Your Core Affects Your Soar

Have you ever wondered what a baseball looks like on the inside?

The other day I overheard someone describe themselves as a ‘ball of nerves’, and another person as ‘tightly wound’. That got me to thinking about literal things which are tightly wound, which, in relation to the original thought of a ball of nerves, made me wonder about the inner workings of baseballs.  

[This happens to me all day long- welcome to my brain, folks. Please fasten your seatbelts or you may get tossed around the cabin. Sorry, no refunds on flights.] 

I would venture to say if you are from the US, baseballs are easily recognizable to you: a small-ish, white, ball with red stitching in a particular pattern. If you were to ask 100 Americans to draw one, they would probably look very much alike. You’d most likely be able to recognize each drawing as a baseball. Even different brands of actual baseballs look similar, when you can’t see their printed logo. [See the photo below.]

[If you are not a sports person, please don’t tune me out. There’s a really good lesson here if you can get through the intro stuff. Try not to fall asleep.]

However, you can definitely tell the difference in quality between a WalMart ball (sorry WM) and an official MLB ball when you begin to use it. One will out-perform the other every time, just because the quality of the materials of the one is superior to the other. You can probably even tell the difference just by holding them in your hand and feeling them.

In my quest for obtaining knowledge on the inner workings of baseballs, I found an excellent article that actually did scientific research (including CT scans and chemical testing) to prove that the inside of official MLB (Major League Baseball, for those who don’t know what that means) baseballs has changed over the past few years, affecting the amount of home runs in at least the 2017 season.

[Here’s the link to the article, which I found fascinating: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/. Here is another brief article outlining the specs for baseballs in general: https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-are-baseballs-made-of. You’re welcome.]

All baseballs have the following parts:
-The pill: which is a cork core covered by rubber
-Three layers of wool yarn (cheaper balls have less)
-A winding of cotton or polyester yarn 
-Layer of latex adhesive or rubber cement
-Cowhide hand sewn with red stitching

As we’ve already seen, baseballs look similar regardless of who the manufacturer is. We could even call them fundamentally the same, which is what the baseball commissioner says in the article about the MLB baseballs in question. The article I read that tested the balls shows that MLB baseballs in 2017 were less dense than those from previous seasons, which affected the following characteristics: speed, density, bounciness, distance, air resistance, weight.

[I promise you non-sports fans that I am getting to a spiritual point here soon! Try to hang in there with me.]

The changes weren’t that big- just .6 grams of weight, which is similar to the weight of a paper clip. But it made a significant impact in the results players were getting when at the plate. 

7% more polymer and 10% more silicon in the 2017 baseballs’ cores gave the following results:
-Decreased weight of the core added 6” to the flight of the ball.
-Increased bounciness added .6mph to speed as it leaves the bat, which in turn added 3 feet of travel distance.
-Lessened air resistance due to a smaller ball and flatter seams added 5 feet to travel distance.

The result of these subtle changes is that MLB baseballs in 2017 could travel 8.6 feet further than baseballs in previous seasons, which certainly could account for the nearly 46% spike in home runs. I’d say that’s significant!!

[You can think about how that affects the home run record on your own time. Let’s focus, people.]

So let’s think of ourselves (Christians) as baseballs for a moment. 

We are all fundamentally the same if we have Christ as our Savior. We have that same core down deep within us. But have you ever noticed that there is a difference in how people respond to and deal with disappointment and difficulty in life? Some people seem to just keep going in faith, no matter what they’re facing. They don’t post on social media how they’re suffering so everyone can commiserate with them, they just quietly walk hand in hand with the Lord through the valley and up the mountain again and again. And then they testify of the goodness of God.

And others seem to get weighed down by every little thing that happens. Dog pooped in the house again- let me wrap that around my core. Add it to my list of things that go wrong all the time. Someone at the grocery store was rude to me. You know the drill- hand me the yarn. No one unloaded the dishwasher, so I did it when I got home from work. AGAIN. Wrap, wrap, wrap.

See, the difference comes in when we begin to wrap other things around that ‘Christ core’ that start to weigh it down, instead of giving those things to Him to handle. Perhaps we’ve had negative experiences in childhood, such as bullying, or abuse, or a physical or emotional trauma, or anything else you can name that hurts us. If I allow those things to permeate my mind and even define me, it can become part of my core. And maybe I choose to wrap myself up in it as a way to have some control over what is happening to me. But it just becomes another layer wrapped around my innermost being, weighing me down.

I can even get to the point where I’m carting around, at my core, a ball that would rival the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. And I wonder why I’m not soaring like my friend. I wonder why I take everything to heart. Why my list of burdens seems so long and heavy and tight compared to others’.

Looking back over the evidence with MLB baseballs, it’s a fact that your core affects your soar. If you’ve weighed your core down by wrapping it with everything you can think of that has hurt you, your core is gonna be much heavier than just a paperclip’s worth of weight. Even little things, when we let them pile up and pile on us, become heavy. Especially when we’ve made them a part of our innermost person.

When you get hit by something in life that throws you for a loop, and you have Christ and Christ alone in your core, you go further. You bounce back faster. You soar. Because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Conversely, when your core is a huge ball of twisted twine, layer upon layer upon layer, and you get hit, you just thud into the dirt. No way you’re making it out of the park. In fact, when you land, you’ll just start to wrap another layer around yourself, because you’ve been hit again. And it’s not easy (dare I say nigh impossible) for anyone else to pick you up and make a play, either.

There’s a quote in the MLB article that references the manufacture of other balls (softballs, non-MLB balls) that Rawlings is planning to patent. And it is with obviously differing materials. Some claim that Rawlings is also manipulating MLB balls in the same way, but the author of the article said this:
“This type of ball is constructed quite differently from MLB baseballs, so there’s no indication that this patent means Rawlings is deliberately manipulating major league baseballs in this way, but it demonstrates that it’s at least theoretically possible for balls to be ‘fundamentally the same’ while also performing differently than they have in the past.” [emphasis added]

What does that mean for us a Christians? It means that because we have Christ in our core, we can perform differently than we have in the past! I don’t have to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I can start today to make changes in the way I deal with things.

When I remember that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, I can begin to recognize what is weighing me down, and start to unwrap all the layers I’ve placed on myself. I don’t have to be weighed down with my past, with disappointments, with experiences I wished never happened. I can give them to Jesus, trust His promises, believe that He is working something good, hold His hand, and walk through the valley and back out again with Him.

Remember: your core affects your soar. What layer can you remove today to help lighten your load and perform differently than you have in the past? 

Matthew 11:28-30
(28) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Psalm 55:22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Philippians 4:6-8
(6) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
(7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
(8) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.