Read Matthew 25:14-30 One of the two which....followed him, was Andrew. - John 1:40 One of the mysteries of Christian history is the power by which men of ordinary gifts have achieved extraordinary things. The New Testament is the greatest of books and the Church the greatest of institutions, but the men who wrote the one and founded the other were for the most part ordinary men. The man called Andrew, first among those who "left all, and followed" Jesus, is an example of the extraordinary use of ordinary gifts. His name is an encouragement and a challenge to us all. Jesus once told a story about a man whose employer had given him a sum of money to invest. It was a small sum. Others have been given more. And he did nothing with it. When time came for an accounting he had made no profit, and his master blamed him with bitter words. Jesus was not a business man, however, and His interest was not in cash, but in character. The five-talent man and the two-talent man invested their trust funds shrewdly and courageously. The one-talent man thought that, being poorly endowed, he need not take the risk or make an effort. The point of the story is the responsibility of ordinary people. In the pressing business of the times we must depend on the one-talent man. Not on him who has much, not on him who has nothing, but on him who has little does the welfare of the nation and the world depend. Great ability, heroism, and work may do much, but they can do nothing without the help of ordinary men & women. Prayer We are ordinary men, O God, but we have an extraordinary Savior. Help us to mirror His life, to use our ordinary talents for Him and see them become extraordinary.