January 3 – “The Bleacher Incident”

How’s this for a feat of grandparent-dom?  We went to a college basketball game with all ten of our grandkids and their parents.  Yes.  We are very brave.

The game we went to was Houston Baptist University vs. Central Arkansas.  Not exactly powerhouse programs.  HBU was 0-10 entering, and CA was 3-10.  But we are HBU alums, so we decided to “take one with the team,” so to speak. 

There were several exciting moments, though.  Luke and Noa were selected to play a game at halftime.  Problem was Luke was asleep in his Mom’s lap when the time came, so big brother Caleb graciously took over his spot.  It was essentially a game of musical chairs, but when the music stopped you had to dribble in and make a shot before you could sit down.  It was a tense affair at first, but with an incredible surge at the end, Caleb actually won the game.  He got a packet of HBU memorabilia and a gift certificate to a local eatery.  That’s my boy.

Speaking of tense affairs, there was a college basketball game going on as well.  Not a pretty one, to be sure, but exciting nonetheless.  HBU was behind the entire game, but they staged a comeback in the fourth quarter and tied it up to send the game into overtime.  And in overtime they took their first actual lead of the game.  From that point it was a real back and forth affair, but HBU finally won their first game of the year 111-107, I think.  WooHoo. 

Now the true highlight of the game came at the final buzzer of regulation play.  An HBU player had 1.6 seconds after receiving the inbounds pass to get a shot off for the win.  He took the final shot as he and a defender flew into the bleachers.  The shot lofted through the air … and barely rimmed out.  But that’s not the real excitement of it all.  Did I fail to mention that sitting in the bleachers where the players landed was … our family?  The HBU guy landed literally in the laps of Caleb and Josh.  And the defender somehow managed to crash into … AnnaGrace.  No one was injured – player or otherwise – but suffice it to say, AnnaGrace was done.  Later, as we were loading up in the cars to head home, she commented about the action, “Michael Jordan sat on me.”  Sigh.  Now there’s a memory …

We didn’t get home after eleven.  And as Luke rushed up to front door, he somehow forgot that it was made of glass.  Yep.  Smashed his little body right into it with a crash that sounded throughout the house.  Probably throughout the neighborhood.  Hey … it was late. 

Disclaimer … no one was injured in the making of this Christmas 2019/New Year 2020 memory …

Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

Father, thanks for protecting everyone involved in the bleacher incident yesterday.  Amen.