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TUESDAY • MARCH 10Psalm 126:2-4 (NIV)Return and Restore“… Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things forthem.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restoreour fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev.”This year has brought the Elwha Klallam Tribe many happy returns. I wantto share two of them.Dams were built in 1912 and 1927 to provide electricity to this area. In doingso, they didn’t think to put in fish ladders for the salmon, resulting in cutting offthe tribe’s primary food source as well as disrupting other elements in nature’sbalance.In 2011, the tribe won the right to tear down the dams and thus began thenation’s largest river restoration project in history. This project has been carriedout in layers. Recently, the last 30 feet of the river’s last dam had been blastedaway. Within a week, the first sighting of Chinook Salmon was noted (a big one,I might add) and further investigation proved more salmon were waiting in thewaters. Thanks be to God!In July, we celebrated the return of about 80,000 artifacts that were unearthedin 2003 from Tse-Whit-Zen village. Tse-Whit-Zen means “Inner Harbor” in theKlallam language. During a dig in 2003, a whole village was uncovered andremains and artifacts were dated back some 2,700 years. The artifacts had beenstored and shared in Seattle since their discovery. Along with this return, Tse-Whit-Zen’s village and cemetery were officially signed by the Advisory Councilfor Historic Preservation of the National Registry of Historic Places. This makesTse-Whit-Zen one of the most significant archaeological and cultural places inWashington State history.We celebrated a happy homecoming of these precious artifacts. They revealso much about our Native People who lived HERE on THIS LAND so manyyears ago even while biblical history was unfolding in the Middle East.I am sharing this to show you that we always need hope. We place our hopein Christ Jesus. His death and resurrection not only paid the price of our sin, butHe restored us to the Father, including the culture of ALL people. 1 Peter 1:3-4says, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through theresurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can neverperish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.”Gracious Lord, You alone can save us, restore us and return us to Yourself.There are no other means to receive Your greatest gift of life but through Yourgrace. Thank You, Jesus. In Your holy name, Amen.Deaconess Cathy Benzler (Cherokee)Olympic Peninsula, Washington26