clocks – Grits with Grace

Grace, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture

When We Need A Win

Posted on June 10, 2025June 9, 2025 by Dewayne Taylor

“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.” Song of Solomon 2:15

It was one of those days…and I needed a win. Well, it was Saturday and as days go that should have been a good thing…and I suppose in the scope of the universe it was. But closer to home in my universe, it was a bit more challenging. I’ve learned that the things that make things challenging aren’t usually the big, scary monsters of life but rather the little things that go sideways. And it isn’t one small thing but rather when there is an avalanche of them. Solomon said in the Song of Songs (a book about love in the Jewish and Christian Old Testament), “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.” Let me translate that for you, “Watch out for the little things that come your way, so they don’t spoil your day.” I guess I wasn’t watching.

I decided to begin the day by mowing and trimming the yard. I also decided to trim first and mow second. Bad choice. My string trimmer normally is pretty cooperative but that day it decided not to be. I primed, pulled, choked, unchoked, and pulled some more. The answer was no, no and no so I went and got the mower and started mowing. By then I was a little hot and more than a little bothered. When I finished, I tried the trimmer again and this time it decided to start and I told it, “Why didn’t you do that to start with?” Why indeed?

I finished the yard and went inside to have a late shower and breakfast and then decided to mess with one of my clocks. I had messed with it a couple of days before. It was running when I started and not running when I finished. Bummer. So, every time I looked at the clock that proudly showed the wrong time, I was reminded of my failure. I had an idea of what was wrong, so I took it off the wall and messed with it again. Turns out that wasn’t the problem so my clock was still messed up and I had an epic fail. Before putting it back together (this was one of those large, wind-up clocks) I went to the kitchen for something and I prayed a five-word prayer, “Lord, I need a win.” That was it.

I put the clock back together and back on the wall, and, just for fun, gave the pendulum a push and guess what happened…the clock started ticking and tocking and well, it is still running. Now what was that all about? Well, for me there is only one answer—God heard the simple, five word prayer from one of His kids. It wasn’t profound and it wasn’t even spiritual—in fact, it may have been just a hair selfish—but my Dearest Daddy agreed that day—I needed a win—and answered my prayer. How about that?

It’s so good, so reassuring to know that we have a Father who is not too busy to hear us in the biggest and smallest moments of our lives. Sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes it’s a no, and sometimes it is a later but always, He hears. Take that one to the bank…my Father, your Father loves us and cares for us. No matter what, we can always know that “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

life, priorities, Scripture, Trials, Uncategorized

What Time Is It?

Posted on May 30, 2025May 26, 2025 by Dewayne Taylor

“Teach them Your Word, Your Word is truth.” John 17:17b

It was the 60’s and 70’s. The novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” starts with “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” and that pretty well describes those two decades. Out of those somewhat crazy times came some of the best music ever written—at least modern music. I know that is true because people from all the other decades seem to come back to the 60’s and 70’s. Some, ok, maybe a lot of it, was kinda crazy but that is what made it so cool. There was a song that was released by the group Chicago in 1969 called, “Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is.” It was a quirky song, in fact, that is how the guy who wrote it described it.

What is kinda funny is that it is a song that my wife Judy and I live daily. If you read Grits, you might remember that I like clocks a lot. It all started a long time ago and is one hobby or obsession that has stuck with me through the years. I am intrigued because of the design and engineering that went into each clock. Some of my clocks are babies, only sixty or seventy years old. Some though are well over a hundred. Some were bought at a shop somewhere, one special one was built by a couple of friends and two were built by me…with a little help from my friends.

In today’s world, so many clocks are engineering marvels and keep time very accurately. But some of the older ones tend to be a little less accurate. So that is where our song comes in. You see most rooms in my house have a clock or two or three and often they are the older mechanical types. So, you go into the room and look over there and there is a clock. It says it is, oh, let’s say 2:13 pm. Then you look over there and there is another clock, and it says it is 2:20 pm. Then on the wall going up the stairs is another clock that declares it is 2:05 pm. What?

Well, all of that is not a problem until you are about to leave, and you need to know if you are on time or late. And trust me, more than once, Judy has said, “So what time is it, anyway?” Well, I know my clocks pretty well and I know their habits as well. I pretty much know who runs slow and who runs fast and who doesn’t run at all. So I can usually tell her just about what time it really is. It can be a bit confusing…but in a pretty good if not quirky way.

The bottom line is if I really need to know the time, I have three good choices. First, my trusty Apple Watch. It is very accurate and if it is strapped to my wrist…it is an obvious first choice. The second choice is my phone which is married to my Apple Watch. The only problem is I’m not married to my phone which means it may or may not be close by. The third choice is the kitchen stove. It always tells the truth…but it still depends on me setting it correctly. And if the power goes off, well, you get the flashy thing until I get around to setting it.

