What is REALLY considered WINNING THE RACE?

We had a great weekend full of up and down emotions, but once I reflect on the weekend as a whole, I want to thank God for a better perspective on life.

Grant won the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby Race for his Troop #88 (the fastest speed of anyone, the fastest in his troop #7, for the Pack #88 as a whole including the older children this past Saturday. On Saturday, he was #1. And he liked it. And apparently, so did I. I actually didn't know how fast his car was, I went and worked out and got there late, I missed his first race on Saturday.

On Sunday, he wore his Pack #88 T-shirt. I wore the adult version of the Pack #88 T-shirt and we dressed Josh and Coby in Starwars T-shirts their Grandmommy and Granddaddy gave them (since Grant's car was in Star Wars theme). I even had to wake Josh and Coby up from their naps (OK, and me too I should mention) so we could get to the playoffs in time for Sunday at 3:00pm for the BIG RACE. Grant along with 3 others representing his Troop #88 went on to the finals for Shanghai on Sunday. THIS WAS THE DAY! He was one of 16 of the best cars in Shanghai's 3 Boy Scout Packs and the Boy Scout Pack from Suzhou, China. As the race started and the music started, he was on top of the world. Josh was standing at the finish line ready to watch his big brother win. Jeff was beaming as he helped Grant the most. I was proud of my son and the great job he did yesterday and was about to do today. Coby of course was just running around crazy happy to see so many cool looking cars. I knew that some of the other cars that were there had done better than ours, but I was confident we would do well. As he raced each time placing #4 of 4 cars or #3 of 4 cars, he got a little sadder and sadder. As a mom, each time this happened, it felt like a punch in my stomach. I hurt for him.

It made me so happy to see him so excited when he was #1 the day before and so sad when he was sad because his car didn’t do well. On that Sunday, we can in dead last #16 of 16. Grant cried. I cried in my heart for him.

Unknown to us until later, a weight fell off as his car crashed into the finish line in the 1st race of the 4 he would do that Sunday. But isn't that life?

As much as it hurt me to see him lose the finals, I know that it builds character and God loves us with a lot of that!

I know that this may not seem like suffering, but to Grant on this day, it really was. "Suffering produces perseverence, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts" Romans 5:3-4 We were able to put it all into perspective in the end.

One of the last things after the race Grant said was, "Mom, don't worry about me, it is only an empty cup." (Can anyone tell me what movie that is from?)

So, in the end, Grant really did win and I think this taught us all something valuable! Thanks, God for teaching us a life lesson!