Party of Five and Game Film

College football season is one of my most favorite time's of the year. College basketball is right up there, too.

We are two weeks into college football season. And, my beloved Bears are (oh, this is hard to write) (really, I cannot believe I'm typing this record) (come one, do I have to write it) not doing good.

0-2.

I cannot remember the last time we lost our first two games of the season. These are pre-conference games. Baylor is consistently skewered for playing 'easy' season starters. I naively thought these first two games were going to be walks in the park. We have a new coach. We have new energy. We have a defense. We have a rosy outlook.

Oh, I was promised so much. All of Baylor nation got behind those PR spins and we were in for this era, this Rhule.

Not so much.

We didn't go to the game this weekend. We did visit my fair school and favorite place last weekend. Here or there, a loss is a loss. It stings. It is not fun. I do not like losing.

I don't like planning a fourth part for a loss. I do like planning a fourth part for a fun trip and bumping into friends and getting to eat at George's or eating tailgating kind of snacks at home.

I'm going to have to rethink my Saturday fourth parts. There are two, maybe three more games we will get to Waco to see. Those two, maybe three games will more than likely be tough to watch. But, I'll be there flinging my green and gold and sporting nifty outfits to reflect my support. Inside, I may be crumbling.

Yeah, these are the feelings I have over college football. My feelings over high school football aren't as strong, but we do have a team we root for because G coaches there. I cheered a little more loudly and with more exuberance when Chris played there (I mean, duh). I still cheer. This year, we've had two games and both deserved some cheering.

The first game was a Thursday on TV. Because of Camille's gymnastics, we couldn't get to the game, but I planned it out and we were able to watch the game from home. It was a come-from-behind win. The second game was on a Saturday. (What happened to Friday night lights?!) With my high school football season organization skills on point (not my first rodeo), we knocked out a lot of activities and made it to the game early enough to wish G good luck. Another win. A big win. We stayed the whole game. I knew through watching my Twitter feed and Gametracker there was no need to rush home and watch the other game I wrote about earlier. (When we left the Lee game, I think Baylor was down 7-17. I'll leave that there for you.)

2-0

While I recover from Baylor losses, G reviews game outcomes and readies for the next game with the other Lee coaches. It's called film. Watching game film. Reviewing plays over and over. Watching film from the upcoming opponent. Figuring out an approach. Creating a game plan.

G gets home late from games. We are all asleep. Then, he's out the door early the next morning to go watch film. When it's a Saturday game, that means he misses church. So, that means I'm solo directing 'let's get out the door' maneuvers. Getting dressed, doing hair and fixing breakfast are all included and a part of that agenda. Silently reminding myself that a fourth part will come motivates my efforts.

I wonder what our game film would look like. I wonder what the plays would be that we would keep and those we would change. I wonder if some are standard, go-to schemes.

Y'all know I like a good Netflix series. I can binge with the best of them. I love to watch TV. Fall fourth parts when G has film or a JV game or a Varsity game we don't attend, I like to watch a show. During these last two weeks and the August weeks of two-a-days, I watched Party of Five. Six seasons of about 20 shows each. If you are doing the math, that's 120 hours of television viewing. That's a lot of film. That late 90s show had a hard to deal with issue each week. About four seasons in I wondered when the family would catch a break. It seemed as if every time they got their feet underneath them, something would cause a discussion on the need for a second mortgage taken out on the house or someone not fulfilling a dream to move out of the house. I wanted the family to watch the film so they could change or at least predict some of the happenings they experienced.

My husband watches game film to adjust and adapt to another team. He watches to understand where his team has strengths and weaknesses and how those will present against the upcoming opponent. He also watches to determine who is going to do some extra bear crawls at practice. (OK, not really, but if a kid gets an unsportsmanlike penalty, I think tire flipping is on order.)

In my mind, I watch replays of our frenetic mornings and days to figure out how to improve. I think through what works and what doesn't really help.

After Paul had watched Timothy in his young ministry and he knew he might not make it back to Ephesus for a while, he wrote Timothy a letter. This first Timothy (1 Timothy) letter was intended to develop him and help him work on that growing church. There were issues with false teachings and for Timothy, those were a challenge to his charge of spreading the gospel. Paul asked that Timothy devote himself to the public reading, preaching and teaching of the scriptures. He told him to be diligent.

'Watch your life and doctrine closely' begins 1 Timothy 4:16. Paul wrote this to encourage Timothy to live his life as a believer. As others watched and heard him, Timothy needed to live the life inspired by Christ that he committed to do.

When I re-watch my days and when G reviews his players' performances on film, we both then do something with that information. I reflect and then, work toward improving my attitude and planning. G takes what he sees and creates a game plan.

We watch to make sure we don't repeat the same mistakes. We watch to make sure we continue to use our strengths to help others.

We have a ministry. It's not as big as Paul or Timothy, but it's a size God gave us. G ministers to those players day in and day out. He is teaching and coaching football, and sharing his doctrine. I have my own Party of Five, three of whom are learning and watching my life and doctrine. On these mornings where we are needing to get out of the house or evenings when we are trying to get to games, my girls watch me.

Our challenge each and every moment of each and every day is not fitting in a fourth part. Our challenge is more of taking our film and making necessary adjustments to that our doctrine, our story, our life is one others can watch and desire to learn more about.

This Party of Five needs to diligently devote itself to living a life that inspires others.

Wonder what our record will be at the end of the season?