UNWIND(ING)

Have you ever seen the inside of a baseball? Most people don’t realize how complex it is underneath that tough leather exterior and flashy red stitching. But loosen up a couple of those stitches, or just let your dog get ahold of it, and you’ll find out that just under the surface is a big ball of string. If you were to peel back the leather cover a little more, (and wipe the dog slobber off) you would begin to notice a couple things right away. First, depending on the quality of the baseball, it is made with 55 different pieces and colors of string, wound up and glued together in a big mess. After a couple layers of that, you get to the good stuff. Below the “rats nest” is one giant piece of string... and that string is wound up tightly around a center. In some baseballs, the center is a hard plastic ball. In others, it's made of hard rubber. But the pros all use the same thing... a cork center wrapped in a thin coating.

It matters what is at the center of a baseball, and it matters how the string is wrapped around that center. In the right hands, a baseball can pass speeds greater than 90 mph. With the right swing, it can soar hundreds of feet to be knocked “out of the park”. Because of the tough generic cover on ALL baseballs, there are only two ways to know if it’s been properly constructed: Put it into play, or open it up and unwind it.

We are not that much different than baseballs in a lot of ways. We all have a tough exterior that hides who we are inside, and all of us have SOMETHING at the center of who we are. Whether you know it or not you have already been put into play. The game of life is well underway for all of us. It matters what is at the center of your life... and it matters how you are all wrapped up. In God’s hands, you can be used to do amazing things. With the right swing, you can bring glory, fame, and honor to God by soaring to unimaginable heights. You were not made to sit on a shelf, or to be tossed around casually and become a chew toy. You were made to bring glory to God, to capture the world’s attention as you soar “out of the park”.

[UNWIND] Student Ministry at Oak Ridge Baptist Church is all about this idea. With friends, fun, opportunities for growth, and challenges from God’s Word, you will have a place to peel back the cover, unwind your life, and make sure that God is at the center. Only then can you be wound up tight for His purposes, and play this game called life like you were created to.