1. When he was 16, Patrick was captured from his home in England and taken and sold into slavery in Ireland. He was left alone upcountry to herd pigs for 6 years. He said that he prayed all day and night, even awaking to pray before dawn because the Spirit of God was ardent in his life.
He was completely and utterly alone, something I cannot even fathom, and the Spirit was so at work in his life that he couldn't sleep past dawn because he was drawn to worship. All day long he would be herding pigs by himself, surely he could have justified saving his prayer time until then and grabbed a few extra hours of sleep. But he didn't, the Spirit was doing too much in his life to allow that. Lord, give me a heart like Patrick, that is softened towards you, especially when I face difficult circumstances. Let me not make excuses.
2. On Patrick's last night as a slave, he heard a voice that said, "Your hungers are rewarded, you are going home. Look, your ship is ready." So he left and marched 200 miles through territory he had never seen, it is only by the grace of God that he was not caught along the way. About his journey, Patrick said, "I came in God's strength and I had nothing to fear." He found his ship and told the captain he had the money to go (but no one knows where he got it :)), but the captain told him he would not take him. As he walked back towards his hut and began to pray, the sailors called him and told them they would take him. When they landed in France, they found hundreds of thousands of starving people and went for 28 days without food. The sailors had heard that Patrick believed in Christ, so the captain taunted Patrick, asking him to pray for them if his god was so great and powerful. Patrick responds, "From the bottom of your heart, turn trustingly to the Lord my God for nothing is impossible for him and today he will send you food for your journey until you are filled for he has abundance everywhere." The sailors "tried a moment of faith," as soon as they bowed their heads to pray they were distracted by a stampede of pigs. The God Patrick had faith in provided them with food immediately.
What an amazing story of faith, Patrick believed wholeheartedly Lord would provide if they cried out to Him. Lord, teach me to believe.
3. When Patrick finally made it home, he couldn't stay. For the sake of length, I'll skip the story about how the Lord intervened to take him back to Ireland where he faithfully proclaimed Christ where He had not been named before. While he was there Patrick also became the first person to boldly and passionately speak out against the evils of slavery.
This part of Patrick's story is the part that resonates with and convicts me the most. He counted following Christ as far more important than living the easy life at home with his family. So many days I find myself longing for the comforts of home and as we prepare to move back I'm so tempted to believe this is what its all about. But I couldn't be more wrong, the Bible teaches that true joy comes from following Christ, it has nothing to do with my geographic location. Saint Patrick's willingness to return to the land of his slavery and bring about transformation is a beautiful example of this truth. Lord teach me what it means to glorify you with my life, to love and serve you with complete abandonment, whether it is in the States or if it means following You somewhere else down the road.
Hopefully these tidbits of Patrick's story have been as encouraging and challenging for you as they have been for me. Let's raise your glasses high as we toast St. Patrick tonight!
Note: The historical facts in this post were taken from a sermon our pastor preached at Three Rivers Community Church on 3/16/08. There's a podcast available but our internet at home is way too slow to go to the trouble of pasting in the link. One of the books he used is How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. I've had it for years, finally read a chapter today, I think I'll start from the beginning tonight.
Note 2: In Minshew Family Trivia, St. Patrick's Day marks the anniversary of the day Stu proposed. 6 years today, I can't believe it.
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