March 17, 2003

St. Patrick wasn't Irish!

"Terrified the Irish raiders would spot him, the youth hid at wood's edge as he watched eager flames consume his family's house. Suddenly powerful hands jerked his arms behind him. Coarse ropes burned his wrists. He and dozens of others were herded to boats grounded in the cove. He was now a slave.

"The sixteen-year-old watched his whole way of life slip away as the rhythmic oarbeats pushed the boats steadily west. A British nobleman's son, he'd had it easy enough. He hadn't cared much for school, preferring to go off with his friends. Christianity didn't mean much to him either. His father was a deacon in the village church, but Pat knew he held that office more for tax advantage than out of love for God.

"The sound of pebbles crunching beneath the hull signaled their arrival. Yanked from the boat, he was thrust into a guarded pen to await sale."

Today is the one day in the year that almost everyone in North America will at least give a fleeting thought to Ireland and all things Irish. But green McDonalds milkshakes and televised parades do little justice to the real St. Patrick. Did you know he was a British Celt, first enslaved in Ireland as a teen and only later a missionary to Ireland?

While enslaved to the barbaric Irish, Patrick's job was to care for a large flock of sheep belonging to the king, night and day. He also began to talk to the God his Christian grandfather had told him about. "Our Father, which art in heaven," he began hesitantly, "hallowed be Thy name..." The words recited in childhood now became a cherished prayer. Six hard years later Patrick heard a mysterious voice during sleep: "Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home." He walked 200 miles to a ship on a southeastern inlet and finally sailed home to Britain.

But Patrick never felt at home in Britain again, and try though he might, he couldn't put the Irish out of his mind. "We beg you, young man, come and walk among us once more," he seemed to hear them say. Patrick, the escaped slave, was about to be drafted once more--this time as St. Patrick, apostle to the Irish nation.

St. Patrick's work changed the face of Ireland during his own lifetime. And because of his ministry in Ireland, this tiny island at the edge of Europe had one moment of unblemished glory. As the Roman Empire fell, the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all of western literature. These scribes then served as conduits through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled among the ruins of civilization. Without the Irish the world that came after them would have been entirely different.

Ireland and all of Europe are once again places of darkness. Would you take a few moments to pray for this hardy, joyful people that St. Patrick, the willing slave, gave his life for, that they once again might know Christ and His love?

Your partner in ministry,

To get more information on how to contact me or my future ministry, check out the Ireland page on my website, www.thecarpetbag.com. You can also download or print out a Faith Promise Card by clicking here. And don't forget to check out the videos I put together for my website. God bless!