Who Dat, St. Pat? by Phil Happy St. Patrick's Day - the holiday where millions around the world drink green beer and pinch people to honor the Irish saint who chased snakes out of Ireland. The only problem with this (beyond pinching drunk people) is St. Patrick wasn't Irish and there were no snakes in Ireland. One top of that, St. Patrick wasn't even a saint! Now before you go drown your disillusionment in a green pitcher, St. Patrick does have a great lesson for us Christians, you've probably just never heard it. Today, let's redeem the holiday with the truth. Patrick was born in Britain around 387 AD. He was a preacher's kid, but wanted nothing to do with Christianity. When He was sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates and taught to say "Aye Matey!" (OK, I'm not sure what he was taught to say, but it could be!) He ended up a slave on a sheep ranch in Ireland where his master was a Druid priest and clan chieftain. Over the next six years God worked on His heart and Patty accepted Christ as his Savior. He escaped and fled back to England where he became a monk. Twenty years later, God called Patrick to go back to Ireland and proclaim the gospel to the very people who had been his captors. One of the first to embrace the message of Christ was Pat's old slave master himself! Legend has it that Patrick used the three leafed shamrock to explain how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God in three persons. Patrick died on March 17, 493, thus establishing a day to bring out the Irish in us all, even if we aren't Irish. When we celebrate his holiday each year, let's remember his excellent example of forgiveness. He truly lived out Christ's command to "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” - Matthew 5:44. That spirit of love beats any spirit you can find in a frosty mug, regardless of the color. And it feels a whole lot better than a pinch!
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The Rest of the Story... by Phil Alright, it's confession time. Have you ever skipped to the last page of a book to see how the story will end? There is a certain comfort in knowing that everything will work out OK and the hero will ride off into the sunset. (For the girls, this would include his true love by his side; for the guys, it would involve a long trail of enemies who died horrific, painful and dramatic deaths.) What makes the story interesting is the journey to get to the end, and...
Pass the Palms by Phil The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" “Blessed is the king of Israel!” - John 12:12-13 What an amazing sight it must have been to watch Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem! We often see our kiddos reenact this historic event with a palm branch parade on Palm Sunday, but do we...
DRUM ROLL... We mentioned earlier that we have an exciting announcement. Coming this May we will have a new addition to the party - our daughter Kayla and hubby Kyle are expecting a baby boy! We are excited to welcome this new blessing into the fold and have every expectation of spoiling him. Many of you watched Kayla grow up on the road with us and are faithful to ask how the kids are doing. To honor this momentous occasion, we decided to go back almost 25 years to revisit a devotion Pam...