, I could increase my output 100 times faster. I initially did not believe that. Finally, halfway through that fi rst book, I decided to switch over to a computer. Those first computers had no hard drive, so you had to put a floppy disk in to run any program that you might be using. You also had to save what you were writing to a floppy disk. I set that new computer up in my offi ce and started fi ddling around with it to try to understand how it worked. Much to my surprise, the more I fi ddled, the more I liked the music I was hearing. I did not have to use paper until the manuscript was completed and I could print it out on a printer. If I made a typo, I could correct it right there on the screen, no problem. Getting adjusted to it was diffi cult for me. I remember the fi rst chapter I did and worked very hard to complete, but I forgot to save it on a disk and lost that whole chapter. I was a little provoked because my old typewriter would never have done that! Looking at that old typewriter, I thought of what Solomon once said. “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Maybe the way I do certain things today has changed, but the message is always the same. Techniques change, but words never will. Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352- 687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@ att.net. The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com. |
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