I arrived at the church campout all in one piece, which was a pretty great achievement for me. I suggested to my older brother that we throw a party the next day, but he just told me to grow up, and not to push my luck.
At the campout our youth pastor, Pastor Philemon (a.k.a. Phil), suggested that we play a game outside. Actually, he ordered us to play a game outside so that we “would all be tuckered out and go to sleep afterward”, he said, staring meaningfully at me.
I must admit, his suggestion of a game was cool, except that the game Pastor Phil had us play was Let’s-gang-up-on-Average-Boy-and-see-how-many-water-balloons-we-can-throw-at-him-in-two-minutes.
After we played a few rounds of that (my brother thoroughly enjoyed it, from what I could tell), I asked Pastor Phil if we could play a different game. He agreed, and asked the other tweens and teens what game we wanted to play. Cops and Robbers was the game.
I had absolutely no idea how to play Cops and Robbers, but I figured that it was like hide-and-go-seek. So I ran off and sought out a hiding place before the Pastor Phil had even finished explaining how the game is played (I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get a head-start).
I hid behind the generator, which was standing right next to the side of the church. I had chosen that hiding place because there was so little room between the generator and that wall that no one would think a mouse, much less an average boy like me, could have fit back there! I guess my hiding spot was too good, because it was a good 15 minutes before I heard anyone nearby. In my time waiting I found: 5 spider webs, 30 thorns, a pile of pokey rocks, dust that had accumulated over the years (when’s the last time anyone cleaned back there?), and things that I didn’t even want to think about
Finally, after having discovered all those things, plus a couple of empty water bottles (I guess my science teacher was right when she said it took years for them to decompose), I heard someone calling my name. They sounded urgent. “Bob, Bob, where are you?” They actually sounded panicked. I had no idea a game of Cops and Robbers could be so intense.
“Clay?” I called, emerging from behind the generator.
“Average Boy!” Clay exclaimed, rushing toward me. “Didn’t you hear? We had a change of plans. We’re going to play the Let’s-gang-up-on-Average-Boy-and-see-how-many-water-balloons-we-can-throw-at-him-in-two-minutes again, and we can’t do that without our star!”
I wasn’t very thrilled at this new development, but I consented with a sigh, and went back to join the others.
That night I learned two things:
1. Listen to all the directions before running off
2. Remember to bring two changes of clothes to the next youth group campout
As a note, you can see the real Average Boy stories here, or, even better, subscribe to Clubhouse Magazine, by Focus on the Family, (in which Average Boy stories are published) here. You can buy a book of Average Boy devotionals (Christian) here. The devotionals are written by Jesse Florea and Bob Smiley. I wrote this story using the characters developed by Bob Smiley.
