Hi all!

Today’s story comes from the book of Nehemiah.

Some of the exiled Israelites had returned to Judah and were rebuilding the temple, but many were still in Babylon and spread around away from the promised land. One, named Nehemiah was working for a king.

One day he went to the king and looked sad. The king said, “Nehemiah…why are you sad?”

“How can i be happy when i know my people are struggling and my city is a mess?! It’s all in ruins….”

“How can i help you?” asked the king.

“I would like to go back and help them rebuild,” Nehemiah responded.

The king told Nehemiah he would miss him, but it would be ok if he went.

When Nehemiah got back, the city was a mess. The people were poor and sad, and the city was all burned down. Now, back then, each city had its own big big big walls around to keep it safe from other bad guys…but the walls around Jerusalem (the main city in Judah), were all destroyed.

Nehemiah encouraged the people to begin rebuilding the walls and they all got to work. Everybody worked on the part right by his or her house and together they got a lot done.

But…some of the nearby bad guy neighbors didn’t want the people to fix the walls and they tried to get them to stop. “You think you can actually rebuild this whole thing?! You think this city will be great again?!”

But that didn’t stop Nehemiah and the other Israelites…they kept on working.

Even when the other guys came up with a plan to attack the city…Nehemiah prayed and then told half of the people to stand guard, ready to fight and the other half to keep working.

The people fixed the gates (the big doors) into the city and each family worked by their house to finish the whole wall. Nehemiah and the people prayed to God to help them and to keep them safe from their enemies…and finally they finished it. Their enemies were NOT happy, but the people came together and sang songs and praised God for helping them.

All the people worked together and they were able to complete the work. They didn’t even have to go far! We can all work together to do great things for God too and we don’t have to go far either! We can love and take care of the people close to us. We can help keep our church clean, we can help  mom and dad take care of the house, we can help a friend who is sad, or maybe help a neighbor. God can use all of us just by loving and serving the people God gave to us in our school, our neighborhood and our family.

Who is close to you that you can show God’s love to today?

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!