Pinewood Derby Cars
And so it happened . . . I received a text from our son, Ray, concerning our grandson, Holden, and his upcoming Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car, "Dad, would you mind coming out of retirement and giving Holden a hand on his car? The derby is at the end of the week."
Just the request made me smile, as I remembered back to all of the cars our three sons and I had made in my basement shop over the years. Though I am not certain of the final number, it would have to be around 15 cars . . . sometime I will have to count them, for they are all up on a rail on display in my shop in our home. Each car reflects a bit of the personality of the son who imagined it, worked on it, raced it and cherished it. Each car held a place of high value and esteem in their lives - until they left home and the car was left with Mom and Dad for 'safe-keeping'. Each car now resides near me as I work on other projects and, now, each car looks on as the next generation begins the journey.
"Sure, I'll help. Let me check my calendar and I will get back to you," I replied.
The next day I picked up Holden at his home to take he and his pinewood derby car kit to our home and to my waiting shop. The host of saints waited on their places of honor for the new car to arrive, and arrive it did! Holden was so excited, first to be working on his car and, secondarily, to be working with his Papa.
When we stepped into the shop he immediately took his kit out of the bag in which he was carrying it, opened the box and started getting the parts out. He didn't seem pleased when I stopped him, but he patiently endured my history lesson.
I placed a step ladder near the rails of older cars and had him climb up the ladder. Holden had never really looked at the cars in my shop before and, as he examined each one, I explained whose car it was and what the basic design was. Then I set his Dad's cars on the shop table and Holden picked each one up, marveling over the cars as if for the first time getting a sense of his Dad's passion for the pinewood derby experience. I asked him to choose which one of his Dad's cars he wanted to copy in the basic design, which I thought was a good way of starting him out. He chose the one which I called the coupe, with a large 'R' painted on the hood representing Ray's name. Thus, we were ready to begin.
Drawing the pattern, cutting out the car, grinding and sanding edges to smoothness, then painting the raw wood all seem rather mundane things to do, unless you are doing it with your grandson who is pumped! Holden could hardly contain himself, wanting to saw, to grind, to sand and, especially, to spray paint. God must have created little boys and pinewood derby cars so that grandparents would remember the look of pure ecstasy and joy which is ours to claim every day, if only we would approach life as Holden approached the creation of his pinewood derby car. Incredible.
Odd thing though, in retrospect, I don't remember our boys being so full of energy and readiness as we did their cars together. Or was it just me at the time? We parents get so busy with work, meetings, plans, education, school, sports, calendars, neighborhood events, church, and projects for all of the kids in the family . . . and the list goes on and on, and sometimes our souls lose a bit of the luster, are tarnished by the stress, and we miss the moments we are given to cherish. Sometimes we miss the beauty of the day in the rush of the mounting minutes of expectation. I'm not sure. Yet, of this I am certain today, the grandparent in me has more time, pays more attention and savors more moments than the parent in me ever did, with my deepest apologies to all three of our sons.
It makes me stop in wonder considering how God does it with all of us. We stand or kneel in prayer, the pinewood derby car of our life held tightly in our hearts, and wait for God to walk with us to the Shop, show us around, teach us how to work the tools and build our dreams, then get out of our way as we figure it out, certain we can do it all ourselves. Then, we crush the car in the vise, over-sand the edges, glob the paint, slop on the decals and present our project in all its wonder, waiting in self-righteous certainty for God to pat us on the back for a job well done - all the while halfway hoping the project of our life even makes it to the end of the track . . . marveling if it even moves beyond the starting block.
Still, there God is, cheering us on. That is the gift of Christ: God will not let us alone in the Shop. God sends us the Carpenter to show us how to get things done, how to stay with the task until it shines on the finish line and how to encourage our sisters and brothers to hold the faith and run their races, as well. God gets it in a way I can only hope and pray to mirror in my own life. Maybe now that I am a grandparent, recently enlisted to come out of pinewood derby car retirement and re-hone my skills, maybe now I am ready . . . and have the patience and peace . . . to reflect just a portion of the One who is the Eternal Creator of us all. One can only have faith such miracles might happen.
The pinewood derby is sometime this next weekend, so we will have to see if Holden's car has what it takes to compete. 'Holden's Velociraptor' will run its course, with little boy laughter and cheers urging it on, I'm certain, but in my mind it has already taken the prize, for it has brought Holden and I together in a shared vision, much like the ones our sons and I shared not so very long ago . . . and I am the one made better, honed more brightly and shining more faithfully.
Thank you, God, for pinewood derby car gifts and projects in our lives.
Something to ponder on the journey.
Pastor Don
(c)dcw2020
Photographs (c)dcw2020
