The solar car story of God’s answer to our prayers should be remembered and passed on to generations to come.
Elliot started the Walnut High School Solar Car Team in October, 2004, his junior year. They have nine months to build a life-size car from scratch in order to participate in the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge in July. Comes March, William the experienced advisor for the team, tells Elliot that they should be much further along in the construction of the car. It doesn’t look like they would make the deadline to enter the race.
Since the construction of the car was at our house, I felt that we really have to pray about this, and that somehow, God will use this project for His purpose.
We prayed constantly, asking God to help us in fundraising to meet the budget, for committed students, for materials to arrive in a timely manner, etc. I remember Elliot and others making call after call, looking for solar panels. Several companies said they were on back-order. It’s sort of important to have solar panels for a solar car!
God answered all our prayers: the solar panels to arrive in time; there was enough money for the expenses including travel expenses; insurance was set up with the school district after some hassle; there would be enough drivers who had their licenses to drive.
With only a week to go before the departure for the race, the car was ready to be tested. Amazingly, everything worked!
The best answer to prayer was the tremendous experience for all the team members. What a joy it was to see the students so happy and proud of their work! The morning they left for Texas for the race, our pastor came to send them off with prayer. What a testimony it was, and how I thanked God for His hand at work.
When the team took second place in the race, that was much more than expected!
Many gave credit to the students for their hard work and team spirit. While they did do a great job, I knew if it wasn’t for God’s answering our prayers, the students own efforts would not have completed the car.