A word about Saint Patrick’s Day, one of my favorite days of the year – but not for the standard reasons. Today folks celebrate all things Irish by wearing green clothes and funny green hats and drinking green beer. Don’t get me wrong, I also love all things Irish, it’s part of my heritage, and the Irish people I know are some of the best in the world.
I celebrate Saint Patrick today because he stands as one of the first and best examples of a missionary in history. Here’s a passage about Patrick from my book, GO:
…about 400 years later, on an island far to the north, Irish raiders kidnapped a young English boy named Patricius and held him as a slave for several years. While he eventually made his escape and returned to England, something started to shift in his heart. The Lord, through visions, began to pull him once again to Ireland, this time to return as a missionary to his former captors. He sailed back to preach the gospel to the pagan Irish and eventually became Saint Patrick of Ireland, the first documented missionary outside the bounds of the Roman Empire. Patrick preached the gospel as far as he could go, “to the point beyond which there is no one,” to the western edge of Ireland. Only the sea remained…
If you lift a toast to all things Irish today, remember to lift one to Saint Patrick.
Week eleven of reading the Bible cover to cover
It’s a really moving example of someone loving their enemies. Thanks!