Leaving All

Note:  I apologize for the absence of yesterday's slice of bread, Perseverance.  I waited to long to start writing and missed the 9 : 47 deadline by even less than a minute...posted it as soon as the clock hit 9:48, but it was too late.  Hence, I'm getting an earlier start today in case I run into technical problems which also delayed me yesterday.  

Today we remember St. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter and the first to respond to John the Baptist's recognition of the Lamb of God.  According to John's Gospel, Andrew, and another disciple of John, followed Jesus and spent such an impactful afternoon with him, that even years later, the precise time of four o'clock was remembered and recorded in Jn 1: 39. Andrew then found Peter and brought him to Jesus, and the next day brought Philip to him. Andrew is regarded in the Greek Church as the "Protoclete, the  First Called.
Legends abound about Andrew after the Resurrection, having him preach in Greece, and hanging from an X shaped cross from which he preached for two days before dying. It seems that such a cross only came into existence in the 14th century, but it has remained part of the iconography and St. Andrew lore that we all love, so much so that St. Andrew's cross adorns the flag of Great Britain.
And although St. Andrew never reached Scotland, his relics did, carried by St. Regulus and he is highly regarded in Scotland as one of its patrons.
Without looking ahead for immortalization in fact or legend, Andrew stands as a model of one who recognized Jesus and left All, his business, his father, to follow him. How keen is our eye-sight, our insight, and how daring are we that we might recognize Jesus as he comes to us daily and follow him with such abandon? St. Andrew, pray for us poor blind and weak Christians who have so much to learn from you and who need your faith and courage to live the life of a disciple of Jesus.
Bro. Rene