Ezra #1

I did not get to go to the graduation because I took a hard fall. I felt like the woman in the commercial who yells’ Help me.! I have fallen and cannot get up”. But it was not amusing.

Andreas and Estella visited which is always nice.

Donavan & Lizzie spoke to us about joining the staff. They are from Jennings, La. Close to Lake Charles. Extremely nice couple.

Ezdras and Candida

Everyone at one time or another gets frustrated and feels like giving up. My brother committed suicide years ago because of frustration in a relationship that he felt could never be healed. The last few days I have been ministering to a teenager who felt unloved, unwanted and useless. This morning she received Christ and now we wait and see if her life takes on meaning.

You remember that when I shared with you the story of the judges of Israel that there was a cycle that continued for hundreds of years. I am not certain the cycle has been broken. It looks very much like the world today and over the last 200 years. It is a cycle of rebellion, judgment, repentance, obedience and restoration only to be repeated over and over.

This is not just about nations but it is also about families, churches and governments. In fact from the book of Genesis all the way through the book of II Chronicles God watches His chosen people refuse to live up to His love and plan for them.

Unfaithfulness, idolatry and immorality that will lead to the northern tribes destroyed by Assyria and the southern tribes taken into captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem is destroyed.

It is at this point we meet Ezra who will teach us that God forgives and restores. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther are the very last of the historical books of the Old Testament. They are followed by the books of Psalms, Poetry and Prophecy.

This ends the OT at about 425BC.