I HATE TO MAKE MISTEAKS
by Erwin Bourne—February 3, 2002
I’ve told you that I love to write. Articles. poetry,
stories and letters. I’ve got five books to my
credit. Also three books yet in manuscript form. I
think that they all need to be published, but right
now I can’t afford it, and I haven’t found a publisher
for my authentic Nebraska pioneer story entitled
EMILY. In my writings I hate to make mistakes,.
Mistakes in spelling and grammar reflect on my
personal character as well as implicating the nature
of our mission work. Jean, my missionary companion,
does not like to write, but she is a remarkably keen
speller. We are “workers together.”
But here is where the “togetherness stops. I must
operate the computer and send out the correspondence
by e-mail. I like to use different sizes and styles
of type. I accent with BOLD CAPS, I italicize
Scripture verses, and I underline for effect; but none
of this shows up on my e-mail correspondence. When I
e-mail my articles, the sentences get divided where I
didn’t intend, and therefore my end word and the
beginning of the next line get run together. Try to
decipher this word: “amusingquips.” The other day I
was writing about a very costly project here in
Leticia. I wrote, “Now check your purse.” I meant
“check your pulse!” Maybe you should check both!
Are you tired of receiving my articles. Maybe you
delete them immediately. A few sympathetic folk write
saying, “Keep them coming!” or, “We look forward to
the next one!” I just received this note: “You come
up with some great topics to write on.” I’ve written
many of which have never left my computer. Jean and I
like to read during our early morning devotions, a
daily reading book entitled GRACE FOR THE MOMENT by
Max Lucado.
Would you reread my MISSIONARY OUTREACH “Inspirations”
or E-essays if they were printed in a daily
devotional book? Max Lucado writes that “his three
happiest discoveries have been: (1) That God would
forgive me; (2) That Denalyn would marry me; and
(3) That people would read my ramblings.” To date I
have a collection of 390 missionary “inspirations.” I
could skim these down to 365, enough to fill a daily
MISSIONARY OUTREACH “Inspirations” book.
Yours for OUTREACH AMAZON
—Erwin and Jean Bourne