Synchronous Living

In our early years of marriage, our family car was a blue Pinto station wagon. We were expecting our second child. Jan was completing her BS at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. I was pastoring West Union Baptist Church in Carriere, Mississippi, while taking Greek at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We were busy! But we were also young, full of energy, and empty of money.

On Saturdays, we would saddle up Dana in the Pinto and head out to find treasures in the antique stores in the small towns of southern Mississippi. Much of our furniture came from those adventures. On one trip, we decided we could afford the asking price of one dollar for an old clock. 1978, this was pricey for us, but we splurged to buy the clock pictured above in this blog post.

We did not know if the clock worked. Framed in a three-sided plywood box with two sides and a top, all gingerly held together with small nails. We liked the face and hands worn with age and time stored in the antique barn. I cleaned it up and plugged it in, and nothing happened. That is when I read the print embossed on the back of the clock’s mechanism. I followed the instructions, and lo and behold, it began to run. That old clock has kept excellent time ever since, except when it did not.

With any disruption in the flow of electricity, the clock would stop, and Jan or I would restart manually. This characteristic of the clock was noted on the back, “current interruptions will stop clock – reset and restart.”

I decided to build new housing for it a week or so ago. The clock and the newly built housing are pictured below. It turned out well, at least from the front. The back tells a story of an aspiring woodworker’s blunders.

In the process of developing a plan, I did research. The Electric Neon Clock Company in Cleveland, Ohio, manufactured the clock. The original housing is long gone. The movement, the clock’s guts, is a Hammond Synchronous Movement. The Hammond folks eventually became the Hammond Organ company. I found that interesting because I remember when the B3 Hammond Organ was in every rock and roll group that was any good.

I had never seen the word “synchronous” before when describing a clock’s movement. Wikipedia gave me the following definition of a “synchronous motor:”

A synchronous electric motor is an AC electric motor in which, at a steady state, the rotation of the shaft is synchronized with the frequency of the supply current; the rotation period is exactly equal to an integer number of AC cycles. Synchronous motors use electromagnets as the stator of the motor, which create a magnetic field that rotates in time with the oscillations of the current. The rotor with permanent magnets or electromagnets turns in step with the stator field at the same rate and, as a result, provides the second synchronized rotating magnet field.

I have read it four times and still do not understand. But I am glad some people do. I know that my clock keeps excellent time as long as Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation keeps supplying electricity at a constant number of cycles. My clock is dependent on what they do. Conversely, what I do to the clock does not affect the source.

As I built the clock housing, I pondered synchronous movement. Our clock has helped me freshly see several things. My pondering results in that my life will keep ticking as designed as long as I maintain a synchronous relationship with God. Underneath the turmoil of life, I experience a steady presence of peace and joy (Galatians 5:19-25). When the “flow” is disrupted by my choices, my experience of peace and joy withers. If I mess with the “cycles” of God’s power supply with my desires, the timing of my life as God intended suffers.

If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. Galatians 5:25, Amplified Bible

If your baseline of peace and joy is below par, follow the instructions on the back of my Hannond clock, “current interruptions will stop clock – reset and restart.”

Photo – The face and movement of the clock in the Fraim made.