The Life of the Party

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#2: “The Life of the Party”
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Scripture

1 Samuel 20:1-42

1Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, "What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to take my life?"

2"Never!" Jonathan replied. "You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn't do anything, great or small, without confiding in me. Why would he hide this from me? It's not so!" 3But David took an oath and said, "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, 'Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.' Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death." 4Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you." 5So David said, "Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, 'David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.' 7If he says, 'Very well,' then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the LORD. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?" 9"Never!" Jonathan said. "If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?" 10David asked, "Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?" 11"Come," Jonathan said, "let's go out into the field." So they went there together. 12Then Jonathan said to David: "By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13But if my father is inclined to harm you, may the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away safely. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me unfailing kindness like that of the LORD as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family--not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth." 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the LORD call David's enemies to account." 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself. 18Then Jonathan said to David: "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21Then I will send a boy and say, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I say to him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,' then come, because, as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you,' then you must go, because the LORD has sent you away. 23And about the matter you and I discussed--remember, the LORD is witness between you and me forever." 24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David's place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, "Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean--surely he is unclean." 27But the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?" 28Jonathan answered, "David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, 'Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table." 30Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!" 32"Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. 33But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David. 35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36and he said to the boy, "Run and find the arrows I shoot." As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan's arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, "Isn't the arrow beyond you?" 38Then he shouted, "Hurry! Go quickly! Don't stop!" The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing of all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, "Go, carry them back to town." 41After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together--but David wept the most.

42Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'" Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

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Spanish Name
El alma de la fiesta
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December 28, 2013
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Previous title
“The Tears of a Clown”
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The Life of the Party

“The Life of the Party” is episode #2 of the Adventures in Odyssey audio series. It was written by Paul McCusker, and originally aired on November 28, 1987.

Summary

Craig Moorhead’s middle school friends like having him around because he makes them laugh. However, when Craig faces a problem that isn’t funny at all, and his friends aren’t so friendly anymore, he realizes that just having a sense of humor isn’t enough to keep his friends.

Plot

Craig Moorhead is a funny guy. No matter what anyone says to him, he always responds with a joke. In the three weeks, he and his family have been in town, Craig has made a lot of friends by keeping them in stitches. Unfortunately, Craig takes his humor too far when he razzes Freddy, whose parents are getting a divorce. Freddy storms off, and Craig goes home, where he faces his own family problems.

Craig's dad moved the family to Odyssey to start a handyman business. However, business isn't going so well, and Craig's mom wants to move back to Columbus, where they previously lived. This conflict erupts into a full-blown argument. Craig, who likes living in Odyssey, is distraught by his parents' conflict. He tears out of the house and races away on his skateboard, which he ends up crashing. Craig's friends see him crash and rush over to check if he's all right. But instead of offering sympathy, his friends ask him to tell more jokes. Craig angrily refuses. His friends leave him feeling bruised, hurt and alone.

Craig wanders into Whit's End and tells Whit the whole story. Attempting to explain things to Craig, Whit uses some melting orange sherbet and raspberry ice cream to illustrate the biblical principle of sowing and reaping. Craig has sown nothing but jokes with his friends, so how can he expect to reap their sympathy? Craig understands and promises to put what he has learned into practice — a promise he gets to keep immediately when the door opens, and in walks Freddy.

Discussion Questions

  1. Why did Freddy get so angry at Craig?
  2. Is it wrong to tell jokes?
    • Why or why not?
  3. List some qualities of a true friend.

Cast

Heard in episode

Mentioned in episode

Character Mentioned By
Harold Whittaker John Whittaker


Notes

VERSION DIFFERENCE: [view]

  • Chris's last sentence before the opening theme along with all of her lines after that in the wrap arounds were re-recorded after the original Odyssey USA version of this episode. Her commercial break lines were replaced as well.
  • In the closing wrap of the original Odyssey USA version, Chris advertised a book called Pollyanna and also advertised GT and the Halo Express Volume 2. She also offers a free cassette to listeners and a preview for #3: “Lights Out at Whit's End” is also heard.
  • The current album version that has been used likely since 1990 (no later than 1992) contains the re-recorded lines for the "Adventures in Odyssey" version. It does not include the contact address in the closing wrap around and uses the 1990 version of the closing theme music.
  • Compared to the current album version, the syndicated daily broadcast version of this episode has Chris provide the Colorado Springs, CO contact address and uses a different (likely newer) closing line, "I'm Chris, hoping you'll come back to explore our side of the radio next time on Adventures in Odyssey!"
    • This closing line is more similar to the original Odyssey USA closing line, "I'm Chris Lansdowne, and I hope you'll come back and explore our side of the radio next week in Odyssey USA!"
Trivia
  • This show features the debut of Will Ryan, later of David Harley, Eugene Meltsner and Harlow Doyle fame.
  • This is also the debut of David Griffin as Freddy, who later became the well-known and well-liked character of Jimmy Barclay.
  • In the early days of Adventures in Odyssey, the regular cast (aside from Whit and Tom Riley) was constantly shifting. As a result, it wasn't uncommon for characters to appear in only a couple of episodes and actors usually found themselves playing a different character every episode.
  • "The life of the party" is an idiomatic phrase referring to someone who is the center of attention.
  • The original title of "The Life of the Party" was "The Tears of a Clown", which was also the name of a hit Motown single by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.
  • The line "What you sow you shall also reap" was accidentally recorded as, "What you reap you shall also sow." It took some doing, but the engineers were able to fix the line without re-recording it.

Reviews

Quotes

John Whittaker: Your son Craig — he’s funny.
Bill Moorhead: He's no stranger than most boys.

Tom Riley: It kinda reminds me of the story of Joseph in the Bible.
John Whittaker: Yeah? How’s that?
Tom Riley: You know, a cone of many colors...

Freddy (a): I want you to shut up for a while.
Craig Moorhead: You want me to shut up? Is that what you said? You want me to shut up? Okay, I’ll shut up. You won’t hear another peep out of me. I wouldn’t DREAM of talking on and on when someone asked me to...
Freddy (a): SHUT UP!!!!

Craig Moorhead: Knock knock!
Unknown: Who’s there?
Craig Moorhead: Orange!
Unknown: Orange who?
Craig Moorhead: Orange you gonna open the door? It's cold out here!

John Whittaker: If you look at anything at all that God created, you’ll find a little reminder about how much He loves us and how He wants us to live — even raspberry seeds. You just gotta look at them the right way. You know, I think the Lord planned it like that.

John Whittaker: Well, if you don't like it, take it home and give it to your dog!
Tom Riley: I thought you liked my dog.

Resources

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Odyssey USA Episodes
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