At the next meeting, Professor Ooops read a story written by one of the boys in the group. This boy had a very unusual pinewood derby car, it was one of the biggest cars, and it had a propeller on the back of it! This is the story he wrote:
“One day the Professor came to my house, and he was all excited! He said, “Ooops! A hurricane hit the coastline south of us, and many people need to be rescued!” I jumped to my feet and told the Professor that I would go and rescue all those people! The Professor told me that I could not rescue those people because they were surrounded by water! There was no way anyone could help them!
The Professor did not understand how special my car was! My car had grown, it was not a small pinewood derby car anymore, it was huge! It was so wide that it took up two lanes when it went down the road, and it was as long as a bus! Also, my car had a trailer hitch and I hooked up a long house trailer behind the car. Now I was ready to go!
I went speeding down the wide highway toward the area where the hurricane had hit the coastline. Soon I came to a flooded area. No other cars could get through that water, but my giant pinewood derby car could float! My car splashed into the water, and I turned on the propeller on the back of the car. Because the car and the trailer were made completely out of wood, they floated! We went speeding through that flood faster than the fastest motorboat!
I loaded the car and the trailer with people. I crowded them in until there was not room for another person to squeeze in, and then I went speeding back across the water and took all those people to safety!
When I dropped off the people, the Governor came to me and begged that I take food and other supplies into the area that had been destroyed by the hurricane. So, I had them load my giant pinewood derby car and the trailer with food and other supplies, and then I went speeding back across the flooded area with the supplies!
I spent three days speeding back and forth across the flooded area, taking supplies in and bringing people out! Finally, the flood waters went down, and the emergency was over! I felt good because I had helped all those people when no one else could help them!”
Professor Ooops Lesson from the Bible:
The kids wondered what Bible lesson the Professor could teach them related to this story. The Professor did not disappoint them. He began by explaining that he was going to teach them something that many adults did not understand. Many adults think that they can get to heaven by doing good works, such as rescuing people after a hurricane, but the Bible teaches that we can only get to heaven by believing in Jesus and asking Him to forgive our sins and come into our life.
After a person has Jesus in their life, then they want to do good things because they love Jesus and want to serve him.
In the Bible in James 1:27 it says:
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
During the time when the Bible was written, kids that had no parents (orphans), and women whose husband had died (widows) were helpless. They could not get jobs or money to live. Jesus told His followers that they should take care of people who have no way of caring for themselves. Today there are many people who are helpless; those who cannot work because of a disability, those who have lost everything they own in a natural disaster, those who have huge medical bills because they are fighting a disease, and the list goes on! Jesus wants us to help those around us. We cannot solve all the problems in the world, but we can help those that God brings to us.
In the Bible in Matthew 25:40 Jesus says:
“And the King (Jesus) will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!’”
That is so awesome! When we show kindness and serve others who are in a helpless situation, Jesus counts it as if we were serving Him personally! How great is that!
The Professor reminded the kids again, they cannot get to heaven being doing good things, but after they have Jesus in their life then when they serve helpless people, they are serving Jesus Himself!