Best. Typo. Ever.

Want to know a secret? Spell-check doesn't always catch all the misspelled words and typos in a document. That's why I have a job doing what I do. I'm an editor, and my job is to find and correct all those errors that spell-check misses. Or all the grammatical goofs that a computer doesn't always detect. And while I'm not perfect either and I miss things myself once in a while or just plain old make a mistake, I've got a darned high accuracy rate when it comes to editing. Sometimes I wonder how many words I've checked and rechecked during the 20 or so years that I've been an editor. I'm sure the number is probably in the millions, perhaps even in the billions, or maybe even a gazillion.

I've worked with some amazingly talented writers down through the years, some just beginning their careers and others who've been crafting their artistic flair with words for a long time. I've worked with writers who made lots of mistakes in their copy docs, and I've worked with writers whose copy was as clean as a whistle. That's an odd expression, I think ... clean as a whistle ... how can whistles be clean when they're stuck in your mouth and covered with spit? I mean, seriously. But back to grammar and typos and such. Sometimes the typos I find make me laugh out loud, like Ladder Day Saints instead of Latter Day Saints ... that always makes me laugh. And sometimes the mistakes I see just make me shake my head, like the misuse of the words their and there. One of the things that often strikes me about typos and mistakes and auto-corrected texts is that sometimes the mistakes have more meaning than the correct form of the words would have. Like when a friend meant to write, "I want to go to lunch," and instead, she typed, "I want God to launch." Or when a friend wrote, "God is here?" instead of "Got a beer?" Yep ... think about that one for a while.

Those of you who are fans of The Ellen Show have probably seen the segments she does on her show involving text messages ... funny mistakes that occur when phones auto-correct words. I often watch clips from her show in the evenings, especially on the nights when I'm feeling blue ... I can't watch Ellen and not laugh. She's kind of like suspenders to me ... I can't wear suspenders and not smile, and I can't watch Ellen and not laugh. Especially when she reads the text messages with the hilarious auto-corrected words. I'm not sure, however, that any of the funny texts on Ellen's show can begin to match a text that I received from a friend one evening last week. I laughed until I cried ... I laughed until I cried the whole evening ... I laughed the next morning ... I laughed when I saw my friend ... I laughed as I drove home. I can't tell you what the text said because it was a little ... well ... suffice it to say that I can't tell you what the text said. You'll have to trust me when I say that it was the Best. Typo. Ever. And to my friend who sent the text, you know who you are ... and we both know it was a mistake, but it was HILARIOUS!!!

As I've been writing this post, I couldn't help but think about the whole mistakes and typos and errors thing. And I couldn't help but think about how many times I've been reminded by many of you recently that God doesn't make mistakes ... there's no auto-correct where He's concerned. He is perfect. Every single time. Always has been, and always will be. God never ever makes a mistake ... nope, He never ever does.