Mon.7.20.15...Helping You See Better...Eccles.4

Remember the internet video of the teens passing the basketball around and you are asked to count the number of times they pass it to each other? While you’re so focused on counting, you may not have seen the man in the gorilla suit who walks through their midst. How is that even possible? It’s the principle of misdirection which magicians use all the time. Perhaps that’s what was unintentionally going on with Solomon as he focused on all that he saw under the sun. He missed other things. You’ll see this in our reading today in Eccles.4. As you read through it, look carefully at key words that are right in front of you, which you could easily miss. I saw in my NIV Ryrie Study Bible a few words that you don’t want to gloss over because they reveal much about the understanding of the passage.  As a matter of fact, please note or underline the following words in your Bible- “I saw” used 5 times; “meaningless” used 4 times; “under the sun” used 3 times; “a chasing after the wind” used 3 times.

Solomon said, “I saw…” As with the man in the gorilla suit, it really makes a big difference what you focus on. Interestingly, God is not named or evidently focused on in this chapter. This is life as “I see it” not as God sees it in this chapter. Here’s a current example of such. If you focus on all the bad news aired on TV, you can forget about good things people do in our world and become very pessimistic. Solomon had become such. He declared, “I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor” 4:4. But that’s certainly not true of all people. There are plenty of good Samaritans. We Christians are also motivated to love our neighbor, not to envy him. We are happy to do Acts of kindness for the benefit of others and for God’s glory. (Be on  the lookout to do such and put your points in the A column.) But if you interview a police officer who has worked in a crime-ridden neighborhood for many years, he too may see things from a very pessimistic view. However, I am not wanting us to swing to the other extreme, to think that people are wonderful. That’s a false view as well. We ought not be overly optimistic or pessimistic, but realistic. This world is filled with people who do beautiful, loving things, but sometimes even those same people may end up doing very unloving things. “The best of men are men at best.” We all need a Savior.

Interestingly, Solomon uses the word “better” 4 times in this chapter alone, and he repeatedly uses it throughout the book. A better life can be had and it starts by making better choices. For example, Solomon declares, “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” 4:6. In other words, it’s good to have a work/life balance- to have on the one hand, work and on the other hand, tranquility. Pity the man who doesn’t know when to let go of work, who never stops working to enjoy his God given life. What a “miserable business.”

We need people around us to help us live in balance. It is not good for man to be alone. A spouse can be a great help in this matter, but so can a good friend. “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who has no one to help him up!...Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken” 4:9-10,12. Aren’t you glad you are not left alone to carry out God’s mission? You are in a band of brothers in M3. But you are also in a squad of soldiers who are committed to you. Better yet, you are in a fire team of a few who will especially fight for you and you for them. They are your wingmen, your buddies, the ones that will help you up when you fall down. But it would be better if we focused, not on what they can do for you, but on what you can do for them. Be a good friend to your fire teammates. If a man is feeling overpowered or overwhelmed, fight for him. If he sends out a broken arrow text to your squad, you make sure to be quick to come to his aid. Fight for him also in warfare prayer.

Let’s change the analogy from fighting for our squad members and fire team brothers to mountain climbing. We are to help those closest to us to the top. 

The ones on your fire team are your nearest climbing brothers. In God’s kingdom, there are no heroes who are solo climbers. Honors are given based on how many you help to the top. So help your brothers to the top. Look for them on the blog and encourage them. Pray for them regularly. Keep in touch. Return each other’s calls promptly. Choose to nurture them and claim them as great friends in the making. Also adopt the new recruits that your teammates bring into your fire team. Encourage them as if you yourself recruited them. Keep the vision before you- see each one of you recruiting new teammates who will eventually form their own fire teams. That's how you take others to the top of the mountain. That's how you multiply MANLY men. That's how you build a great, eternal impact and legacy with your life. 

Speaking of Solomon’s theme here of “better” choices, you have chosen the better life by far. So many other men are merely fans in the stands; they are not in the game. They merely gaze at the mountain; they are not climbing and conquering. They have no legacy of men they are multiplying. We want to change that for them. “O Lord, use us to activate the sidelined saints. You have such a better life for them. Thank you so much for my brothers in M3 who have chosen the better path of life. Use us all greatly for the good of many and your glory.”

1.- Contact your fire team brothers today. Find out who they are seeking to recruit. Then write down those men’s names and seek to keep them in prayer that they might soon join your fire team. (Tomorrow I’ll ask you for their names, so make sure you find out today.) Then together we'll take them to the top of the mountain. Via the blog, your good example and encouragement, we will help them mature and multiply. 

2.- Read Eccles. 4 and pick out one verse that grabs your interest. Write it out along with some of your good thoughts on it. Then look for others to share it with. That’s such a better way than the old way of reading and forgetting what we read. The better the choices we make, the better lives we build for ourselves and others.

Announcements
I'm happy to say that Ed Lake and his family left Singapore and safely arrived in their new home in Kazakhstan Friday where Ed will be teaching. Thank You Father!

Congratulations to Squad 4 with an average of 30.5 points last week! They just nosed out Squad 5 with 30.2. But Roger V. came back halfway through the week from mountain climbing in Ecuador, so beware; he is ever so faithful. You will also note that fire teams are now being honored for their scoring. Congratulations to Fire Team 2 of Squad 4- Ricardo, Mark and Horacio put up an average of 36.6 points! 

Men, don't let your fire team down. Please remember to put up your points before you leave the blog each day. It's just what we do. If you see that one of your fire teammates is not putting up his points, by all means, remind him. Thanks for making everyone's life just a bit easier by being faithful :) Be unstoppable! 

Squad 1				27.25	Squad 2				23.6
Eddie Morales	U	R5	41		Sam Vargas	U	R3	63
Fire Team 1				25.5 av.	Fire Team 1				32
William Dyckman	U	R1	32		Oscar Nunez			32
Elijah Hernandez	New		New		Lou Ojeda	U		32
Phil Raymond	U		27		Fire Team 2				18
Ismael Andrade	U	R2	21		Israel Fuentes	U	R1	30
James Schmidt			22		Flo Juarez			0
Fire Team 2				29	Dave DeBoer	U		24
Gary Remson		R1	34		Squad 4				30.5
Luis Ortiz	U		27		George Rabiela	U	R1	55
Alex Dyckman	U		26		Fire Team 1				24.3
Squad 3				23.91	Dave Heidekruger	U	R2	29
Robert Roman		R1	31		Michael Gonzalez			20
Fire Team 1				23.5	Chuy Cervantes			24
Guillermo Baez			5		Fire Team 2				36.6
Vince Diaz	U	R1	41		Ricardo Guardiola		R1	35
Antonio Palomar		R1	24		Mark Estrada			38
Nic Palhegyi	U	R1	24		Horacio De La Torre	U		37
Rich Petre	New		New		Squad 5				30.2
Fire Team 2				24.33	Jack Rogers	U	R4	90
Osiris Alday	U		51		Fire Team 1				29
Ed Lake			19		Roger Vinlasaca	U	R1	18
Rick Barrera			3		Armando Hernandez			37
					Jose Billegas	U		32
					Fire Team 2				32
					George Doherty	U	R1	30
					Andre Vargas	U		34