After leaving Pops 66 the group continued traveling in the Ugly Little Blue Bus down Route 66 and finally, they got into Texas! They were excited because every new State brought new adventures! They could not wait to see what would happen next!
The kids noticed that the ground was completely flat and kind of boring, but after traveling for about an hour they noticed something! They saw a white cross in the distance!
The kids asked the Leader about that cross and he told them that the cross was in the city of Groom Texas, and it was still about 20 miles away! The kids could not believe it! The land was so flat that they could see for 20 miles! About 20 minutes later they were very close to that white cross, and it was huge. The Leader told the kids that it was 19 stories tall and made from 2.5 million pounds of steel!
The millionaire that built that cross wanted everyone who drove on Route 66 to know how important the cross of Jesus was to him! As they went past the city of Groom, the kids watched as the giant white cross began to fade in the distance behind them.
About 15 minutes after passing the giant white cross, the Ugly Little Blue Bus got off the highway and stopped. The Leader told the kids that they were at a tourist attraction called, ‘Slug Bug Ranch’! The kids could not believe their eyes! There were 5 old Volkswagen Beetle cars there, their hoods were buried in the ground and the back of the cars were sticking up in the air!
The cars were covered with all kinds of painted messages and designs! Of course, the kids wanted to add some paintings to the old cars, the Leader gave the group 3 cans of spray paint and told them that they had to share the paint, and to be careful not to get the paint on each other.
The kids were eager to add some paint to those old slug bugs! There was some pushing and shoving and arguing! Some were worried that others were taking too long or using too much of the paint. There were a few other families at the Slug Bus Ranch, and they kept their kids away from the kids from the bus and told their kids that they should never act like those kids that got off that ugly little blue bus! One of those parents even told the kids from the bus that they should be ashamed of the way they were acting, they should be setting a better example for the kids that were younger than them!
After the 3 cans of paint were empty, they all got back on the Ugly Little Blue Bus and went to a nearby campground.
That evening when the Leader called the kids to the campfire to spend some time learning about God, he did not look to happy! He asked the kids if they knew the meaning of the word ‘legacy’. None of the kids knew what that word meant, so the Leader explained that a legacy the what a person leaves behind for others to remember. A legacy can be things or actions and words that are remembered about a person. The Leader said that everyone is leaving a legacy behind them every day of their life! He said that the man who had the giant white cross built had left a legacy about his great love for Jesus and his thankfulness that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. That is a great legacy!
Then the Leader asked the kids what kind of a legacy the kids had left for other people that day. The Leader asked them what messages they had left on the Slug Bugs, the kids looked very embarrassed, and some said that they had painted the name of their best friend, others had painted messages that made fun of other kids at their school or some of their teachers. The Leader asked the kids if any of their painted messages had pointed to Jesus. The kids were silent and shook their heads ‘no’, not one of them had painted anything that would tell others about Jesus. Then the Leader asked the kids about their behavior at Slug Bug Ranch, the kids had been pushing, shoving, and arguing! They had set a very bad example for the other kids that were there and made the parents of those kids angry! The Leader asked the kids if they had behaved the way that pleased Jesus. Again, the kids were silent and shook their heads ‘no’.
The Leader opened his Bible and read I Corinthians 3:3
“for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature?”
The Leader was very sad as he told the kids that at the Slug Bug Ranch, they had let their sinful nature take control. Nothing they had done that day had helped people see Jesus in their lives. They had left a terrible legacy!
The Leader then read from his Bible Philippians 1:20-21
“For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.”
The Leader told the kids that Christians should want to live for Christ every minute of every day. A Christian should leave a legacy that points to Jesus every day. Jesus should be the most important thing in their life!
After a few minutes of silence, one of the kids asked if they could go back to the Slug Bug Ranch the next day. They wanted to paint some different messages on those old cars, and they wanted to behave differently. The Leader sadly shook his head ‘no’. He told them that we cannot go back and change a legacy, we cannot change what is in the past. Even if they went back and changed the paintings on the cars, they still could not change the bad memories that they had given to the other people who were there. However, God does forgive us if we ask Him to, and God gives more opportunities in the future to leave a better legacy. The kids were very sad when they went to bed that night, and there were many prayers asking for forgiveness!
The next morning one of the kids asked the Leader, “Do you think that we will have a chance to leave a better legacy today? The Leader smiled and said that God always gives us chances to leave a legacy for Him!
After traveling for a little over 30 miles the Ugly Little Blue Bus stopped again and the kids could not believe their eyes! They were at a place called Cadillac Ranch! There were 10 full-size Cadillacs with their noses buried in the dirt and their tail fins pointed to the sky!
They were all covered with spray paint too! The Leader once again gave the kids three cans of spray paint and told them that they would have to share. The kids acted differently today, they wanted to leave a good legacy! There was no pushing, shoving, or arguing! The kids were patient while waiting for their turn with the spray paint, and their painted messages were different! There were no mean messages or thoughtless messages! Instead, the kids painted things like: “God loves you!”, “You are special”, “Jesus died for your sins”, and “Jesus is the only way to heaven”! Some of the kids even painted their favorite Bible verse on those Cadillacs! The other people at the Cadillac Ranch came up to the Leader and told him what wonderful kids he had in his group! The Leader smiled and said, “I’m proud of them! They are leaving a great legacy!”