The Most Powerful Force on Earth!

This inspirational piece, proves that a simple prayer is the most powerful force on earth. Here's a story of a boy praying this powerful prayer, shared by his mother.

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 tyres and told to return home and give them all to 'Dad'.

This was not an easy task for Gilbert. 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, I, his 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 a, 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 he 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'.

The races were conducted through elimination rounds. 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 asked if they could stop the race for a minute, because he wanted to pray. The race was stopped.

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

To which my young son answered, "Oh, no sir. It wouldn't be fair to ask God to help you beat someone else. I just asked Him to make it easy so that 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 to face the outcome.

When Gilbert first saw the other cars he didn't cry out to God, "Not fair, they had a father's help."
No, he went to his father for strength.

What about us? What do we pray for? What do we really need today? Is it not strength to go through the difficulties of daily life? Is it not peace in the midst of pressure? Think properly. Call upon Lord now with sincere heart and He is ready to grant your request.

Be Encouraged!

************************Letter 19 (25. 5. 2003)*******************