The Official Average Boy Podcast

Jesse: Welcome to episode 128 of the Official Average Boy Podcast. I'm Jesse from Focus on the Family Clubhouse Magazine, and I have some exciting news that I want to share with Bob and all of our listeners.

Bob: Wait, what? Jesse, wait a minute. Did you just say you have news? You have exciting news? What's the news? Wait, am I getting a movie just like Adventures in Odyssey? This is the best news ever, Jesse. Well, okay, wait a minute. Jesus is the best news ever, but I got a movie.

Jesse: Bob, that's not the exciting news.

Bob: It's not? Jesse, why would you get my hopes up like that? It's not nice to make someone think he's getting a movie made about him when, in reality, he's probably not, at least for another couple of months, maybe.

Jesse: Bob, no one said anything about you getting a movie.

Bob: It seems like one of us did. Okay, what's the exciting news?

Jesse: Well, you know about the Evangelical Press Association contest, right?

Bob: Oh, yeah. They give out awards for great articles and stuff. One of my stories got first place last year. It was so cool for them to honor me like that because I work so hard writing those articles.

Jesse: Bob, we work hard on those articles. You know that I edit everything that you write to make it right?

Bob: Right, the one that starts with R, not W. You see, I'm learning spelling.

Jesse: You certainly are.

Bob: The point is, my story that you edited a little bit, it won first place last year. Remember that? They gave me a certificate and—Wait, is that the big news? Did another one of my stories win first place again? I knew I was going to win. I knew when I was writing that story that it was a winner. Wait, which story of mine won first place?

Jesse: Well, your story actually got fifth place this year in the humor category.

Bob: What? Our story got fifth place? Hang on, what happened to it being your story? Well, that was before it dropped down four places. Did they say specifically what was wrong with the editing of the article that we submitted?

Jesse: No, there was nothing wrong with the editing. They said it was actually a really funny story, but the judge liked four stories more than the one that I submitted.

Bob: Really? That's a puzzle. Which story did you submit of ours?

Jesse: Well, it was a puzzling one. You know, the one about you making Mr. Polvado a puzzle of you guys fishing together for his birthday?

Bob: Oh, yeah. Now I'm puzzled why I didn't win. That story was hilarious.

Jesse: It was, and fifth place isn't bad.

Bob: Well, did they give me another certificate?

Jesse: Of course, and they gave you an eraser to use for your next article.

Bob: Okay, very funny. Oh well, I guess it's like they always say: you win some and you and Jesse lose some.

Jesse: That's not how the saying goes, but let's move on. Did you have a story you wanted to share today?

Bob: Yeah, I did, but maybe there are four other better stories that I should tell people that they'd rather listen to.

Jesse: Okay, now I'm sort of regretting telling you about the award.

Bob: No, it's okay. I'm over it, and I do have a story. In fact, producer guy, hit me with some intense music.

Sweat dripped down on my face and off my nose. It was disgusting.

Jesse: Hold on, stop the music. Bob, you're doing it again. You just started your story in the middle, and we have no idea where you are or what's happening.

Bob: Oh, sorry. I was in the school bus barn with a bunch of my friends.

Jesse: I don't know why any answer you give me still shocks me, but it does. Why were you in the school bus barn? School is out for the summer, isn't it?

Bob: Yeah, you're right, and I never forget when there's no school. We were in the bus barn to throw Sarah a surprise going-away party.

Jesse: Wait, Sarah and her family are moving?

Bob: Well, technically we're all moving, right? Well, not my pet turtle. He just lays there. But Sarah's not moving, moving. She's just going on a mission trip. So maybe I should have renamed the party. Actually, ask me again why we were in the school bus barn for the summer.

Jesse: There's another sentence I never thought I'd have to say. So, Bob, why were you in the school bus barn during the summer?

Bob: We were throwing Sarah a surprise encouragement party before she went on a mission trip.

Jesse: Much better, but I do have so many questions still. Was this with your church?

Bob: No, it was a summer program that puts together mission trips. It's pretty awesome. I did it last year.

Jesse: How come you weren't doing it again this year?

Bob: Because they asked me not—I was too busy mowing lawns. Anyway, sweat dripped down my face and off my nose.

Jesse: Right, so we're back into your story, and you said it was disgusting.

