'Ernie' Harwell, a sportscaster for the Detroit Tigers ...had a unique style, but was even more so, a very uniquely special person. A devout Christian (he was born again at age 43 at a Billy Graham crusade), Harwell was long involved with the Baseball Chapel, an evangelistic organization for professional ballplayers.

One of Ernie's descriptions of a batter called out after a called third strike was: "He stood there like the house by the side of the road, and watched it go by!"

Ernie really liked baseball.  He would joke about a batter watching a third strike. Batters do make mistakes, but often it's just a real good pitch.  

Ernie didn't want anyone to strike out in life.  Sometimes what seems like a real good pitch to hit ...is actually someone giving us a curve ball. 

But, unlike baseball, in life we are often intentionally given a pitch we can hit over the fence.  It makes us feel good ...and we feel we've impressed the team.

Yet, sometimes we feel terrible and that we are always striking out ...and we may feel we may not make the team.  Well, it is healthy to have a bit of fun, which we commonly call competition.  It motives us, and we strive to better ourselves.

But, what we strive for should not burden us, nor drive us  towards being bitter rivals. If the team motivates us to think less of certain humans ...then we are on the wrong team. 

That's not to say, we should team together to be supportive of every  individual thing ...we should consider each individual, not necessarily the things they promote.

We should not stand there like the house by the side of the road, and watch life go by ...without knowing Jesus.

Life does go by, so fast, it's like speeding down the highway ...the road of life, and everything passing by with hardly a glimpse of it.

It's like that 100 mph fastball ...we barely see it!!

We live in the age of information ...with so much out there, we can't remember all the old because it is being so quickly replaced with the new.

Those whose task it is to learn, strive to keep up, wanting to keep pace with all the new discoveries.

Those who compete to rise to the ranks of teachers ---whether professors, scientists, corporate rivals, political officials, or the media ---they all strive to lead, discover, report, and be the first. They want to make a name for themselves.  And we often feel if we are going to be acknowledged, we must follow them.

It's seemingly not good enough to think the old was good enough.  The thirst for advertising brings us to want to replace the old, because the fact that there is always that tendency to try something new. 

And when that same concept enters into political agendas and what governs our nation, we compromise away from reason. The new reason becomes to not lose pace ...to be up with the times, and to not be ignorant.

But, a proverb is supposed to be a wise saying ...and I don't adhere to all proverbs, but to the Book of Proverbs: 

"Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil."  

And though most Romans were not wise enough to recognize Jesus for who He is, the Apostle Paul wrote to all that be in Rome, beloved of God:  

"Be not wise in your own conceits."

It is often told that we Christians should perhaps not talk so much as we do ...that we should just be an example, and others will see by our example, become curious what we have that's so special, and then they will eventually one day accept Jesus also.

This is all good ...yet, I contend that many of them will see us like the house by the side of the road.

And another thing, I am not always the person they may want to be ...they need to be themselves.  And there are many content atheists who live a life that many would aspire to more than mine ...at least by what they see of my outward behavior at times.

I don't know about you, but I struggle ...and I think that my faith is not at the same level as many of the people we read about in the Bible.  And even those whom we would consider Bible greats, if we had them as neighbors and saw their struggles and all the mistakes they made ...perhaps we wouldn't want to be like them either.

But, that's just it ...that I'm not telling anyone that they should follow me. They should follow Jesus.

Perhaps they can't see the inside of me ...but, they can see what Jesus did.

He was tortured and died in a horrific fashion on a cross ...for our sins.

Jesus also told us how to live.  And He sent out apostles to set an example.

How is it that we should go?

Well, in a similar way, we send out missionaries.

Some people say we should not treat adults like children.  But, if we contend we love children, then that is not such a bad thing ...as we are not really treating them as children if we just merely provide the same kind of eagerness to approach them with love, at their level of understanding. 

If a technique works, why deviate from it when it's not bad. It's a good thing to be a mechanic, but it first must be taught, and if not learned correctly there are consequences.  The vehicle won't run properly. 

Many nations are painfully living the consequences of an unhealthy life ...that could be remedied.  They have never learned that lesson.

The more aggressive argument is that it is cruel for missionaries to go into other people's lands ...and try to change the way they live.  They say we are trying to force our beliefs upon them.

How is that?

Often missionaries help out starving people by giving them food because their belief is ...that they should not go hungry.  Is that cruel?

Then they also give them medical help ...help for the sick and injured.  Is that cruel?

In either of those situations, the attitude is not to ignore them ...saying they reap what they sow.

And if you see sickness, do you just treat the sickness ...or educate them how better to not get sick?

There are unsanitary conditions and the way that people live that increases their rate of sickness.  There are causes that can be avoided as part of the cure.

And how less important is it to help cure their sadness, their sense of hopelessness?  I guess, for those who don't believe in eternal life, there would be no sense of need to share the gospel.  But, those same unbelievers would likely not find reason to protest if it were told that Santa Claus existed ...if they saw that raised their hopes.  But, for one day a year??  Missionary work is a daily commitment.

Seeing how some of these people suffer, they would be among the first that I would think we'd all like to reach with the message of Jesus.

Yes, society takes us for a ride ...on a freeway where we feel free to do whatever we want to do.  And if flying down that freeway, so fast, how possible is it to see the typical Christian ...let alone be curious enough to desire in our life what they have?  We are indeed, like a house by the side of the road.

But, the game is not over!!  It may look like a shutout, but don't let them shut God out of your life.  Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." ---Mark 4:9, so, if an ear can be found, be encouraged as God can make a silk purse out of even a sow's ear.  And that encourages me ...because I realize sometimes I can be a real boar myself.

If someone tries to pitch evolution to you, and furthermore try to say God does not exist ...don't let them get that one by you.  We may look like the house by the side of the road, but it is more important how He looks to us.  And how do we approach Him?

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name." ---Psalm 100.