“I’m not a wise man, however I do know what love is.” I can nonetheless hear these phrases within the voice of Tom Hanks, enjoying the beloved character Forrest Gump within the 1994 movie that bears his title. After I watched it again and again with my dad as a child, it’s a film that’s coded into my mind. As Dad would say, “Forrest Gump is my hero.”

But anybody who’s seen the movie will know that Gump’s psychological and bodily limitations made him probably the most unlikely candidate for an American hero. The identical could possibly be mentioned of the much-lauded Patrick of Eire. Many know him because the patron saint of that land. Others are conscious of his outstanding missionary accomplishments. However nobody would have predicted such an end result for a person of his pedigree.

Unlikely Hero

Given my childhood, you must perceive that calling Patrick of Eire “the Forrest Gump of church historical past” is to present him a moniker of highest honor. A lot has been written and revealed (together with at The Gospel Coalition) concerning the Patrick of historical past, similar to Timothy Paul Jones’s two-minute introduction. These reflections are of large worth. However I want to provide my observations from what’s up to now a much less frequent angle. My perspective is formed with the assistance of Irishman John Holmes’s biography, Saint Patrick: The Man and His Mission.

The e-book has a Gumpesque high quality. It’s solely 74 pages. It’s solely $0.99. Shelved beside the likes of Haykin and Freeman, its contribution appears laughable. However that’s precisely why I discover it so interesting. Its humble structure is an image of Patrick himself.

We all know little about Patrick primarily based on the historic document. We rely largely on the missionary’s personal writings. And if we’re to let the person communicate for himself, then we ought to concentrate to his self-designations. Simply as Paul’s signature of “apostle” and “bondservant” revealed a lot about him, Patrick has left us with autobiographical cues of his personal: “a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all of the devoted, and completely despised by many.”

What’s he saying to us? And why ought to it win our hearts?

Brilliance of the Unlearned

Patrick is well-known for having established the Irish church within the fifth century. This was no small accomplishment—particularly for the reason that Roman world thought-about this nation the ends of the earth. As such, Patrick was capable of replicate on his missionary profession and say he’d preached the gospel “so far as the purpose the place there is no such thing as a past.” For all he knew, “Christ’s fee to enter all of the world had been carried out.” What a boast!

Observing the historic Patrick on such a stage, nonetheless, isn’t any much less disorienting than watching Gump obtain the Congressional Medal of Honor. Patrick was a person with little formal coaching. Why? As a result of whereas different boys his age have been learning rhetoric and legislation, he was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish raiders. No surprise he confessed himself to be “most unlearned.” His true boast sounded extra like this: “I blush and concern exceedingly to disclose my lack of training.”

I can’t assist however discover this endearing. Creator Thomas Cahill apparently does too, describing Patrick as “a person of much less mental refinement than Augustine however of better humanity.” Holmes holds the identical line as he concludes, “These years spent in communication with God and in isolation from mates gave Patrick a preparation for his future work that no theological seminary might match.” Amazingly, it was Patrick’s damaged human expertise that laid the groundwork for him turning into a superb missionary.

Triumph of the Despised

It was Patrick’s damaged human expertise that laid the groundwork for him turning into a superb missionary.

Along with credentialing himself as “unlearned,” why would Patrick embrace that he was “completely despised by many”? Was it the Irish raiders and slave masters who embittered his life for six years? Was it the friends who pitied him on his return to Britain? Was it the churchmen who jeered him for returning to Eire? Was it the pagans who persecuted him at each flip? The reply: sure. It was all of them and extra who discovered Patrick not in contrast to the apostles: “the scum of the world, the refuse of all issues” (1 Cor. 4:13).

Just like an harmless Non-public Gump on the entrance strains of the Vietnam Conflict, Patrick of Eire seems “like a bare-footed baby strolling in a minefield.” We must always marvel that he isn’t killed in motion—or not less than not discouraged from his mission. How did he proceed regardless of circumstances that appeared as if heaven itself have been in opposition to him? Holmes solutions, “Patrick had a religion, not born or developed within the examine, however solid on the anvil of hardship and catastrophe and examined by ache and disappointment.”

Right here once more, Patrick’s deepest troubles solely served to intensify his best triumphs. God’s power was perfected in his weak point. I can say with out apology, as a Christian whose training has additionally come primarily from the college of onerous knocks, that Patrick is my hero.

Dedicated to Christ

How does this heart-warming paragon of church historical past problem me? How does he inform our missiology? In some ways. However attending to the angle of this text, I feel Patrick confronts us with our credentials.

Patrick had a religion, not born or developed within the examine, however solid on the anvil of hardship and catastrophe and examined by ache and disappointment.

Is it our theological training that qualifies us for service? Is it a baggage-free background that equips us for overseas fields? Can we want mental refinement over a better humanity? Why will we so deeply concern being “unlearned” and “despised”?

Holmes invitations us to a greater means. He writes in his closing chapter that Patrick had “an amazing love affair in his life, one which neither merciless experiences nor passing years ever induced to develop chilly: it was that love and devotion he had for Jesus Christ.” That is his self-designation for the ages. I’m not a wise man, Patrick may say together with Gump. However I do know what love is.

Maybe we’d do effectively to rehearse the identical line.