The group of kids and their leaders got back on the Ugly Little Blue Bus and left Chicogo on Route 66.
They went as far as Gardner Illinois and then they saw something unusual! Their leader said, “Look at the streetcar that has been turned into a diner. Of course the kids had questions; what is a streetcar and what is a diner?
The leader explained that a streetcar (also known as a trolleycar) was used in cities before most people had cars. A streetcar traveled on rails down a city street and got it’s power from an overhead wire above the street.
A diner is just another name for a resturant, it is a place to eat.
This particular street car has a long history:
- It is over 120 years old.
- It was first a streetcar in Kankakee Illinois.
- There was no electricity to run the streetcar, so at first it was pulled along the track by horses.
- It was sold for $300 in 1932 when it was not needed as a streetcar anymore and moved to Gardner Illinois.
- Over the years it has been used as a streetcar, diner, summer home, children’s playhouse, a rental home, and a tool shed.
- Now it is preserved as a Route 66 Diner.
It was exciting to see the old streetcar and to hear about all the ways it had been used for so many years!
That evening before bedtime the leader talked to the kids and told them that they could learn a lesson about God from the streetcar’s story. Originally the streetcar was pulled by horses and then ran by electricity, but by 1930 streetcars were not used anymore in most cities. Most of the streetcars were sent to junk yard and torn apart, but this streetcar was remade into something else! It became a diner, then a home, a children’s playroom, and several other things.
God also is in the business of remaking people. When a person accepts Jesus as their Savior the Bible tells us that they become a ‘new person’. They still look like the same person (just like the streetcar still looks like a streetcar), but they have a new purpose in life!
In the Bible in II Corinthians 5:17 it says:
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
When God make a Christian into a new person, He does an outstanding job! God changes a Christian and makes them into a ‘masterpiece’!
We read about this in the Bible in Ephesians 2:10.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.”
So, God has a great plan for you! You might be wondering, what if you have a bad day and fall into sin, will this destroy God’s wonderful plan for you?
God knows that we will struggle with sin every day while we live on this earth, but He has a way to help us deal with our sin.
In the Bible in I John 1:9 it says:
“But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
As soon as we realize that we have sinned, we need to pray and confess that sin to God, and we will be forgiven and ‘cleaned up’ from the sin. God will keep right on making us into His masterpiece.
In the Bible in Lamentations 3:22-23 it says:
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.”
God never gives up on you, He is making you into His masterpiece!