“I decree that any Jew in my realm, including the priests and Levites, may return to Jerusalem with you. I and my Council of Seven hereby instruct you to take a copy of God’s laws to Judah and Jerusalem and to send back a report of the religious progress being made there. We also commission you to take with you to Jerusalem the silver and gold, which we are presenting as an offering to the God of Israel.
Ezra 7:13-15 TLB
The Conde B. McCullough Memorial Bridge was commissioned and largely paid for by a Public Works Administration project in the 1930s. The purpose of the commission brought to fruition the Oregon Coast Highway, which replaced the ferries. It was known as the North Bend – or Coos Bay – Bridge. Mr. McCullough designed several more, but the North Bend bridge was the longest and most costly Oregon bridge at the time: a magnitude of 5,305 feet long and $2.14 million. The North Bend bridge was his favorite.
The North Bend Bridge wasn’t just a functional bridge. It trailblazed in artistic design. He used 48,000 cubic yards of concrete, twelve million pounds of steel, and five million board feet of lumber. The thirteen arches made a functional public work into a work of beauty, complementing the beautiful Oregon coast.
Its current name of the Conde McCullough Memorial Bridge changed in 1947, shortly after the engineer’s death.
In 2005, the National Register of Historic Places added the bridge to their list of historical places. In 2007, the Oregon Department of Transportation started rehabilitating the bridge.
After the time of exile, Ezra the priest traveled back to Jerusalem to teach God’s laws and beautify the temple. The Babylonians were no longer in power. The Persian king, Cyprus, commissioned him to go back and rebuild the temple. And king Cyrus feared God: “and whatever else the God of heaven demands for his Temple; for why should we risk God’s wrath against the king and his sons?”
Prayers are the foundational form of restoring Oregon to what she was and can be again. There are varied ways of rebuilding, and they are all a part of His plan. What are you called to do?
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