Out of the Spotlight

The morning after his football team's big win, quarterback Cooper Calhoun helps Mr. Whittaker move boxes at Whit's End instead of celebrating with his teammates. Cooper admits he skipped the party because it bothered him that Lenny Busby, who caught the game-winning pass, was carried off the field on everyone's shoulders, even though Cooper played great all game and threw that pass himself. Whit gently points out that Cooper is used to getting the glory, warning him that "jealousy is a lot like fluorescent green uniforms. It's never a good look." Cooper also confesses that his dad, the team's coach, later told him that celebrating with the team is what a good leader does. Sensing that Cooper knows what it's like to be a coach's son, Whit invites him into the Imagination Station to meet someone else who lived in a famous father's shadow, in the book of 1 Samuel.

Cooper lands in an Israelite camp, where he discovers he is the armor-bearer to Jonathan, son of King Saul. To Cooper's alarm, Jonathan plans to climb a cliff and attack an entire Philistine outpost with just the two of them, trusting that "nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." Jonathan proposes a test: they will show themselves to the enemy, and if the Philistines call them to come up, it will be the sign that God has given them victory. The Philistines shout the challenge, the two charge, and the adventure skips ahead to the aftermath, where Israelite soldiers hoist Cooper onto their shoulders and praise his bravery in battle after battle at Jonathan's side.

The story jumps forward again to the Valley of Elah, where Cooper watches a shepherd boy named David convince King Saul to let him face the giant Goliath. Behind the scenes, Cooper sees Saul's harsh side: the king scolds Jonathan in front of his officers, questions his leadership, and bitterly reveals that the prophet Samuel has declared God will give the kingdom to someone better. Then David strides out with only a sling and stones, declaring he comes in the name of the Lord Almighty, and drops Goliath with a single shot. Afterward, Jonathan warmly befriends the young hero, giving David his own robe and promising to outfit him from his own gear.

But as David's fame grows, Saul's jealousy festers. He orders Jonathan to kill David, and Cooper watches Jonathan bravely talk his father out of it. Peace does not last. David comes to Jonathan in fear, revealing that Saul has hurled a spear at him and sent men to his house. The friends arrange a test at the New Moon Festival: when Saul notices David's empty seat and Jonathan makes excuses for him, the king erupts in rage and throws his spear at his own son. Jonathan storms out, and later, in a field where he has shot arrows as a secret signal, he says a tearful goodbye to David, asking the Lord to be a witness to their friendship forever. Cooper is amazed that Jonathan feels no bitterness about losing his throne to David; Jonathan explains that God's desires must be his own, whether he is at the center of them or not. When Cooper says it must be hard to lose his kingdom and his friend on the same day, Jonathan quietly answers, "Just my friend."

Back at Whit's End, Cooper marvels that Jonathan never got the glory he deserved and had every reason to be jealous of David, yet instead became his biggest fan. Cooper only wishes Jonathan could have known what it felt like to have his father's respect, and Whit points out that Cooper already has exactly that from his own dad.

At the next football game, Cooper needs just one more touchdown to set a school scoring record, with the ball on the three-yard line. Instead of keeping the ball, he calls a surprise play, asking his teammates, "Are you guys with me, heart and soul?" He fakes the run and pitches to Josiah Jackson, who sprints across the goal line for his first career touchdown. As the crowd roars, Cooper leads the celebration, calling for his teammates to lift Josiah up on their shoulders.