The cars were designed, cut out, sanded, painted, and the wheels were attached! The kids wanted to race the cars right now! They begged the Professor to set up the track and let them race! The Professor said, “Ooops! I have not had time to build the track yet!” The kids did not know if they should laugh or cry! It was kind of funny that the Professor would forget something so important, but it was also sad because they thought the cars were ready to race, and they wanted to race right now!
Shane came to the front of the group and told them that the cars were not quite ready to race yet, there was one more thing that had to be done. None of the kids could guess what still needed to be done, the cars looked like they were ready to go! Even the Professor was confused, he could not think of anything that needed to be done except for building the racetrack.
Shane explained that the cars all needed to be weighed on a scale. All the cars had to weigh the same weight. Pinewood derby rules say that the cars should all weigh exactly 5 ounces. Since the racetrack was a downhill track, weight makes all the difference! If a car is too heavy, it will go faster than the other cars and it will not be fair! If a car was too light, it will go slower than the other cars and it will not be fair! If a car weighed less than 5 ounces, small weights would have to be glued to the car to make it heavier. Shane remembered from the pinewood derby he had been in before, that all the cars needed to have at least a little weight added to them.
Shelly got out a small scale that measured in ounces, and she and Shane started to weigh the cars, and they were surprised! The first car that they weighed was a bus, and it was too heavy! It was not just a little overweight, it was 2 ounces overweight! They set that bus off to the side and weighed the next car, and it was overweight too! They weighed all the pinewood derby cars, and they all weighed too much! The Professor said, “Ooops!”
How could all the pinewood derby cars be too heavy? Shelly had an idea. She got out her phone and googled pine wood and spruce wood. She then said to Shane and the Professor, “Remember when we were buying the wood, the spruce wood was on sale, so we bought spruce instead of pine? Google just told me that spruce wood is heavier than pine wood, that is why all the car weigh too much!” The Professor said, “Ooops!”
Now they had to figure out how to make all the car lighter. Shane had an idea! They could drill several holes in the bottom of each car! That would make the cars lighter. It was a great idea, but Shelly pointed out one big problem! The kids’ names were written on the bottom of the cars, and drilling holes would destroy their names and then they would have kids fighting over cars again! They decided to take a picture of each of the kids holding their cars, then they could tell for sure which car belonged to which of the kids.
They got all the pictures taken, and then Shane and Shelly began to drill holes in the bottom of each car and weigh them after each hole was made. It was a long process because some of the cars had to have a lot of holes drilled to remove enough weight! The kids quickly got bored and wanted to do something else, so the Professor told the kids to gather around him and he would teach them more about God! The kids loved that idea, they always learned something when the Professor taught them about God!
Professor Ooops Lesson from the Bible:
The Professor told the kids that today he had learned that weight is very important in a pinewood derby. The weight of the car affects the outcome of the race. The heavier the car is, the faster it goes down the track. There is a difference when people race. The Professor said that they were going to have a race across the room and back. He picked the biggest boy and the smallest girl to race. The boy thought that he would win easily, but the Professor had the big boy carry a very heavy box while he raced! The little girl won the race easily! Carrying extra weight slows a person down when they are running.
The Professor said that the Bible talked about this kind of race.
In the Bible in Hebrews 12:1-2 it says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
Living the life of a Christian is like a long race. Sin in our life slows us down and keeps us from the kind of life that God wants for us. We need to strip the sin out of our life and then keep our eyes on Jesus as we continue through life.
In the Bible in I John 1:9 it says:
But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Get rid of sin as soon as you realize that you have sinned. Confess the sin to Jesus and ask Him to strip the sin off you so that you can live the life that God has planned for you. Keep your whole life focused on Jesus, and you will find that you will sin less!