'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.