St. Patricks Day

March - What you don’t know about St. Patrick

Leprechauns, four leaf clovers, and donning something green… that’s the traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration style and thoughts. Learning the true story behind St. Patrick’s Day was not quite what I expected. St. Patrick was not a fictional leprechaun, nor did he wear a little green hat or chase pots of gold at the end of rainbows. That may not come as a huge surprise, but did you know St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish? The historical story of Patrick may not be widely known, but it is extraordinary, and he poured his life out for God’s purposes changing the course of Ireland’s history.


In the 5th century, Patrick was born into a Christian family on the island of modern day Britain. However, his personal faith in Christ didn’t mature until his teens and only through extremely difficult circumstances. At age 15, Irish raiders kidnapped him and forced him into slavery in Ireland. The Celtic people of Ireland were well known as savage, animistic people. Yet it was in this spiritual atmosphere that Jesus Christ became the Lord of Patrick’s life. For six years, Patrick tended sheep for his master and spent hours on the Irish hillsides with God. One day, Patrick sensed a voice telling him that a ship was waiting to take him home. Remarkably, he escaped toward the coast and boarded a ship that sailed to his homeland.
Back home and a free man, Patrick joined the clergy and spent years in a monastery. In what some compare to the Apostle Paul’s “Macedonian call”, Patrick recorded having the following vision:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us." 1

God called Patrick to return to Ireland and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Celts. Patrick was convinced of his calling, but spent many years studying in preparation. He was in his forties when he stepped back onto the soil where he lived in captivity as a young man.

The Celts were stubbornly resistant to the gospel, and Patrick was not well received at first. Being familiar with the culture, Patrick became as “Celtic” as possible without contradicting his devotion to Christ. As Paul was all things to all men, Patrick became Celtic to win the Celts, yet still faced death threats and kidnapping. Patrick himself said, “If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.” As Patrick labored for God, the truth of the gospel slowly penetrated hardened hearts, and the seeds of the church took root across Ireland.

This St. Patrick’s Day let us take time to remember the sacrifice and suffering of Patrick, the power God displayed through one surrendered life, and billions who still have yet to hear the good news. Patrick was a simple man used for extraordinary work. What can God do with your surrendered life?


For more info on St. Patrick, check out these resources:

Tucker, Ruth. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biological History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan,1983.

Bercot, David W. Let Me Die in Ireland, The True Story of Patrick. Tyler, Texas: Scroll Publishing, 1999.

1 De Paor, Liam. Saint Patrick’s World: The Christian Culture of Ireland’s Apostolic Age. Dublin: Four Courts, 1993.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

America’s love affair with Dr. Seuss is not going anywhere. I mean, who can match the cleverness found in his writing?

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."

 -- Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!"

My Many Colored Days. Each page portrays a vibrant water color painting in a different color and uses it to simplistically describe a common human emotion.

Kids and adults alike can relate to the description of these days:

Gray Day… Everything is gray.

I watch.  

But nothing moves today

Then comes a Yellow Day.

I am a busy, buzzy bee.

Today, was one of those days swirling with color for me just as Seuss describes,

Then comes a Mixed-Up Day.

And wham!

I don’t know who or what I am

Who knows what colors tomorrow will bring?

The Bottom Line:

It’s Dr. Seuss. Can you really go wrong with a book that gets the complexities of life – some days are gray and some days are pink. Need we really say more? Volumes and volumes have been written to say what Seuss said magically in a child’s picture book.

MWP CongoPeru

God opened the door 90 days ago for me to work with Make Way Partners.  I started on October 1, 2010 as their financial secretary.  My heart is so drawn to Africa and orphanages (orphans). My heart also has been broken and filled with love from Africans and the fatherless.  As I look back to 2004, when I heard a radio commercial driving  to work in Ft Lauderdale, Florida about sharing the gospel in the Sudan, I can see how the Lord's been at work to glorify Himself.  Today, as we opened AL news - here is a story about the organization MWP.

1.1.11

1.1.11 - Wow! 

This is a new year and God makes all things NEW.

HNY!

Happy New Year

Thank you Lord for our many blessings and we live to glorify Your Name!

Sweetness

... that you will feel better if you notice the sweetness of life. Notice the smiles of children, the songs of the birds, the caress of the sun's warmth and the cold wind. This sweetness is for you. Allow it to soothe your soul and bring a smile to your face.

C.T. Studd - AMEN!

Encourage others when fault is found at every turn, especially those from 3rd world countries.  Throughout the ages there have always been folks who "strain out a gnat and swallow a camel".  The gnat being the smallest "unclean" creature and the camel the largest.  I'm very familiar with the failing of not viewing matters through the lense of grace.  All that can be done when folks stumble and criticize over some point is forgive them, release them and move on.

Remember the miller’s donkey.  

The miller, son and donkey went to the market.  The miller rode the donkey all the way and people exclaimed, “Cruel man, riding himself and making his son walk.” 

So he got down and his son rode; the people said, “What a lazy son for riding while poor old father walks.” 

Then both father and son rode, and people said, “Cruelty to animals, poor donkey.” 

So they got down and carried the donkey on a pole, but folks said, “Here are two donkey slang’s carrying another donkey slang” 

Then all three walked and people said, “What fools to have a donkey and not ride it.” 

 So lets go ahead with our work for God and not care what folks think or say.

      C. T. Studd, early missionary to Africa