THE PATH OF A WEAK MINDED WARRIOR

When the going gets tough - some people just give up and start all over again. Dr. Pym was that kind of hero.

Pym was a scientist who developed a gas that allowed him to shrink to ant size and then grow normal again. He was also a master of robotics and electronics and developed a helmet that allowed him to speak to and control ants.

He was first introduced as the astonishing Ant-Man. He was one of the five heroes that formed the Avengers. He was definitely one of the greatest of Marvel's heroes by the time he teamed with the Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk to form Marvel's second team of heroes. (The Fantastic Four were first)

However, after he began to work with other heroes - especially after Captain America was added to the Avengers roster - he began trying to one up everyone by changing into new identities again and again.

It's easy to see where a man named Ant-Man would feel a bit inadequate when standing beside Thor, Iron Man, or Captain America. He was able to shrink to less than an inch high and retained normal human strength. It seemed inadequate to have "normal human strength" when facing foes who tossed cars better than he tossed softballs.

As a matter of fact, on a classic Saturday Night Live skit, Ant-Man makes an appearance beside several other comic heroes (including John Belushi as the Hulk and Bill Murray as Superman) who laugh in his face at his normal human strength. I'm sure that summed up his reason to want a new identity.

So, Dr. Pym realized that if he could shrink and then grow using his "Pym particles" (This should have shown an ego at work, huh?) then he could also GROW and then shrink back to normal.

So Pym changed to the heroic Giant Man and found himself a towering presence among the Avengers. Still, he didn't quite feel adequate. I guess the name Giant Man still sounded too drab. When they charged into battle the villains in their moments of fear would shout out names like "IRONMAN!!", "CAPTAIN AMERICA", or "THOR", but he was just that Giant-Man - it was more of a description than a name.

And since his costume mimicked his Ant man suit - he was sort of a Gi-ANT-Man. Still sort of a joke if you look at it.

So Pym changed costumes again and re-named himself Goliath after the Biblical giant. This was a little better. He even racked up some pretty decent arch foes as Goliath.

However, he still measured himself against the powerhouses on his team. Even after marrying his partner, the Wasp, he still had problems with feeling inadequate. He would change his identity one more time before giving up the hero business forever - or so he thought.

After a nervous breakdown and breathing some hallucinatory gasses, Pym changed to the hero Yellow jacket.

Yellow jacket would shrink to small size. He would fly by use of a flight harness built into his costume. He had a pistol that fired electrical stings. He was a showoff, and quite proud of himself. He was also quite a bragger - the direct opposite of Hank Pym.

Pym made a crucial mistake during battle shortly after returning to the Avengers from a brief leave of absence. The Avengers were fighting a powerful opponent who was battling simply out of confusion rather than malice. Captain America had talked her into stopping the battle so the Avengers could help her.

Pym did not want Cap to get the glory so he shot her with his zap-pistol...in the back.

The blast was not enough to kill her. As a matter of fact it just made her mad - very mad - and the battle resumed and escalated. Peace was eventually gained that day, but at a higher cost than it could have been had Pym not acted the way he did.

Pym was charged with negligence and ordered to attend a court martial procedure to see if he should stay an Avenger. He was about to be kicked off the team he helped to found.

Instead of showing humility and admitting his mistake he came up with a plan. He built a huge robot designed to be able to beat any and all of the active Avengers. Only he would know where to fire to turn it off - a secret switch located in the robot's chest.

The Wasp learned of his plan and tried to talk him out of it. For her troubles she was beaten severely by the man she had married.

At the court martial, Pym summoned the robot and it began making short work of the Avengers. Pym rushed to the rescue to "Prove that he was the better hero."

He had done his work too well though. The Robot captured him and disarmed him before he could stop it. He was rescued by his wife who shot the spot in its chest where the secret off switch was located. He resigned and left humbly to disappear forever.

However, one of Pym's former foes, who had presumably reformed his life offered him a job, and then coerced him into designing an ultimate weapon. Pym was framed for crimes he did not commit, and saw his life destroyed even further. Ultimately, the Avengers saved him and offered him another chance to become a hero.

He passed on that opportunity and went back to his research. It was only when the Avengers opened a second branch on the west coast that Pym got involved with them again - as a researcher and as manager of their compound. He even had a brief relationship with the super heroin, Tigra.

Pym was captured shortly after that by Ultron - an android he had designed that hated him and was trying to destroy all life on earth. Pym had convinced Ultron to relinquish his evil ways and had come to think of him as a son when another Ultron appeared and destroyed the first Ultron.

Pym was devastated at the loss of his "son." He was even more devastated when Tigra broke off their relationship. It was then that he decided that he did not deserve to live and was ready to commit suicide. Fortunately someone intervened.

You will love this...Pym's life was saved by an encounter with God. It wasn't a burning bush type of incident, but a visit from a friend who brought him God's love in the name of God. It was a friend who had also looked at her life and found that she did not measure up. It was a Super heroin name Firebird (actually at that moment she was going by the name Espirita to show her pride in her beliefs.)

Espirita showed Pym what he had accomplished. He had invented his Pym Particles. He had developed robotic intelligence in Ultron. He had formed four separate identities that were so great that once he laid them aside, someone else took them up and used them. He had helped form the greatest team of heroes on earth.

He didn't have to measure up to the others, because he measured up to himself. He simply had to be what God had created him to be.

Pym and Espirita looked deep inside his life and found a way that Pym could be an Avenger without feeling so inadequate. He eventually became a leader of the West Coast Avengers and remained a member for many years. He became the standard by which the others measured themselves...just by being him self.

I've seen many people who start a work, and then throw it away when they see someone else having more success than they are. They float from committee to committee, from church to church, from ministry to ministry. They are always changing. They are being blown about by every wind.

God wants us to find our place in the body of Christ and use the talents He has given us to bless Him and others. When we try to measure ourselves against others we are destined for disappointment. We must seek the council of GOD and not try to pattern ourselves after those around us.

We are parts of one big body. Some of us are the eyes, some are the feet, and others are the hands. (I like to joke that I'm the belly button - no one knows why I'm there, but they miss me when I'm gone.)

We simply have to find our place in the body and do our best at our calling. When we try to measure ourselves against someone else we are trying to put ourselves in a place that may not be meant for us.

You may find yourself envious of someone who gets to lead music, or teach, or preach, but don't you think that God knew what he was doing when He made you a childcare worker? Don't you think He knew you would be better used as a choir member?

If you don't fill your place, then someone else has to fill it in order for the work to get done. And when you have teachers watching the infants, Choir members teaching, and Infant workers singing in the choir, you may not have your best combination. (Not that you can't do both, but pay attention to what you do best.)

Dr Pym had to learn that he DID make great contributions. In their first battle it was Pym that nearly defeated the Hulk. He had the ants dig a tunnel underneath the Hulk causing the ground to collapse beneath him.

Pym was the one who developed the weapons that allowed the Avengers to defeat Ultron after he ran wild.

Pym was the one they came to when there was a problem. He just could not see that. He wanted to be Captain America instead of Ant-Man. He wanted to be a hand instead of a foot. He let envy destroy his life, and found his purpose again only through humility and the hand of God.

You can find your place too and stop the cycle of re-creating yourself. There is no need to RE create what God made perfectly. He knew what your purpose was in life before you were ever formed. He will show you how to fulfill that purpose if you'll only let him. Seek council from Godly men and women. Read your Bible, and pray daily. And most of all find your place and start serving.

Psalms 1 (KJV)

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish

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