For 10 years now, New Beginnings Community Church has been the key sponsor of the Easter Extravaganza held at the J.F. Gregory Park.

Our congregation spends countless hours preparing for it, and quite a bit of money is invested. Why do we do it?

First as a way to share the love of Jesus Christ, but also as a way to give back to the community and teach our people to live by the principle, "It is better to give than to receive."

This event is rain or shine, but in order for it to have much success, we need decent weather. For the last couple of years, the forecast has not been in our favor. Even as late as the morning of the event, I found myself praying quite a bit, asking for that favor, acknowledging that the Lord has the power to do what he pleases to do.

My prayer this year went something like this, "Lord there is nothing you can’t do. You parted the Red Sea, and what I am asking is so small compared to that miracle. So if you will help us again, even though they are calling for rain throughout our event, I will make sure you get the credit and praise."

It did rain early in the morning, which didn’t effect our event, but the sun even came out and the rain went around us, and we had perfect weather.

So, here I am praising the Lord publicly for his faithfulness.

You may ask, what if it had rained out the event? Would that mean that God was unfaithful?

The answer is an emphatic "no." Proverbs 3:5 instructs us to "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding."

Even in my prayers, I had to trust that if it had rained, then the Lord had a deeper purpose that may be beyond my understanding at the time. This is total trust in God’s faithfulness.

So in life we should and do ask for God’s favor, but at the same time we acknowledge that we do not always know his perfect will. So we are willing to accept what he allows to come our way.