Bob: Oh, yeah, it was really disgusting. But it probably wouldn't have been as gross if it would have been my own sweat hitting on my face and my nose.

Jesse: Now I'm totally confused again.

Bob: Okay, well, my friends and I, we were hiding on these giant shelves in the bus barn, and Billy was on the shelf right above me. He kept peering over the edge to see the bus barn door, and when he did that, sweat would drop down all over me.

Jesse: I guess Billy being on the shelf above you like that really didn't help your shelf-esteem because you guys were on different shelves.

Bob: Wow, I wish you would show some shelf-control and not try to slip in another Jesse joke like that.

Jesse: Sorry, sorry. I'll try to be more shelf-aware.

Bob: All right, that was pretty good.

Jesse: Well, thanks, but I want to get back to the story because I love hearing about kids doing something nice for their friends. It reminds me of this great verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11 that says, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are already doing."

Bob: Well, in fact, we were doing that, and you're right. It feels good when you do nice things for others, and Sarah was about to leave the country and do something nice for other people by telling them about Jesus.

Jesse: So Sarah was leaving the country? Where was she going?

Bob: Mississippi.

Jesse: Bob, that's not another country. Geography aside, please continue with your story.

Bob: Okay, and yeah, now that we stopped and thought about this, I say Mississippi, but it may have been somewhere else. I know she needed a passport, so it was definitely out of the country. But then she said she was going somewhere in South America, and okay, Mississippi is in the South, right?

Jesse: Yeah, Mississippi is in the southern part of North America, but I really think we should just move on.

Bob: Okay, so I finally told Billy to just lay back on the shelf and stop sweating down on me. I mean, he didn't have to be hanging his head over the ledge like that, watching the door the whole time.

Jesse: Wait, if he was sweating down on you, didn't that mean that you were hanging your head over the ledge so you could look out? Couldn't you have just laid further back on the shelf?

Bob: Anyway, we were both sweating. That's the point. Jesse, it was really hot in there.

Jesse: I can imagine. We talked about this a few episodes ago, but it gets really hot in Texas during the summer.

Bob: It does, and since the school bus barn is made of metal, it feels like a jalapeño's armpit in there. Also, the heat was making everyone really impatient, which made me feel bad because I was the one who organized and planned this whole party.

Jesse: I was going to ask that later, but why did you have her surprise encouragement party in a giant barn where they keep the school buses? I mean, I doubt it was even air-conditioned in there, right?

Bob: Oh, right, it's not. But once you open the giant bus barn's doors and all the windows that are in the back, you get a really nice breeze going. So it's not really that bad. But at this point in the story, we had to have the bus barn door shut so that we wouldn't ruin the surprise, so Sarah didn't see us on the shelves there.

Jesse: Yeah, but still, wasn't there maybe a better place to hold this surprise party?

Bob: That's a good question. Like having it at the church would have been way too obvious. Sarah would have seen that coming from a mile away, mostly because her house is a mile from the church.

Jesse: Okay, but wasn't there some other place?

Bob: Well, I thought about the public library, but we'd probably get kicked out as soon as we yelled, "Surprise!" You can't yell in the library.

Jesse: I know, and do you want to tell our listeners how you found that one out?

Bob: You remember that? Okay, all right, fine. Listeners, all I'm saying is if you can't yell in the public library, then they shouldn't put pop-up books in the public library.

Jesse: Yeah, I remember when you did that. But do you want to tell everyone else what happened then?

Bob: Okay, fine. I grabbed a book about Daniel in the lions' den and Jesse, I was not expecting that lion to jump out at me like that.

Jesse: Okay, so based on the process of elimination, you decided that the bus barn was the right place for the party.

Bob: Yeah, sort of, but Sarah really helped in that department. You see, Sarah told us that she left something on the bus on the last day of school. So Everly and I, we made a plan where she and Sarah would drop by one day to see if what she left on the bus was still there.

Jesse: Wait, so do they just leave the bus barn unlocked during the summer?

Bob: No, not since that one time Billy—Nope.

Jesse: Okay, probably another story there.

Bob: Yeah, but first let me tell you how we got the okay to actually use the bus barn. I asked Mrs. Durham, our school principal, if we could use the bus barn for Sarah's party and Mrs. Durham said, "Totally."

