Welcome to Breakpoint, daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center on John Stone Street. Of the thousands of green-clad parade-goers, marchers, and partiers today, few know about St. Patrick, the man for whom today's holiday is named. Even fewer still know of the man beyond the legend who supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland and certainly possessed an indomitable faith in Jesus Christ. Back in 2006, Chuck Coulson told St.
Patrick's story here on Breakpoint in a commentary. Here's Chuck Colson. Patrick was born in Roman Britain to a middle class family about three ninety AD. When Patrick was a teenager, marauding Irish raiders attacked his home. Patrick was captured, taken to Ireland, and sold to an Irish king, who put him to work as a shepherd.
In his excellent book How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill describes a life Patrick lived. Cahill writes The work of such slave shepherds was bitterly isolated, months at a time spent alone in the hills. Patrick had been raised in a Christian home, but he didn't really believe in God. But now, hungry, lonely, frightened, and bitterly cold, Patrick began seeking out a relationship with his Heavenly Father. As he wrote in his confessions, I would pray constantly during the daylight hours, and the love of God surrounded me more and more.
Six years after his capture God spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying, 'Your hungers are rewarded. You are going home. Look, your ship is ready. What a startling command If he obeyed, Patrick would become a fugitive slave, constantly in danger of capture and punishment. But he did obey, and God protected him.
The young slave walked nearly two hundred miles to the Irish coast, and there he boarded a waiting ship and travelled back to Britain and his family. But as you might expect, Patrick was a different person now, and the restless young man could not settle back into his old life. Eventually, Patrick recognized that God was calling him to enter a monastery. In time, he was ordained as a priest, then as a bishop. Finally, thirty years after God had led Patrick away from Ireland, he called him back to the Emerald Isle as a missionary.
The Irish of the fifth century were a pagan, violent, and barbaric people. human sacrifice was commonplace. Patrick understood the danger and wrote, I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved, whatever may come my way. Cahill notes that Patrick's love for the Irish shines through his writings. He worried constantly for his people and not just for their spiritual, but for their physical welfare.
Through Patrick God converted thousands. Cale writes only this former slave had the right instincts to impart to the Irish a new story. one that made sense of all their old stories and brought them a peace they had never known before. Because of Patrick a warrior people lay down the swords of battle, flung away the knives of sacrifice, and cast away the chains of slavery. As it is with many Christian holidays, Saint Patrick's Day has lost much of its original meaning.
Instead of settling for parades and cardboard leprechauns and the wearing of the green, we ought to recover our Christian heritage, celebrate the great evangelist, and teach our kids about this Christian hero. That was Chuck Colson from 2006 talking about St. Patrick. And from all of us, happy St. Patrick's Day.
For the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to ColsonCenter.org. Calling all listeners who serve the church, join us May 28th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a special church leadership summit preceding the 2026 Colson Center National Conference. Our theme is Forming Courageous Disciples.
The rapid-fire pace our culture is changing can be disorienting, but it's also one of the greatest opportunities for the church. Featuring Oz Guinness, John Stone Street, and Carl Truman, this event will help you equip your church to see this moment clearly, believe they are called to it, and courageously act as agents of renewal in it. Register today at colsoncenter.org/slash church summit.