I was thinking, which is always a dangerous thing, that where we go for truth is a lot like trying to find the correct time. Similar to the question in the song you might ask, “Does anyone really know what truth is and what it is not?” Well, the answer is…wait for it…the Bible. For millennia this most ancient of sacred writings has stood the test of time. It has made the best seller list forever and while there are many different translations and reading styles…there never has been a version 2.1. Do you know why? It is timeless, changeless and without error. I know, I know you might think differently or maybe heard differently but let me encourage to check it out for yourself. Do some honest research and you will probably come to the same conclusion that I did—it can be trusted because it is the real deal. And trust me…these days we need the real deal.

When you find yourself running around and asking everyone you meet, “Hey, does anyone really know what’s true and what’s not?” I hope you will turn to the one source that is spot on, right on and always on target. Jesus said it best when He said, “Teach them Your Word, Your Word is truth.” I like that…plain, simple truth. And, when you have a question, when you are stumped, just ask the One who knows and always speaks the truth—God. Oh, and don’t worry, He always has the answer because He is the answer. In other words, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Family, fear, forgiveness, friends, gratitude, Integrity, life, love, loving others, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, Trials

My Grandfather (not) Clock

Posted on April 28, 2023April 26, 2023 by Dewayne Taylor

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

It was a long, long time ago. Judy and I were living in Warrensburg, Missouri. I was in the Air Force and God was in the process of preparing me for the great adventure of becoming a pastor. About then the letter came. It was an invitation, an advertisement really, to come and look at some vacation property. If we came, they were going to give us a grandfather clock. I liked clocks.

Well, let’s be clear. There was no way we could afford to buy much of anything. With two daughters under three and living on a government salary there wasn’t much to spare. But I liked clocks–a lot. So, I made the phone call and spoke to a happy person who was glad to set up an appointment for us. We were going to go and see what we couldn’t afford and listen as they tried to convince us to buy what we couldn’t afford. Why did we even bother? I liked clocks.

So, we drove for the hour, looked at the property, listened to their pitch and then explained that we could not afford the property. After a long back and forth they finally figured out that–you guessed it–we couldn’t afford the property. It was a no sale. It was time to go and then I asked about the prize–the grandfather clock.

“Oh that,” she said. “Just a moment” she said. I waited with anticipation. I had seen several grandfather clocks in showrooms and houses of the rich and famous so I couldn’t wait to see mine. It was then she walked out. In her hands was a 24-inch, brown plastic, electric, imitation, not even close to real, pretend grandfather clock. You see, they had promised one thing and delivered another, and I was left very disappointed.

My heart told me it couldn’t be true. It seemed too good to be true–and it was. But I wanted the clock so badly I was willing to believe anything. I wish I could tell you I learned the lesson that day, but I am still a hungry fish when it comes to baited hooks. That tends to make people like me a bit skeptical. No free lunch–too good to be true.

And then there is Jesus. I mean He makes all these “out of this world” claims about loving me unconditionally; about forgiving my sins, failures and mistakes no matter how many and how bad; to never, ever leave me or abandon me; and to live with Him in heaven…forever. That just sounds too good to be true. But guess what–it is.

You see Jesus isn’t some company hawking impossible dreams to people and promising grandfather clocks and giving plastic imitations. He is the real deal. He is everything He said He is. He did everything He said He did. He has kept every promise He ever made. 100% authentic. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

The clock was important to me for another reason. I just knew it would make me feel better about me–richer, more important, more blessed, more something. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, I walked out of the showroom feeling less than ever. Let me tell you about Jesus. He thinks you hung the moon. He thinks you are of incredible value–remember He died for you! He would choose you to be in His family again, and again, and again and He can’t wait to spend eternity with you. And those big, hairy monsters we face in life? He can whip them all.

So, don’t let the “too good to be true experiences” taint your view of Jesus. He really is the real deal. All the craziness of our present reality bow at His feet for He is the all-powerful, living Son of God. Oh, by the way…I have a real grandfather clock now, but it really isn’t a big deal–never was. It’s just a clock. Jesus, well, He’s my friend and so much more. I hope He is yours. Rest in Him. He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Family, friends, life, priorities, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Sigh…It Happened Again

Posted on March 13, 2023March 12, 2023 by Dewayne Taylor

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8b

Sigh…it happened again. Well, twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, they do it. They are whoever is in charge and the what is messing with our clocks and minds. They call it “daylight savings time” or DST but they ought to call it “time to mess with your mind.” You know the drill. On the second Sunday of March they (whoever they are) tell us to set our clocks forward one hour. That means several things. First, it means no matter what you try and do you are going to lose an hour of sleep. It also means that just when sunrise was going to occur at a decent hour, it doesn’t. And finally, it also means that a bunch of people are either late for church or miss it entirely. Like I said, “Sigh.”

