Finally...the article was finished, well ahead of time. I had decided to get a jump-start on March's message at the end of February.

I was happily typing away a couple hours at a time, every day or so, and it was flowing out of my spirit onto the page. I was satisfied with the content and the power points on Grace. All in all, I was pretty pleased with myself! Big mistake...

I was thinking of how easy modern technology had made it for writers. Computers are so much more convenient than the old standard typewriters in my High School typing class. The electric ones came out some time later, and eventually the Word Processor.

This new generation doesn't have a clue as to what the baby boomers had to struggle through in Typing I. They have no idea how hard one had to pound the keys to get them  to strike trough the ribbon to make a letter on the paper. Our fingers were numb by the end of class, and forget about having long nails!
Even after all these years, I still pound keys. I usually wear the letters off my computer keyboard, and have to replace it every so often...because that is how I learned to type.

We had to be good in math to take typing: to set margins, set 5 space indentions for new paragraphs, and learn how to center a page. Things are so much EASIER nowadays!

No more having to fool with that messy ribbon, or manually throw the carriage back when the little chime dinged, every time we got to the edge of the right margin, (another physical work-out). If there was a typo of any kind, you would have to throw the carriage to the right or the left, roll the paper up a bit, lift the paper bar, slide an index card between the master copy and the carbon copy, take the big clunky typing eraser shaped like a wheel with a brush on the end of it, erase the master page...then remove the index card, erase the carbon, and carefully brush away all the "crumbs". You could finally resume typing after you put the paper bar back in place, scrolled the paper down, then move the carriage back into place on the page.

White Out was such a big help back then...not so much erasing, except when you were making a carbon copy. (Yes, I was there when the Cc on email heading originally stood for Carbon copy)!

Carbon paper had to be the worst! It was bad enough having to change an ink- soaked ribbon, being careful not to touch it; but carbon paper was a greater challenge. It was so easy to smear it on your paper or possibly load it backwards.
Sometimes, you'd unknowingly have it on your fingers and come out of typing class with carbon smudges on your nose, and not discover it until the next bathroom break...and then remember you just passed the Senior hunk in the hall and felt a flush when he smiled at you! ("Oh Lord, I could just die")!

Yes, computers certainly are a blessing...MOST of the time.

(Back to the present)...

I only had a few things left to do on the March article...mostly looking up the scriptures, and typing in their addresses. I have been posting these monthly messages on my own for a long time, so of course, I took all the regular precautions, for saving the contents, until ready for posting.

I was rolling right along and it was getting toward the middle of March. There had been a storm during the night, and the electric had shut off for a few seconds, but I had no concerns. I sat down first thing the next morning and waited for the computer to boot up, eager to get finished and posted, before anything interrupted my day. I went into the file, clicked on the article title "Grace" and waited...the title came up...but THE PAGE WAS BLANK!

Whathehey?! I searched for...days! I emailed Charlotte, (my daughter, the Webmaster) and she searched...to no avail. It was just...GONE!
I guess we will never know what became of it, but I'm convinced there is a Black Hole out there in Cyberspace, somewhere! Perhaps, in some future orbit, the article will return...hey, it could happen!

I think it's a bit ironic that the article was on grace...I found I had more than I thought, by the fact that I didn't cuss, scream, yell, or toss the 'puter through the window...but there is still more room to grow in that area.
There is nothing like having to walk out your own teachings!

So this is it, gang. This is the March article explaining why there was no March article. (How's that for ingenuity)?!
I hope you enjoyed it anyway, especially you Baby Boomers. It was a history lesson for some and a trip down memory lane for others!

God Bless You All,
Pastor Moser
March, 2007

W. O. W.

"One good thing about old age, if I weren't so forgetful, I'd get no exercise at all"!
(Pastor Moser)