After the night of the bad storm and having the electricity go out in the cabins, the group woke up late and eventually got into the Ugly Little Blue Bus and started traveling down Route 66 again.
They were still in Oklahoma, and still traveling west. The weather was hot and soon the kids started complaining about being very thirsty. The Leader heard their complaints and promised that they were going to stop soon at a place where they could each get a bottle of pop. The kids asked how soon they would be there, and the Leader told them to watch for it…they would recognize the place when they saw it! Of course, the kids started asking the Leader, “Is it that building over there? Is it that store on the corner? Is it over the hill?” The Leader just smiled and shook his head each time.
Then they saw it! There was a building by the side of Route 66 with a giant pop bottle in front of it! The kids yelled and pointed at the building, and the Leader nodded his head, this was the place!
The bus stopped in the parking lot and the Leader gave each of the kids enough money for one bottle of pop and told them the rules: each of them was to go into the store one-at-a-time and buy their bottle of pop without telling any of the other kids what kind of pop they were buying, and they had to keep the empty bottle when they were finished drinking it.
It seemed simple enough, so the first of the kids took their money and went into the store. When they got into the store, they could not believe their eyes! There were bottles of pop everywhere, the walls were lined with bottles of pop!
There were hundreds of them, and they were all different, but arranged by color. She picked out her pop, paid for it, and then went outside. Then the second of the kids came in and bought their pop. Eventually all the kids had their pop and outside enjoying it. After they finished their pop, they all got back onto the Ugly Little Blue Bus and drove to a nearby campground and set up camp.
That evening after supper, the Leader called all the kids and the other leaders to gather around the campfire so that they could learn more about God.
The Leader told them the background of the place where they bought the pop that day. It is called Pops 66, and the giant pop bottle in front of the building is 66 feet tall, and it weighs 4 tons (that is 8,000 pounds). It was built that tall to honor Route 66. The man who built Pops 66 named it after his dad (he called his dad ‘Pops’), and Pops 66 has 700 different kinds of pop from all over the world. Everyone can find their favorite kind of pop at this store.
The Leader then had all the kids bring out their empty bottles, and they were surprised; everyone had picked out a different kind of pop! The Leader then told the kids that they were going to try the experiment again. At first the kids did not understand what the Leader was telling them, then they suddenly understood: they were going back to Pops 66 to get another bottle of pop! One of the kids said, “But we have not learned anything about God this evening!” The Leader just smiled and told the kids that they would finish their learning session after they got back from Pops 66.
So, they got back into the Ugly Little Blue Bus and went back to Pops 66. When they got there, the kids were surprised again! The giant bottle of pop was lit up and it was beautiful! The Leader told the kids that the giant pop bottle is lit up with hundreds of LED lights at night!
The Leader told the kids that the rules for buying their bottle of pop were the same as the rules they used earlier in the day, but there is one new rule: None of the kids can buy the same kind of pop as they bought earlier!
After they all enjoyed their second bottle of pop that day, they all went back to the campground and gathered around the campfire again. Once again, the Leader told the kids to show everyone their empty bottle. Once again, they were all surprised! Everyone had a unique kind of pop, no one had picked the same kind as anyone else!
The Leader looked at the kids and told them that all of them were unique, none of them were the same as another person. That is the way God planned it! God made each person unique, each person likes different things, has different talents, displays different emotions, likes different kinds of music, and the list goes on and on! None of this surprises God, He made us this way!
In the Bible in Psalms 139:1-6 it says:
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
A little further down in that same chapter (Psalms 139) in verses 16-18 it says:
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
God makes each person unique and special! No one is a ‘mistake’ or an ‘accident’, God designed you and completely understands you. God even knows what kind of pop you will choose at Pops 66, nothing surprises Him! We can trust Him to guide us through life, because He knows us completely and loves us!