Part two of all of this occurs in the fall…in November. It used to be in October but to further confuse everyone they moved it to November. Now I must admit that coming off of DST is easier than going on. In the fall, we gain an hour of sleep though by this time we are so used to the new time, the old time seems more like a nasty neighbor than an old friend. I know, I know—we have more daylight in the evening with DST and besides all that—who gets up that early anyway? Pause. I’m raising my hand.

Oh, and then there is the other deal. I know I’m a bit different, but I have a zillion clocks in my house and each one must be reset when the time changes. Now this is when springing forward (that is supposed to make the losing an hour of sleep more fun) is better than falling back. The bottom line is it is easier to move the hands forward one hour than to stop each clock and then wait for the old time to catch up with the new. I think we might just be better if they would just make up their minds one way or the other and leave things alone.

I was watching the Weather Channel Saturday morning before “time to mess with your mind” day and they did a feature on what happens when you disrupt people’s sleep. Well, they had this expert lady on the show, and she flat out said all this clock changing is a bad idea. She said it can cause several kinds of social disruptions including car accidents and other end of the world scenarios. Well, she didn’t actually say that part, but I thought I would add it in. But I think we do need to make up our minds and let that sleeping dog lie. And speaking of sleeping dogs, I wonder if DST messes with them too. She did say it affected pets. Hmmm.

Well, there is a lesson mixed up in all of this. While it is true when changing the time on our clocks, it is definitely true in life too. Moving forward in life is always better than falling back…you know, falling back into bad habits…falling back into bad relationships…falling back into bad attitudes…well, you get the idea. As we do life, we need to intentionally choose to move forward. If you have one of those older clocks that still has hands, there is usually a small knob on the back. To move the hands forward, you simply turn that knob. To move life forward, we simply need to keep making the next right decision.

That also means to keep doing what we have been doing that was moving us in the right direction. That might include restarting good habits, reestablishing good relationships, and thinking about how we think. Minding our mind is one of the best habits we can have. Paul, the guy in the Bible, said so in a letter he wrote to the folks in Philippi. He said, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Boom…what great advice.

Well, since I am writing this on Sunday, the day we changed the time, I think I will probably go and take a nap and try to catch up on that hour of sleep. Now that the first “time to mess with your mind” day is over, I have 239 days till the next one. But, hey, who is counting? Smile. I’m sure glad my Dearest Daddy doesn’t do this “mess with your mind” thing. He is steady like clockwork—no pun intended. Don’t worry…He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Family, forgiveness, Grace, gratitude, life, Scripture, Southern born, wisdom

My Clock is a Liar

Posted on July 29, 2022July 23, 2022 by Dewayne Taylor

Hi Grits Family! Hey, my wife Judy and I are going to be “out of pocket” aka “not available” to write for the next couple of weeks. During that time, we decided to send out some of our past stories. I hope you enjoy the ones we selected and look forward to some “fresh Grits” in a couple of weeks. God bless. Bro. Dewayne

You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44

My clock lies to me. Throughout my life I have had times when I collect things. Once it was eagles. To this day I love eagles but there was a time I would go to the mall or any store that might sell them and tell Judy, “I’m going to look for eagles.” If I found one, I would buy it. Not too long ago it was BB guns. It started with a Red Ryder model (the one from the movie, “A Christmas Story”). The next thing I knew I had nine BB guns and pistols. Boom. Just like that. Over the years urges have come and gone but there is one that has kinda stuck with me. Clocks.

A long time ago (and in a galaxy far, far away…you know, like the Star Wars movies) I started collecting clocks. Unlike eagles and BB guns, this one can get rather pricy. But it started rather innocently. When Judy and I were stationed in Germany near the French border, we went to a flea market with a couple of good friends. My friend spied a German wall clock laying on the ground, halfway in a mud puddle and ended up buying it. The long story made short is that I ended up talking him out of it. It was a swap kinda thing. It is a bing-bam clock which means it strikes on the hour and half-hour. It was pretty old then, and now, 42 years later, it is like me, a lot older.

