So tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day.

Do you know much about Ole St. Pat?

He was born somewhere near the end of the 4th century in Britian. When he was 16 he was carried off by a group of Irish raiders. He spent the next 6 years in captivity and turned to his faith. He finally escaped and went back to Britian where he spent many years studying to become a priest.

He returned to Ireland to support the few Christians that were in Ireland and to be a missionary to the rest of Ireland. Ireland was a country rich in its own history and culture. Patrick wisely used this as he shared the gospel. The sun was important in their beliefs, so he added a circle to represent the sun to the cross and that is where the Celtic cross came from.

Instead of trying to change all their ways he brought Jesus to them in a non-threatening way. St. Patrick is credited for bring Christianity to Ireland, he was not the first nor the last to bring the gospel to Ireland but he did devote many years to his ministry there and he did do much to spread Christianity throughout Ireland. St. Patrick died on March 17th around the year 460.

I am planning on doing a few fun things with the kids. I really wanted to take the kids to Mc Donalds for a Shamrock shake. Apparently that really dates me and the Shamrock shake has been retired for many years. So armed with some vanilla ice cream and a little green food colouring I am going to make shamerock shakes myself. I am hoping that goes over well!