Jesse: Hang on, that doesn't sound like Mrs. Durham. What exactly did she say?

Bob: Well, if you want to take up time looking at that part, she exactly said, "No way, not a chance." But then she said, "Well, I suppose you could if there was someone from the school present." And then I guess because she knows me, she added, "It has to be a grown-up, though, from the school. And it would have to be someone that worked up at the school." She clarified it pretty well, and she also made me promise that I would clean up afterwards.

Jesse: That sounds like her, and it also sounds like she knows you really well.

Bob: Yeah, so she was basically giving me a huge thumbs up. All I had to do was find a grown-up who works up at the school and, Jesse, can you guess who I got?

Jesse: I have no idea. Wait, Mr. Gribble, right?

Bob: Yes, Mr. Gribble, our school janitor. Mr. Gribble's the best. So I asked him and he said what you said. Mr. Gribble thought it was a really cool idea that we were doing something nice for a fellow classmate. So he agreed to be the grown-up present. Although once we all got hidden, Mr. Gribble went to his air-conditioned office to wait.

Jesse: Okay, so how would Sarah know that the bus barn would be unlocked so she could go there?

Bob: Another great question with another great answer. Mr. Gribble again. See, I casually mentioned one day that Mr. Gribble would be up at the bus barn working on stuff all week. So if Everly and Sarah wanted to pop in to check the bus, that that would be a good time to do it. You see, the seed was planted.

Jesse: That's funny because seeds go to school so they can grow in their knowledge.

Bob: All right, well, let's get to the funny part that you mentioned.

Jesse: I see you smiling. In fact, I see a smile on the flower that grows on your face.

Bob: I was—Wait, what? Flower grows on my face? What flower grows on my face?

Jesse: Tulips. Because you have two lips.

Bob: Wow, you know what? I really wish I was back baking in that bus barn.

Jesse: Well, finally, I was waiting for some alliteration from you because I missed it with your introduction. But okay, the Jesse joke folder is getting put away. Please continue with your story.

Bob: So anyway, that was the plan. I told Everly when to bring Sarah up there, and then I contacted everyone and told them when to meet at the bus barn to hide. It was perfectly planned out. But we may have all got there just a little bit too early. Billy especially was getting very annoyed. In fact, he said, "When are they supposed to be here?" And I looked at my phone and I was like, "Five minutes, Billy. It should only be like five more minutes of waiting."

Jesse: Wait, so who all was there with you?

Bob: Oh, that's a good question. Well, most of the youth group and then a few kids from school. And Jesse, we were hiding on these giant shelves along metal heat-gathering walls, just trying not to sweat on each other. And as I said, Billy was not doing a good job with that. Everyone was getting super annoyed, so I decided it was time to encourage them.

Jesse: I can't wait to hear this. So how did you try to encourage everybody?

Bob: Well, you see, our youth leader had challenged us a couple of weeks ago to do something that got us out of our comfort zones for the summer, kind of make it a goal to do something to get out of the comfort zone. And Jesse, I was looking around that bus barn, we were all way out of our comfort zones sitting in that Amazon heat for so long. So that's how I encouraged them. I told them, "Hey, we're all doing a great job with doing something uncomfortable. We're meeting that challenge."

Jesse: And let me guess, it didn't really encourage everyone the way you thought it would.

Bob: Not at all. In fact, I think it annoyed Billy even more because he leaned out, throwing more sweat on me, by the way, and he said, "The youth leader meant spending time doing something good for someone else. I don't think he meant sitting in a giant steam room that smells like Donnie is wearing Clint's leather jacket." He actually said that. I had to hand it to him. That was a pretty good joke because that would be a really bad smell. So it was a funny thing to say, but I promise that bus barn did not smell that bad.

Jesse: Actually, I'm going to side with you on this one, Bob.

Bob: Really? Finally. Wait, what do you mean?

Jesse: Well, Sarah is doing something brave and amazing by going to a foreign country—

Bob: We think Mississippi.

Jesse: It's not Mississippi. Anyway, she's going to a foreign place to spread the good news about Jesus. That's definitely getting out of your comfort zone. And you guys were taking time to put together a party—

Bob: A party I put together.

