The kids and the leaders got on the Ugly Little Blue Bus and left St. Louis. The next day they knew that they had a long day of driving ahead of them, so they stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank on the Ugly Little Blue Bus.
While the Leader was filling the tank, the kids and the other leaders went into the station to buy candy and snacks.
After they were on the road again, the kids told the leader, “The worker at the gas station was really crabby! He never smiled once, and when we asked him questions all he did was grunt. Why do some people act like that?” The Leader could not explain why the worker acted like that, but he did point out that that young man was not the right person for that job, a worker needs to serve people better than he did.
While they were traveling that day, the Leader told the kids a story about Route 66 from the days when it was an important highway. In the days before the Interstate Highways, Route 66 was the best way to travel to the western part of the United States. In those days when your car needed more fuel, you did not stop at a gas station, you would stop at a service station. At a service station they did more than just sell gasoline. A worker would come out to your car and fill your tank, check your oil, check your fan belts, check your windshield wipers, wash your windshield, check your battery, and even check the air pressure in your tires! All of that was considered normal service for the customer, and the workers took pride in doing a good job. If some of the workers were not busy when a car came into the station, all the workers would go out and serve that customer. They tried to treat every customer like they were special! If a car needed some work done, the workers would do everything they could to make the repair. If they could not repair the car at their station, they would direct the customer to a repair shop that could help them. They would also try to give the customers the best price on gasoline and sometimes they would compete with the other service stations in town and have a ‘gas war’ to see who could offer the lowest price for gasoline.
The Leader opened his laptop computer so he could show the kids pictures of the old service stations.
There are many old service stations along Route 66. Some of the old service stations are abandoned and falling apart while others have been turned shops or other businesses. Some old service stations have even been turned into museums and tourist attractions.
The kids spent the next few hours looking for old service stations as they traveled through Missouri. Then it happened! They were a couple of miles from Waynesville Missouri when the bus motor suddenly got very loud! There was also the sound of metal scrapping on the pavement! The exhaust pipe on the bus had broken and part of the exhaust system was dragging on the highway! The metal dragging on the highway was making sparks and the kids thought that the Ugly Little Blue Bus was going to catch on fire or blow up! They were excited, scared and screaming. The Leader tried to calm the kids down, and the driver slowed down and eased the bus down the road toward Waynesville.
At the edge of the city there was a building that had a sign that said it was a garage. It did not look like an old service station, but when the Ugly Little Blue Bus limped into the parking lot, the owner came out right away to help them. The owner was very friendly and helpful, he crawled under the bus and checked the exhaust system and then told the Leader that he could have it fixed in 2-3 hours. One of the kids asked, “Do you know how to fix a bus that is this old and ugly?” The owner laughed and said that his garage fixed all kinds of cars, trucks, and buses.
The Leader was happy that the garage could fix the Ugly Little Blue Bus, but he was worried! He asked the owner of the garage where he could take the kids for 2-3 hours while the bus was repaired. The owner laughed and said, “You were so excited and upset with your broken bus that you drove right past the perfect picnic spot without even seeing it! It is time for a picnic! All the workers in the garage stopped working so that they could give rides to all the kids and leaders. The owner of the garage even gave them cans of pop to have with their picnic lunch! They were driven about ½ mile back up the highway and they could not believe what they saw! It was a frog! Not a real frog, but a big rock that was shaped just like a frog up on a hill by the highway. The people of the city had painted the rock so that it really did look just like a frog! It was the perfect place to have a picnic and play games for a while! They climbed up the hill and had their picnic right on the frog’s back!
About 2 ½ hours later they saw the Ugly Little Blue Bus coming down the highway to pick them up! The motor was running quietly again, and nothing was dragging on the highway. The Leader paid the owner of the garage for the repairs, and all the kids thanked him, and some even hugged him! Then they were on their way down Route 66 for more adventures!
That night at a campground the Leader talked to the kids about serving people and being a servant. The workers at the old service stations and at the garage knew how to serve people and treat them like they were special. Christians are supposed to serve people and be servants. Jesus was the best servant ever! He was the Son of God and everyone in the world should have wanted to serve Him, but He chose to serve people.
In Philippians 2:5-8 it says:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
In Galatians 6:2 it says:
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
In Galatians 5:13b-14 it says:
Serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Too often people in this world are like that worker in that gas station at the beginning of our story, they do not want to serve people and they do not really care about people. Christians are not supposed to be like this! Christians are supposed to follow the example of Jesus and want to serve the people around us, even when people do not show appreciation!
The Leader asked the kids in the group to make a list of all the ways the leaders served the kids in the group, here is the list they made:
- Planned the route
- Planned the meals and cooked the meals
- Did the dishes
- Set up tents at the campground
- Planned exciting things to do and see
- Prayed for the kids
- Listened to the kid’s problems
- Arranged to pay for the trip
- Drove the bus
The Leader challenged the kids to make a list of ways they could serve others. Some of their ideas were:
- Pray for the leaders
- Pick up the trash in the bus, even if they did not make the mess
- Not argue with the other kids
- Say encouraging things to the other kids
- Help setting up camp cooking the meals
Their goal was to serve people like Jesus served people, we should all make that our goal!