Thoughts from St. Patrick Day

Well yesterday I spent the day with my good friend Mike traveling around with my youngest daughter's Irish Dance school and playing fiddle music for the dancers as we celebrated St. Patrick's Day. We had a great time! The day has come to be a celebration of all things Irish, when everyone can be Irish for a day and come together to have fun and celebrate. For me, however, the day also reminds me of some important principles that I am reminded of when I stop to consider the origins of the day, and the story of the person who lays behind it.
Before green beer, or green frosted cup cakes, before Shamrock Shakes and "Kiss Me I'm Irish" T-shirts, before all that is St. Patrick's Day as we celebrate it today there was I guy named Patrick. There is much legend and story that seems to shroud the history of Patrick including stories of driving snakes from Ireland and using a shamrock to teach about the Trinity. There are a number of points that seem to be generally accepted, however, that are gleaned from letters written by his own hand. Some of these points would include the fact that as a teenage boy, he was kidnapped from Britain and taken to Ireland as a slave. After about six years he would escape and make his way home. Patrick would enter the ministry and eventually accept the challenge of taking the gospel to Ireland, returning to the country where he had been held as a slave. To me, this is a fascinating story.
It is a powerful story of forgiveness. Is this not a needed reminder and example for so many in Northern Ireland, and really, all of us the world over?
It is a story that once again demonstrates that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him.(Romans 8:28)" It is amazing to think that even years of slavery could be used for good as preparation for the amazing mission that Patrick would later undertake.
It is also an amazing story of mission, and an example to inspire us to ask "where is it that God is asking me to take the gospel?"
Those are just some thoughts that I have had as I reflect on the day that was.