Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

            Apart from wearing green and going to a bar to partake in an alcoholic celebration of this great missionary (which even looks weird as I type this, but makes more sense when historically viewed as a day to get to enjoy this type of beverage during the Christian season of Lent!) few people really know who this man of God really was and why his work is worth celebrating. He wasn’t Irish, but English, growing up in an upper class home in 5th century England and then enslaved in Ireland after being captured by pirates when he was a teenager. He became a shepherd and spent lots of time, not unlike King David watching over and protecting sheep, in the cold, harsh countryside of Ireland. During this time he came to know Jesus in a personal way. He escaped and returned to England, became a bishop and then felt called by God to go back to Ireland to preach the gospel. Tradition has it that he, like the Apostle Paul who presented the gospel using cultural icons of his day, used the cultural Irish icons of that day (which he knew well from his time as a slave) to teach the Irish people about Jesus- for example using a three- leaf clover to demonstrate the three persons of the trinity; using bonfires to celebrate Easter. 

St. Patrick witnessed to thousands of people who came to know the risen Savior transforming a culture of violence and death into a culture that celebrated life- here in this world and for eternity. One of the barbaric aspects of the Druid culture was their practice of child sacrifice- especially of the firstborn child- as a way to gain the favor of their gods and bring them prosperity. There are lots of myths surrounding this man; however, we know from his own writing- The Confessio, which begins, “My name is Patrick, I am a sinner…” -that his life was redeemed by Jesus and he was called to be a missionary to Ireland. It is fascinating to look at the life of this man- not unlike any of the lives we read about in our Bibles- and see clearly God’s hand in orchestrating the details. It seems faith and hope played a huge part in Patrick’s life and his obedience to God’s call. Faith in Jesus and the hope of His future now and for eternity. We are here in this place and at this time for a purpose- what can God accomplish through us when we have that type of faith and hope? We too live in a culture of death and child sacrifice where women are tricked into believing that the life they carry has no worth, that they are too poor or too stupid to bear a child, or that they made such a humungous mistake framing abortion as the one and only "fix" for their situation. 

Men are tricked into believing that ending the life of their child through abortion will relieve them of the heavy weight of responsibility and lead them to prosperity.  

    John Stonestreet writes in his February 12, 2026 “Breakpoint” According to the World Health Organization, 73 million humans died at the hands of a greedy abortion industry worldwide. That’s the equivalent of 12 Nazi Holocausts in a single year, more than two victims per second. That’s about 10 million more casualties than cardiovascular disease, cancer, Covid-19, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and indeed every other cause of human death combined in 2025.  

       What might God be calling you to do to be used by Him to transform a culture of death into one that upholds the sanctity of all human life? It’s worth thinking about as you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

Hebrews 11:1 ~ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Thank you to North Metro's JOY Fellowship for hosting Gigi and Patrice at their March luncheon to hear about everything God is doing at Hope First!