It is a special clock because of the story and all the memories but it does have a problem. It lies. You see, over the years it has developed this nasty habit of saying one thing and doing another. As I mentioned, it is designed to bing-bam on the half-hour and then on the hour it counts the time out. If it is 4:00 then it will bing-bam four times. You can hear it shouting out the time almost throughout the house. It was nostalgic and handy. And then it starting lying. It started innocently enough—at 1:00 it would sound two times instead of once. It was predictable so I just lived with it. Now, well now, it lies big time. Randomly, and throughout the day it sounds the wrong time.

Well, adjusting the clock is quite easy…or at least it is supposed to be. So, if it was showing 4:00 but counting five, I would simply stopped the clock and moved the hour hand to five. I waited an hour to restart the clock—problem solved—or not. I restarted old faithful and at 6:00 it sounded five. So, I slid the hour hand to 5:00 and waited and sure enough it chimed six. No matter what I did the clock lied. It has stubbornly developed a very bad habit. Hmmmm.

Fortunately for the old clock, I like it a lot. Its value to me goes way beyond its value as a time teller—it is part of the family. Because of that, I’m willing to tolerate its bad habit. I don’t like it. I don’t trust it. It is frustrating, but in this case, it is mostly harmless. I simply have learned to believe it when I can read the dial but not when I can only hear it. It’s a negotiated settlement. That works fine for clocks—but it is not fine for people.

When I was growing up telling the truth was a pretty big deal. Now, I would be the last to tell you that I always did it. I didn’t. But the bottom line was if you did the crime—you did the time. Lie and get caught (and invariably I did) and Alston and Leslie (that’s daddy and mama) made sure you received a refresher course on the importance of telling the truth. Whether it was a spanking or washing my mouth out with soap—I learned lying was a bad deal.

I think daddy and mama must have talked to Jesus about it because He thought it was a big deal too. One time, there was a group of religious leaders who had a problem speaking or even liking the truth. Jesus cut loose on them and said, “You are just like your father the devil. When he lies he is just speaking his natural language. He is the father of lies and the truth is not in him.” Wow—so if you ever wonder why lying made the big ten—now you know.

Today we live in a culture of convenience and whatever works for you—you kinda go with it. If telling a lie makes things a little easier—just cut loose and worry about the consequences later. Its like the 60’s “if it feels good do it” on steroids. Just know this. No matter what culture says lying is a big deal—regardless if you are a preacher, a politician, or the guy next door. God says it so it is a nonnegotiable for His followers. Oh, and even if you’re not a God follower you will still find life has fewer consequences and less regrets when you make the truth the standard.

As I finish this story, the old clock got it right. An hour ago—it got it wrong. Good grief…I just wish it would make up its mind to tell the truth. Speaking of truth—here are two you can count on every time. First…you can always trust and rest in creator God. Second…He’s got this. And that friend—is the truth. Bro. Dewayne

Family, gratitude, life, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, wisdom

What Time Is It…Really?

Posted on May 23, 2022May 22, 2022 by Dewayne Taylor

Teach them Your Word, Your Word is truth.” John 17:17b

gratitude, life, priorities, Scripture, thankful, Trials, wisdom

My Grandfather (not) Clock

Posted on June 8, 2021June 6, 2021 by Dewayne Taylor

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

It was a long, long time ago. Judy and I were living in Warrensburg, Missouri. I was in the Air Force and God was in the process of preparing me for the great adventure of becoming a pastor. About then the letter came. It was an invitation, an advertisement really, to come and look at some vacation property. If we came they were going to give us a grandfather clock. I liked clocks.

So, we drove the hour, looked at the property, listened to their pitch and then explained that we could not afford the property. After a long back and forth they finally figured out that–you guessed it–we couldn’t afford the property. It was a no sale. It was time to go and then I asked about the prize–the grandfather clock.

“Oh that,” she said. “Just a moment” she said. I waited with anticipation. I had seen several grandfather clocks in showrooms and houses of the rich and famous so I couldn’t wait to see mine. It was then she walked out. In her hands was a 24 inch, brown plastic, electric, imitation, not even close to real, pretend grandfather clock. You see, they had promised one thing and delivered another, and I was left very disappointed.

My heart told me it couldn’t be true. It seemed too good to be true–and it was. But I wanted the clock so badly I was willing to believe anything. I wish I could tell you I learned the lesson that day but I am still a hungry fish when it comes to baited hooks. That tends to make people like me a bit skeptical. No free lunch–too good to be true.

The clock was important to me for another reason. I just knew it would make me feel better about me–richer, more important, more blessed, more something. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead I walked out of the showroom feeling less than ever. Let me tell you about Jesus. He thinks you hung the moon. He thinks you are of incredible value–remember He died for you! He would choose you to be in His family again, and again, and again and He can’t wait to spend eternity with you. And those big, hairy monsters we face in life? He can whip them all.