Bong! Bong! Bong!

Grandpa Wolf checking
his clock in Sunbury

When my father and father-in-law passed away, we inherited their two grandfather clocks.  The first was one that was actually built from a kit by my father-in-law.  He wanted Dianne, his older child, to have it and today it is proudly displayed in our living room.  It is a good looking clock with a nice sound.  The second clock has much more history to it.  About 1950 the congregation of my grandfather's church in Bethlehem honored him for his years of ministry with a special "This Is Your Life" program.  I recall being part of that service.  As a gift they presented him with a grandfather clock.  I recall seeing and hearing it in their parsonages in Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Sunbury and Ephrata.  Upon his death it went to my father and  was in his living room for many years.  Then upon dad's death it became ours.  It shows the wear of many years of use and moving, but I am told that its mechanism is far superior to those made today.  
     Now when we began to have some trouble with both clocks we found a man in Columbia who repairs clocks and has a good reputation.  Since I didn't know then how to properly dismantle the clocks, he had to come to our home, disassemble the clocks and then take them to his store for cleaning and repair.  Unfortunately, they had not been cleaned for many years and it cost us about $600 to have this done.  But they then worked like new.  But a few months ago we began to have trouble with the older one.  It stopped striking the hour or it wouldn't stop chiming. This time I was able to take it apart myself and take it to Columbia for repair.  It took three trips to finally get it working properly.  But I had many hours to observe the mechanism work.  It was fascinating to see all that had to happen to make it strike properly.  It has all sorts of gears and levers that must work together.  If one pin doesn't connect properly, the clock doesn't work.  I marvel at the engineering every time I look at it.  I marvel thinking about the person who constructed all the parts and placed them in the proper locations.  And every time it chimes properly I now understand how many things had to happen together, in sequence, to keep time and chime at the appropriate times.  I've learned more about this clock than I ever expected to know. Now I would never try to fix it or adjust it myself, because I could easily create additional problems.  
     But my experience with this clock has given me a greater appreciation of what the Creator of the universe has done.  I think of how the planets and stars move according to precise patterns and how the seasons and even day and night always happen on schedule.  And I think of the human body with all of its many parts and how they function together.  I recently have had some eye problems and they have taken all sorts of pictures of my eyes.  It is incredible to see all that makes up just the eye and all that happens to allow us to see.  How can anyone doubt that there is a Creator?  Could one take all the parts that make up one of my clocks, put them in a bag, shake the bag and then pour out a completed mechanism?  Impossible, no matter how many times you would try to do this. But essentially that is how many feel that the universe and our earth were formed.  For me, I'll believe the scriptures ... "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth"!  Amazing!  Indescribable!