He sat back and looked at all ten of them. They looked vicious, hungry and… wait a minute… There were only nine. Where had the other one gone?
“Julian!” Matt screamed. “Get in here!”
Matt’s little brother appeared in the doorway and sneered: “What do you want?”
Matt strode over to Julian and pushed him out onto the landing. “Where’s my tenth juggernaut?”
“Jugger-what?” replied Julian. “Sorry, I don’t speak geek.”
“You know what I mean,” said Matt and pointed at the collection of model robot creatures on his desk. “What have you done with it?”
“Me? What would I want with one of your dorky models?”
“Well, every time something of mine has gone missing, you’re to blame. I had ten juggernauts half an hour ago, and now I’ve only got nine.”
“It wasn’t me, I’ve only just got back from football practice.” And with that, Julian ran down the stairs to watch TV. Matt skulked back into his room and looked at his desk. Where could it have got to?
Matt began to turn his room upside-down. He even looked under his bed, which made him gag for a minute when he put his hand in a month-old bowl of Coco Pops. But he couldn’t find it.
Finally, he sat down at his desk. At least he could do some tidying up. He picked up an empty paint cartridge and threw it into the bin next to his desk.
The bin! He searched through the rubbish and there, at the bottom, was the missing Juggernaut. He must have knocked it in there without realising. It was undamaged too, its fall having been
broken by an unwanted scarf knitted by his Auntie Judith.
Quickly, he placed it next to the others and took a picture to post in his Warhammer WhatsApp group.
“Look at these monsters!” he typed. “Thought I’d lost one, but found it again. Who’s coming over to take a look? I’ve got pizza!”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Ask the young people these questions:
- Have you ever lost anything you cared about? What did you do?
- What did it feel like to find it again?
- Have you ever lost something more abstract, such as a friendship?
- If this story is a parable, what could the story really be about?
This story is based on Luke 15:8-10. Read the passage with the group and compare it with this one. Discuss what Jesus might be saying through this story.
