What I learned this Easter
There’s been a lot of things in my life that I’ve been convicted of lately.
I guess I can share a little bit about what God did through me and what He taught me during this past Easter. So I’m currently on COAH, which is Campus On a Hill, a networking organization for the Christian fellowships on campus. I don’t play a big role, and sometimes I barely play a role at all actually. But I helped out with what went on at Easter this year. Last year we had a canopy out on the arts quad right next to olin library. It was cool, we set up tables and chairs and there was a cross in the middle of it. People would sign up to pray there all through the Easter weekend from Friday to Sunday. It was nice, but I felt that it was still covered up to the Cornell community. I felt that this year it would be great if we could do away with the canopy and just have a cross and just pray 3 days straight, out in the open. That meant of course that I was imagining that there would be good weather for three straight days in Ithaca.
So that’s what I suggested to our planning team and people got pretty excited about it. We tried to be wise and put in a tent permit for it just in case. As the days got closer to the event, the weather forecast did not look so good. Everyday seemed like it was going to pour on us. I, in my stubbornness, really wanted to still do away with the tent. But of course, God’s like, “who do you think you are? are you the maker of the earth? do you control the heavens and the clouds and all of creation with your fingers? no, you don’t.” So we ended up getting the tent and setting it up. But this year, instead of just a canopy, where people who passed by could still see inside to what we’re doing, we got a tent, with sides, and wrapped us up like a prison so no one could really perceive what we were doing. I must admit that every single time I went to the prayer tent during the day, I just wanted to rip down the walls because I was so frustrated at it. I wished that people would truly be able to know what we were doing, and to be able to start conversations with passerbys who were curious. But no, that didn’t happen at all, barely anyone stopped by during the day unless we bugged people haha. I think that to a great degree I was harboring a desire of pride and wanting people to just know and acknowledge what we were doing and not really the God whom we were serving.
I spent two nights there and I must say that I was glad that we had the tent, with sides and all, cuz the weather those two nights were crazyyyyy. The rain and wind were pounding down on us like crazy. It was ridiculously cold too, and the wind was pounding against the sides of the tent like monsters fighting to get in. God’s like, “You want good weather? BAM, here’s a rain storm for you. Remember who’s in charge.”
Then the morning of Easter came. Those of us in the tent that night spent a lot of time praying not only for the event and the people coming out but also that the weather would just be beautiful so that people would be able to come out. I stayed in the tent that night and around 7-8am, I went out and the weather was beautiful! The sun was shining on us, the grass was drying up from the rain, the clouds were moving away on campus. I was really happy and just throwing up my hands and giving God the praise on the arts quad. But then around 9am, the clouds came back in full force and it started drizzling. I started to feel down and started praying that God would stay His hand on this day, or even for the two hours that we would be having our service. My praise of God became dependent on whether or not the weather was good. God was not good in the good and the bad to me on that day. I wanted to much for the event to go well that I forgot that the entire day was supposed to be dedicated to the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the grave, rain or shine.
So I kept praying up until the start of the Easter service that we prepared on the arts quad. The team continued to set up and just put faith in God that the rain would stop. But it didn’t. but you know what? 500 plus people showed up that day! It was truly a beautiful sight. People came in droves with their umbrellas! Even though the rain kept coming, people were still willing to sit down in the seats that we quickly wiped. The service continued as planned, rain and all. I’ve got to say, I don’t remember much of what was said or sung that day, but it was one of the best services I’ve ever went to. People came out in the rain to here about the gospel and celebrate with us the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
I was praying for no rain on Easter morning, but God’s like, “Dude, you kidding me? this is Ithaca, I made the weather here crazy. I’m sure you know that by now. Trust me that I am sovereign over all.” I honestly wasn’t doing that and God showed me first up that He truly was sovereign over all. Even with the rain, the Holy Spirit moved in the hearts of people all over campus to come out to the Easter service on the arts quad.
Another thing that I worked on for this event was the follow up. We made these contact cards and printed up like 500 of them. All of them got so wet to the point that we couldn’t really collect them. I thought of this amazing way to just collect information in this organized way and follow up with them but I guess God had other plans. God wanted me to trust that He had every single little thing in control. He was in control of the weather, of the people coming out, and especially the follow up. It’s nothing that we do, but all that God does.
Later throughout the week, people would just come up to me and tell me about how amazing the Easter Service was, especially with the rain. They would also tell me about how their friends came out and how they got to have amazing conversations with them afterwards. God’s got everything in control.
It’s true. Our Lord is sovereign over all. Let’s live like it and entrust every single part of our lives to Him. He’s got this.
