1st One to Cross the Finish Line Wins!
Of course this isn't NASCAR but when this one kid on our block showed up with the Derby car to end all derby cars, it was kind of a shock! He passed inspection with flying colors while The 7 other boys from our block that had entered the race found themselves with their hand made derby cars, made by themselves without a father's help wondering how in the heck they could even compete! The looks of hopelessness, fear of humiliation, disappointment, defeat and jealousy were almost instantaneous!
I'm sure the questions in their heads ranged from "Why didn't my daddy help me?" or "Why didn't I get any help. This sucks." Why, why, why, the questions were endless in those boys minds, but what was about to happen filled their hearts with a great memory! Something they would never forget!
As the inspections were continuing, two very large men began to unload a truck just across the street. Nobody was sure who they were or what they were doing there until they started to unload 7 more cars just like the first one that all the boys had been grumbling about! Needless to say, the boys were in shock! The men unloading the truck started putting several Derby Racers on the ground, lined up in correct order for inspection and with each of the 7 boys names air brushed over the sides of each car along with our street name on the back!
When his son asked his dad why he had done this he said, "Well, son, there just come a time when we should "love our neighbors." He went on to say that though they would likely win the derby, he was more interested in winning some of those kids over, so that they would have a place to go when they felt afraid, or felt discouraged because their mom's and dad's were fighting or they had a black eye from the bottom side of an empty bottle of whisky or there was nobody home, the list is endless. Later he said he had created a family. Eventually the girls on our block began to learn how to cook from his wife! He and his wife took our neighborhood boys and girls and trained them, taught them, helped them with their problems. The door was always open to us. Their faith in Jesus Christ created a safe haven for all of us!
Our block did smoke everyone else that day, but it was Jesus who got the ultimate victory! We began a family that day through those two wonderful people who couldn't have any children of their own, who reached out to a neighborhood full of hurting kids! I will never forget them, God rest both their souls, because they brought people together in a seemingly dead neighborhood where only the kids talked to each other.
Those boys were allowed to take those derby cars home that day and one of the guys I have stayed in touch with all these years, still has his! He treats it like a trophy and loves telling that story to the neighborhood kids who come around asking about it, so Jesus is still at work with just that one car!
Our wonderful neighbor's gift to those boys that day has become legend in my old neighborhood. They've never forgotten, and neither will I!
