X-man or X-woman...I guess I should say...

My blog followers know me. They're my two very best friends. So, they already know that when I talk about Haley, I'm talking about my cousin who's a missionary. Wow. That's the first time I've actually said it. Haley's a missionary. This thought warms my heart. It's kind of crazy. Growing up, we both became Christians at a really young age, and we were both in church every time the doors were open. Neither one of us could have imagine that God would have her traveling all over the world telling people about His love for them.

This brings me to Andrew. He was one of Jesus's disciples. Let me just go ahead and throw down a load of scripture at you. It's a passage (my Bible happens to be The Message: Remix) from John 1:35-42...

The next day John (being John the Baptist) was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up and saw (in the Hebrew...this word for 'saw' means 'to stare' or 'seeing someone like you're looking thru them') Jesus walking nearby, and said, "Here He is, God's Passover Lamb." The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder (the NIV version uses the word 'saw' here) and said to them, "Where are you after?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" He replied, "Come along and see for yourself." They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus. The FIRST thing he did after finding where Jeseus lived was FIND HIS OWN BROTHER, SIMON, TELLING HIM. "We've found the Messiah." He immediately LED him to Jesus.

So, from this passage, we see that Andrew's life had four points:

1.) Andrew was found

2.) Andrew followed

3.) Andrew came to faith in Jesus

4.) Andrew became a fisherman (rather a fisher of men)

Don't you see? Andrew was the one who led his brother, Peter, to Christ. Peter! The favorite disciple. Can you imagine? If it weren't for Andrew, Peter may have never loved and served Christ as fully as he did. And guess what? In John 6:8-9, Andrew was the one who led the little boy with five loaves of barely and two fish to Christ. AND In John 12:22, Andrew leads a bunch of Greeks to Christ. I mean, Andrew really had this fisherman thing down. He say that his will in life was to lead people to Christ, and he did just that.

Historians tell us that Andrew eventually traveled to Ethiopia to spread the gospel there and lead people to Christ. Lawful authority didn't like his preaching, asked him to stop, and when Andrew wouldn't, they arrested him. Like his brother, Peter, Andrew was to be crucified. And like his brother, Peter, Andrew didn't want to die in the same way Jesus did. He asked that they crucify him on a cross in the shape of an 'X.'

It makes me cry tears of joy when I realize that Haley, MY Haley Bug, is just like Andrew. She's living her life like a true X-woman; leading people to Christ. Whether she's in South America, Asia, or in Africa (where she'll be next month) like Andrew was, she's allowing God to fulfill his perfect will in her life.