Obstacle-Course Challenge

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Obstacle-Course Challenge

DJ walked out of the church building with the other kids who had come to the Saturday activity. They’d already had a lot of fun. He couldn’t wait to see what was next.

Brother and Sister Jones led the group to the back parking lot. A bunch of plastic chairs were set up in a really weird arrangement—not in rows at all.

“So,” Brother Jones said, clapping his hands together and smiling, “who wants to try our obstacle course?”

DJ’s hand shot up. Awesome! He loved obstacle courses! This one looked kind of easy, but that was OK. It would still be cool.

Sister Jones nodded to DJ, then turned to the other kids. “You’ll all have a chance,” she said with a smile. “But I’m afraid it’s not as easy as it looks.”

She pulled a blindfold from her pocket.

DJ stared at the blindfold, then back at the chairs. This was going to be a lot harder than he’d thought.

“Don’t worry, DJ,” Brother Jones said. “You’ll have help. Who would like to be DJ’s helper?”

This time his friend Sam’s hand went up first. Sister Jones sent Sam to the other side of the obstacle course. “OK, Sam, your job is to tell DJ how to get through without running into any chairs. If he needs to go left, right, back, or forward, you tell him. Understand?”

“Yup!” Sam said.

Brother Jones placed a hand on DJ’s shoulder. “DJ, listen closely to Sam’s voice. If you bump into a chair, you’ll have to take three steps back and keep trying. Ready?”

“I think so,” DJ said. It still sounded fun, but he was starting to wish he hadn’t volunteered first. He’d probably bump into at least two or three chairs.

Brother Jones tied on the blindfold. “Good luck!”

“OK,” Sam said. “Walk forward three steps.” DJ started moving his feet. It felt so strange, walking in the dark like that.

“Now another two steps,” Sam said. “Yeah. Now one more. Good. Now turn left.”

As DJ kept dodging the chairs, he started feeling confident.

“Turn right,” Sam said a minute later. But DJ didn’t listen right away. He thought for sure he remembered a straight path right about there. He could get through faster if he kept going the way he was headed. He took a step or two without turning.

“Wait,” Sam said. “I said turn right!”

“I will in just a—” DJ bumped right into a chair. It slid across the ground. Oops …

“That’s OK,” Brother Jones said. “Just back up and try again.”

DJ felt silly. He should have listened to Sam. He carefully backed up three steps.

This time Sam talked him all the way through without another bump. The other kids clapped as DJ took off his blindfold and gave Sam a high five.

Sister Jones pointed at the chairs. “Our lives can be like this obstacle course,” she said. “It’s not always easy to see problems on our own. But we have a helper too. Can anybody tell me who that helper is?”

Shayla raised her hand. “The Holy Ghost!” she said.

Brother Jones nodded. “Exactly. He can help us avoid hidden dangers. Now who’s next?” All the other kids raised their hands at once.

DJ decided right then that he would always listen to the Holy Ghost. He knew then he would be safe from hidden dangers.