Happy Friday the 13th! Welcome to this time together. If this seems a little more informal than usual, well there is a reason for it. That. Today is a little different. Today I'm inviting you to join me for a little experiment. Perhaps a day associated with bad luck and bad outcomes isn’t the day to try something new, but, oh well.

For the past few weeks, we have been exploring together our current sermon series, Analog Life. We’ve talked about stripping the practice of church down to its most basic components. We've pondered the question of what makes what we do as a church different from any other organization. And we've talked about how to do what we do better. But at the heart of it all, we’ve talked about distractions. Because that’s the real allure of a more analog life. To simplify things and, in so doing, reduce distractions.

And if you remember, I started out talking about typewriters. How they were basically simple machines that allow you to do only one thing -- write. And we talked about how the development of the personal computer and word processing software made the typewriter all but obsolete. Actually, maybe not quite. Because that was really the impetus for this series.

Turns out there are multiple products on the market --products which, by the way, are becoming quite popular -- that basically do little more than a typewriter. Devices like the Pomera and the FreeWrite boast of “distraction-free writing.” You sit down in front of it, type in your story or your column or whatever, and then you’re done. There’s no internet connection, no emails or Social Media notifications, no YouTube to lure you away to watch videos of babies and puppies. It is touted as a “real” writing experience.

So I decided to try it, which is what am doing today. Between sermons and columns and Bible studies, I write a lot. So I decided to try it. I didn’t want to try it bad enough to shell out $300-plus for one of those new devices, so I improvised. I remembered that I have an old digital tablet, which I have since replaced. It has an attachable keyboard. And  most important, it doesn't connect to the internet. It’s just a digital device for taking notes, jotting things down, etc.

So I put my laptop away, left my phone in the next room and got to work. The only thing missing was the click-clack of the typewriter keys (I am told that there is an app for that). That’s how I have been writing this column.

Has it been the near-religious experience that the creators of these new products promised? Well, not exactly. And I didn't exactly experience the wave of nostalgia that typewriter aficionados describe. Perhaps this column is coming together a little faster than usual, but not enough to really count. That aside, I am learning something as I go.

First of all, I am keenly aware of how much I rely on spell-check. This tablet does not have it, and I have to keep stopping and looking back to a word in the last sentence, trying to decide whether I spelled it correctly. I’m used to the spell check in Microsoft Word simply handling that for me. Oh it misses things from time to time, but truthfully it catches a lot. And I guess I really depend on it.

Second, I keep reaching for a mouse. This is probably the more telling reveal. I keep reaching for the mouse to look up something. I guess I never realized how often I interrupt my writing to check a fact, verify a name or date or simply refresh my memory as to the chain of events that I am describing. I shared with you the names of two of the new distraction-free word processors a few paragraphs back. But I couldn’t jump onto Google to make sure I had the names right. I found myself reaching for the mouse often, accustomed to stopping to verify even the most trivial fact.

Perhaps even more important, I reached for the mouse when I found myself at a standstill. I mean that happens often when you are writing, right? You have to stop and weigh where you go from here. To crystallize a thought. To consider whether you've made your point or if it requires further development. That’s when I reached for the mouse. And what I realize is that is when I often yield to distraction. In that instance, rather than really gathering my thoughts, I jump over and check email. See who's posted what on Facebook. Take a quick look at the latest news headlines, whatever. And that’s when I find myself coming back to my writing 10 minutes later, trying to remember what made me stop in the first place.

The truth is that we live amid myriad distractions. Some are beyond our control. Many we create for ourselves. And sometimes I think we succumb to them so often because we are uncomfortable being alone with our own thoughts. Even standing in line at the grocery store seems to require some sort
of distraction for us to get through it.

But times of solace and reflection are important, and I fear we squander those opportunities way too often. Perhaps if we learn nothing more from this series, that one thing will make it worthwhile. Don't throw away those opportunities to be alone with your thoughts. If nothing else, those are the times when God just might find the opening to interrupt.

See you Sunday.