Andrew, the average apostle

The apostle Andrew was the son of Joanna and Jonah, he was the first apostle to follow Jesus, first being the disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew was also the brother to Simon Peter, imagine having to follow in those footsteps, after all didn't Peter walk on water? Andrew was the first missionary to the Jews and the Gentiles(gentiles were anyone who wasn't a Jew).Andrew would die a martyr's death. Having converted Maximilea, a kings wife, the king was so mad at Andrew that he told him he would crucify him. Andrew would not go on the cross as our Lord Jesus did but would lie on the cross in the form of an X. It actually took Andrew 2 days to die on that cross and all the while preaching the message to all who would listen, thus saving many, many souls on his death cross.

What Can We Learn From Andrew?
1-The Blessing of Quiet Obedience. How do you feel when you first hear that alarm ringing? You want to go right back to sleep right? But instead, what do we do, we switch on the coffee pot, go to the bathroom and then open our bibles. Do we feel like doing that? Would we like to get a few extra winks in? Seeking the Lord first thing in the morning, is Quiet Obedience.
Showing up to work on time is quiet obedience. Ever find money in a wallet, the wallet has a name in it, so we could very well find out who owns it and return it, do we always do that? If so, then we are doing the right thing, and that too, is Quiet obedience. Ever get "over paid"? Letting payroll know about that is also Quiet obedience.
Quiet forgiving, ever extend grace to someone who has hurt you? Standing out brightly in a dark, dark world.
2-The Blessing of serving silently. Everyone goes to the pastor to tell him what a great sermon he has just completed and he has but have you ever thought of thanking the cleaning crew that cleaned the sanctuary or the nursery workers who care for the children so we can have a "cry" free room? How about the ushers who collect the tithes and offerings, or the sound people that make sure we can hear every word that pastor is preaching? These are our "silent servers". The intercessors, we hardly know they are around, yet they are petitioning God on our behalf a few times a week, at least if not more!
When we get the praise of people we are getting our reward here on earth, when you serve silently, we get our reward in heaven. Which would you rather have?
3-The Blessing of being number two. As stated above, Andrews name was only mentioned about nine times in the New Testament and always referred to as the brother of Simon Peter or Simon Peter's brother, he was always number two. Remember the sermon on the mount and the 5,000 people were hungry and Peter said how can we feed all these people? Andrew was the one who brought the "lad" with the 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread to Jesus, my pastor called it their "Happy Meal". I imagine Andrew thought that if Jesus change Simon to a Peter He can surely do something just as spectacular with this lads fish and bread!

St. Thomas Aquinas said this "Go to preach the Gospel and IF necessary say something".
What can we learn from Andrew, I think what is said above says it all.
Are we Andrews? Or do we have to be recognized for everything we do for God's kingdom? Andrew didn't have a problem being number two, do we?