On the way to the Church for the second race day, the Professor, Shane and Shelly stopped at the store to buy prizes for the pinewood derby races. They bought huge candy bars for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each class and regular size candy bars for everyone who participated.
They got to the Church just as the kids and their parents were beginning to arrive. The Professor and Shelly got all the pinewood derby cars divided into classes; there was a class of cars, a class of truck and buses, and a class of unusual race cars. They also divided each class into a younger group and an older group so that the races could be as fair as possible. While they were getting the race cars divided into classes, Shane inspected each race car to make sure that it was ready to race. He had to make a few repairs on some of the cars.
It was time to start the races, and Shelly asked the Professor where he had put the prizes. The Professor said, “Ooops! I left them in the car!” Shelly and the Professor ran out to the car to get the chocolate bars, and they could not believe their eyes! The sun was shining, and the inside of the car was hot! The chocolate had melted! All the chocolate bars were mushy, and chocolate was leaking out of the wrappers! They were ruined! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Shelly sent the Professor back to the store to buy more chocolate bars, and she went inside to help Shane start the races.
Shane and Shelly did a great job running the races! All the kids had a fair chance to win their race. If a car broke down, Shane fixed the car and let them start the race again. The parents all cheered for everyone, and all the kids kept good attitudes, even when they lost a race! They remembered the lesson that the Professor had taught them last week about not quitting but enduring until the end!
Finally, the races were all over, and the Professor had returned from the store with more chocolate bars that were not melted! Shelly gave the list of winners to the Professor, and he called each of the kids up to the front of the room to receive their prize. Each of the kids that got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in their class got one of the huge chocolate bars, and the rest of the kids each got a regular size chocolate bar.
The parents had been taking pictures of the races all evening, but now the Professor had an idea! He said, “Let’s take a picture of all of us in front of the racetrack! Each of the kids can hold their pinewood derby car and their chocolate bar.” It was a great idea! All the kids gathered in front of the track, Shane stood at one end of the group and Shelly stood at the other end of the group. The Professor stood behind the group.
Just as the parents were about to take their pictures of the whole group, it happened…the Professor sneezed! When he sneezed, he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the track! The track collapsed under the Professor as he fell to the floor! The Professor said, “Ooops!” All the kids began laughing, and the parents took their pictures. The pictures showed the kids holding their racecars and chocolate bars and laughing while the Professor was laying on the ruins of the racetrack! It was a picture that everyone would treasure for years!
Shane and Shelly helped the Professor to get up from the broken pieces of wood that used to be the racetrack. The Professor told all the kids and parents to gather around him so that he could teach them a little more about God.
Professor Ooops Lesson from the Bible:
The Professor told the kids and parents that he was going to teach them about the rewards that Believers receive when they get to heaven at the end of this life. Each person that has believed that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, rose from the dead three days later, and has prayed, asked Jesus to forgive their sins, come in and take over their life will get to heaven at the end of this life. Each Believer will get rewarded for how they have lived for Jesus and served Him after they accepted Him into their life.
Like the pinewood derby prizes, everyone will get a reward but not all the rewards will be the same. In the pinewood derby race, the winners of the races got the bigger prizes. When we get to heaven the Believers that have served Jesus most faithfully will get the bigger rewards. This has nothing to do with how famous a person is on this earth, or how important they appear to be. It all depends on how faithful a Believer is and the attitude they have when they are serving Jesus. If a person is always drawing attention to themselves and wants everyone to notice them, they will not get a large reward in heaven. The Believer who serves God faithfully and does not want attention or glory, will get a bigger reward in heaven. There might be some instances in which the person who cleans the bathrooms of the Church gets a bigger reward than the pastor! It all depends on the person’s attitude!
In the Bible in II Corinthians 5:10 Paul is speaking to Believers, and he says:
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.
In the Bible in I Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul compares our life as a Believer to constructing a building on the foundation of Jesus. These verses say:
Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have – Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials – gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
The Professor challenged each of the kids and each of the parents to give their life totally to Jesus, if they have not already done that, and to live each day for Jesus and to serve Him in whatever way they can. Live in such a way that at the end of this life, a great reward will be given by Jesus Himself!
The Professor reminded the kids that they were going to continue to have more meetings on Wednesday nights at Church. The Professor asked the kids to use their imaginations and to write an adventure story about their pinewood derby car. The Professor would use some of the stories and teach them more lessons about God from the Bible. The kids loved this idea and could not wait to write their stories!