tucson has an irish pub!

Okay I am a big fan of Irish Pubs, and most things Irish for that matter. However I have spent most of my days in Tucson, Arizona which until recently was desolate in the way of Irish Pubs. My favorite Irish pub is Molly Malones in Helsinki. Helsinki is undoubtedly one of my favorite cities, only its so far away. Oh the dilemma, where to find authentic Irish fayre, atmosphere and a cold glass of Guinness.

Now for the gospel- we have an Irish Pub, and, oh and, it is within walking distance of my house! Oh God loves me! It is true The Auld Dubliner has at last arrived. The entire place was crafted in Ireland and shipped over, no kidding. The Food? Well they serve among the traditional Irish fayre, Leprechaun Balls! Leprechaun balls are flash fried little potatoes smothered in hot wing sauce and blue cheese crumbles, the true food of the little people. The Guinness? Ice cold and well poured. And if you have a tmobile account you can mooch wireless off of the Starbucks next-door. Need I say more?

this post was written and posted from the auld dubliner. hooray.

St . Patrick

Happy St. Patrick’s day. St Patrick is one of my favorite Saints, no kidding. He was perhaps the first person to actually take the story of Jesus and His way of life to the ends of the known world, at his time, (early 5^th century). Ireland, at that time was actually beyond the reaches of the great Roman Empire, Patrick or Patricius was originally from Britain and ended up in Ireland as a slave. If you haven’t read How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, you are missing out on a great telling of one of the most overlooked periods of history and yet one of the most important.

I was sent the following article in an email today; it speaks to some of the fascinating story of one of my hero’s, St. Patrick. Enjoy.

“If you ask people who Saint Patrick was, you’re likely to hear that he was an Irishman who chased the snakes out of Ireland.

It may surprise you to learn that the real Saint Patrick was not actually Irish—yet his robust faith changed the Emerald Isle forever.

Patrick was born in Roman Britain to a middle-class family in about A.D. 390. 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 the 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. There he boarded a waiting ship and traveled 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, not just for their spiritual but for their physical welfare.”

Through Patrick, God converted thousands. Cahill 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.” -From Break Point.