One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish…” _John 6:8-9 (NKJV)
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When I lose something I first search for it and if I can’t find it then I go ask Sonja if she’s seen what I’m looking for.
I can’t count or remember the times she has gone to the very same place I had already looked and pointed to what I was looking for.
Perhaps it was a few inches away from the spot that it usually was or maybe it was sitting at a slightly different angle. I don’t know. But somehow I have a knack for missing the obvious.
That brings me to Andrew…
Have you ever wondered how Andrew knew the young boy had five barley loaves and two small fish?
I’m afraid I may not have even noticed the boy, much less that he had a lunch with him.
But I suspect there is even more going on here. To notice details–the art of detection–is an acquired skill. Some of us are better at it than others.
But to know what was in that lunch box at the level of specificity that Andrew had required more than good detective skills.
To know that it was not just bread in the lunchbox (good detective skills could have guessed that) but that there were five loaves–barley at that. Now that’s amazing.
Oh, and then there’s the fish.
Andrew knew that there was two…not three or four…but two small fish along with the barley bread in the lad’s lunchbox.
To obtain that kind of specific knowledge required more than Sherlock Holmes level detective skills, it required taking the time to earn that little boy’s trust; and that required Andrew becoming a friend.
The result? 5000+ miracles.
I think there’s some lessons here for us. I’ll leave it up to your detective skills to figure them out. If you can’t, call my wife, Sonja.
The ONE THING 