That Includes Me!!!

 I am so excited that St. Patrick's Day is coming. My daughter Sarah asked if we could have Irish Soda Bread for breakfast that day. I was like, "Ah when can you remember a St. Patrick's day that we didn't have Irish Soda bread for breakfast?" Yes, I become overly excited, and perhaps I go a wee bit overboard. We have a huge breakfast. That would explain why we forgot to have lunch last year. Go figure! My home is decked out in shamrocks and crosses with green every place. I love all the wonderful food & Irish music that fills the house.
    However, the reason that I celebrate on March 17th, is because the gospel was spread to the land of my heritage by St. Patrick. His is a miraculous story that you may or may not have heard before.
    St. Patrick was captured in England by Irish men, who enslaved him and took him back with them to Ireland. He later escaped slavery and went back to England. St. Patrick then joined the monastery where he was converted to Christianity. Only to be later told by God, to go back to Ireland, in order to spread the news of the gospel. I can't even imagine the thoughts that went through his head as he contemplated returning to Ireland.
   St. Patrick's day celebrates the wonderful acts of a humble servant of God, whom by the way did not want anyone to celebrate him, and reveals Father God's plan for a savage nation. How God worked and changed a nation rooted in brutality by the obedience of one person.
    So when I deal with people who have an Irish bent, like my boss who was born in Dublin Ireland. I totally get their temper, and the steadfast refusal to not back down. God created the Irish, savage as they were. They were always part of His plan to Cary the gospel throughout the world. God designed them with their stubborn ways, for His good. I am very proud of my hard headed Irish heritage. God needs stubborn, hard headed people, who don't bend their knee to Satan. People that will spread the gospel. That includes me!