No interventions of the supernatural "miracles" are recorded in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. However, prayer, faith, courage, and hard work are on every page. In truth, God was mightily at work through these times, restoring the house of worship and the Holy City.
The temple in Jerusalem was built by Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonian army in 587 B.C. The second temple in Jerusalem was built by Herod and destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed as well, in both instances. Jerusalem stands today as a viable city among the cities of the world, and Israel stands as an independent nation among the nations of the world.
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church will worship next Sunday in their refurbished worship center. This is a significant milestone for that congregation and for that part of our community, and it deserves notation. The great storm threw our congregations together. We were stunned, stumbling through the debris, overwhelmed by the chaos. We got our legs under us, though, and steadied each other in the damp darkness...