Jesse: Okay, but really, everyone was really giving up their time to sit in this hot barn because of your planning. So I will give you credit for that.

Bob: I still can't believe we won fifth place.

Jesse: You won fifth place. But what I'm saying is it's not always comfortable to do nice things for others, but it pleases God when we get out of our comfort zone and spread love and encouragement to someone else. So you guys were actually doing what your youth leader suggested.

Bob: Thanks, Jesse. Anyway, before we sign off, do we have any listener comments or questions? I bet we have some good ones.

Jesse: Yeah, we do. But hang on, that's just the end of your story?

Bob: Well, I mean, that's all the good parts.

Jesse: A group of sweaty kids hiding in a school bus barn is the good part? So what about when Sarah actually showed up?

Bob: Okay, well, there were many people involved in planning this surprise party.

Jesse: And I thought you said you were the one in charge and you planned the entire thing.

Bob: Okay, fine, yeah, I'll own it. So here's what happened. I texted Everly to see what was taking so long, and evidently, I got the days mixed up. We showed up the day before I told Everly to get Sarah to go up to the bus barn. And here's the bad part: Mr. Gribble couldn't come back the next day because he was leaving in the morning to go visit his son's family who, ironically, live in Mississippi. Oh wow, I hope he packed his passport.

Jesse: So you showed up on the wrong day?

Bob: Yeah, but we just had the surprise party the next day at Everly's house, and Sarah was still surprised. Plus, she had a big laugh when I told her the bus barn story. So it kind of all turned out great.

Jesse: Well, I guess it was a fun story with a good challenge to our listeners to look for ways to honor and encourage others around you by getting out of your comfort zone.

Bob: Yeah, encourage others. Don't give them fifth place like the Evangelical Press Association judge did to Jesse.

Jesse: You mean like the judge did with your story. Anyway, I think we have time for a listener comment, and I like this one from Jake. He wrote, "Hey Bob."

Bob: Hey, Jake.

Jesse: That's all he wrote?

Bob: Yeah, that's all he wrote. I guess he was just saying hey.

Jesse: Well, we can't end with that. Oh wait, how about this one—

Bob: Oh no, no, hold on. Sorry to interrupt, Jesse, but I actually have the perfect one. This one came from Julie. She writes, "They should make an Ask Jesse link on your website at AverageBoyPodcast.com." What do you think of that? An Ask Jesse link.

Jesse: Well, I take it back about you setting me up. Actually, I think an Ask Jesse link would be really fun.

Bob: Then Julie continues, "The first question I would ask Jesse is why are you still telling jokes?"

Jesse: I knew it.

Bob: Oh, come on, Jesse. I'm just kidding. You know deep down I love your jokes. I mean, way deep down. But that was a funny thing to say, Julie.

Jesse: Well, you know what's not funny?

Bob: Oh, do we have to sign off?

Jesse: Yep, but it is unfortunate, but this is the end of today's Official Average Boy Podcast, a presentation of Focus on the Family. If you haven't heard our other episodes, you can listen to them all at AverageBoyPodcast.com.

And parents, when you go to that website, make sure to click on the parents' page to subscribe to Focus on the Family Clubhouse Magazine. This award-winning magazine—actually, we won the Award of Merit as one of the best kids' magazines at the Evangelical Press Association this year, which means we got second place.

Bob: Wow, I guess that's better than fifth. But did you guys win because I write the humorous Adventures in Average Boy story every month?

Jesse: Sure, yeah, we'll go with that.

Bob: Thanks. And I also want to point out that just below the Clubhouse Magazine sign-up link on our website, parents can click on the link to buy my devotion books, Devotions for Super Average Kids books 1 and 2, or you can get my two new books, Average Boy’s Above Average Year and Average Boy’s Above Average Summer. All four books are filled with tons of laughs and encouragement and lots of ways to grow closer to God.

Jesse: Also, we love hearing from our listeners. So if you want to leave us a voicemail or a comment, just click in the link in the show notes and ask a question or leave a comment. But be sure to get your parents' permission because we might use your question or comment on a future episode.

Bob: Well, thanks for listening, everyone. I'm Bob.

Jesse: And I'm Jesse, telling you don't be average. Be super average.

Bob: Or at least fifth place average.