A Life Purpose Lesson from Saint Patrick
When most Americans think about Saint Patrick's Day, the following things often come to mind: green, shamrocks, Ireland, and drinking. Americans have little understanding of who St. Patrick was or when he lived in Ireland. (It was during the 5th Century.) And most of us don't know that he wasn't born Irish, he was a Christian missionary who traveled to that country. While St. Patrick's activities are somewhat lost to history, there are a few details of his life that are presented in his short autobiographical manuscript, Confessio . St. Patrick was kidnapped from his home in Britain when he was about 16 years old. He was carried off to Ireland where he was enslaved as a sheepherder for about 6 years. As a result of a dream, St. Patrick decided to escape to a ship on the coast. His journey to freedom, back to his family in Britain, was a difficult one. He made it home. Yet ironically, God put it on his heart to return to Ireland to minister to the people there, even to t...