On a recent trip I stayed a few nights at a unique inn. It is in Elkader, Iowa, a small town nestled in the beautiful hills and farm-country of northern Iowa. Here you can find “The Jail House Inn.” Built in the 1870’s to house Clayton County’s most dangerous criminals, the large limestone building still shows the cells and locks of a past era. Cells still bear the inscriptions from inmates who scratched their names and dates into them. You can bunk in these cell rooms if you like.

In the last few years, the Jail House Inn has been remodeled into a small, impressive hotel. A far better option, if you ask me, is to forgo the door-bars and snuggle into one of the stunning, reworked old-time rooms. A new gorgeous kitchen has replaced the woodstove where prison grub was served onto tin plates. And the remodeled bathrooms transport you into memories of wealthy landed gentry, not prohibition whiskey runners or bank robbers. All in all, it is a spectacular transformation.

The Bible talks of amazing transformation, too. We are being made into new creations, it says. As Christians, we have Jesus in us, filling us with more and more of his glory over the days of our lives. We are being built into a real community of belonging. People are God’s renovation projects. He is always changing examples of crime and brokenness into something beautiful and special. Granting spiritual freedom to those who have carved their names too many times into cell walls. A sign in our church declares simply, “Restore people, not just things. Never throw anyone away.” God does spectacular transformations. It is a good reminder.

Lord, today help me join in your reclamation and restoration of those around me. Amen.