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F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

PINEWOOD DERBY (The wisdom of a child)

My son Gilbert was eight years old and had been in Cub Scouts only a
short time. During one of his meetings he was handed a sheet of paper,
a block of wood and four tires and told to return home and give all to
"dad".

That was not an easy task for Gilbert to do. Dad was not receptive to
doing things with his son. But Gilbert tried. Dad read the paper and
scoffed at the idea of making a pine wood derby car with his young,
eager son. The block of wood remained untouched as the weeks passed.

Finally, mom stepped in to see if I could figure this all out. The
project began. Having no carpentry skills, I decided it would be best
if I simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. And he did. I
read aloud the measurements, the rules of what we could do and what we
couldn't do.

Within days his block of wood was turning into a pinewood derby car. A
little lopsided, but looking great (at least through the eyes of mom).
Gilbert had not seen any of the other kids' cars and was feeling pretty
proud of his "Blue Lightning", the pride that comes with knowing you
did something on your own.

Then the big night came. With his blue pinewood derby in his hand and
pride in his heart we headed to the big race. Once there my little
one's pride turned to humility. Gilbert's car was obviously the only
car made entirely on his own. All the other cars were a father-son
partnership, with cool paint jobs and sleek body styles made for speed.

A few of the boys giggled as they looked at Gilbert's lopsided, wobbly,
unattractive vehicle. To add to the humility, Gilbert was the only boy
without a man at his side. A couple of the boys who were from single
parent homes at least had an uncle or grandfather by their side,
Gilbert had "mom".

As the race began it was done in elimination fashion. You kept racing
as long as you were the winner. One by one the cars raced down the finely
sanded ramp. Finally it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest
looking car there. As the last race was about to begin, my wide eyed,
shy eight year old ask if they could stop the race for a minute,
because he wanted to pray. The race stopped.

Gilbert went to his knees clutching his funny looking block of wood
between his hands. With a wrinkled brow he set to converse with his
Father. He prayed in earnest for a very long minute and a half. Then he
stood, smile on his face and announced, 'Okay, I am ready."

As the crowd cheered, a boy named Tommy stood with his father as their
car sped down the ramp. Gilbert stood with his Father within his heart
and watched his block of wood wobble down the ramp with surprisingly
great speed and rushed over the finish line a fraction of a second
before Tommy's car.

Gilbert leaped into the air with a loud "Thank You" as the crowd roared
in approval. The Scout Master came up to Gilbert with microphone in
hand and asked the obvious question, "So you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?"

To which my young son answered, "Oh, no sir. That wouldn't be fair to
ask God to help you beat someone else. I just asked Him to make it so I
wouldn't cry when I lost."

Children seem to have a wisdom far beyond us. Gilbert didn't ask God to
win the race, he didn't ask God to fix the outcome. Gilbert asked God
to give him strength in the outcome. When Gilbert first saw the other cars
he didn't cry out to God, "No fair, they had a father's help!". No, he
went to his Father for strength. Perhaps we spend too much of our
prayer time asking God to rig the race, to make us number one, or too much
time asking God to remove us from the struggle, when we should be seeking
God's strength to get through the struggle. "I can do everything
through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Gilbert's simple prayer spoke volumes to those present that night. He
never doubted that God would indeed answer his request. He didn't pray
to win, thus hurt someone else, he prayed that God supply the grace to
lose with dignity. Gilbert, by his stopping the race to speak to his
Father also showed the crowd that he wasn't there without a "dad", but
His Father was most definitely there with him. Yes, Gilbert walked away
a winner that night, with his Father at his side.

May we all learn to pray this way.

PRAYER
"Lord, give me a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, and a
great love for you. Take from me all lukewarmness in the meditation
of your word, and dullness in prayer. Give me fervor and delight in
thinking of you and your grace, and fill me with compassion for
others, especially those in need, that I may respond with
generosity"

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# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 12:13 AM 0 comments