Wet night, rich worship

Well, as a follow-up to my last post, Celebrate America got rained out last night, so we had to move it indoors. I know that God's ways are higher and better than ours, but it is SO beyond me how it cannot rain for WEEKS, then the one time you plan something big outside, there it is! Last night was no exception to this rule.

We were supposed to be at the courthouse on risers at 5:30 for a soundcheck. My understanding is that some company who does outside concerts was handling the sound and everything that goes along with that. We just barely got started with that and it started rumbling thunder, then a few little blinks of lightening. The thunder was okay, but the lightening made everyone a little skittish and we were all ready to head inside. We no more than got across the street to The Cafe where we'd left our sack dinners and it started pouring rain. I mean it was coming down in sheets...SHEETS.....so much so that at several points, there was no visibility to even see outside. After a while, they did a little 'raise your hand thing' to see if we moved it to tonight how many people could have been there. It looked like a good number to me, but about 6:30, the decision was made for us to move it all indoors. As much work as I know it was for such a last minute change of plans, it went off like clockwork. I was somewhat disappointed as were a few friends I was sitting with, but in true 'God' fashion, it wound up being one of our best programs ever...and this year was the 20th year we've done this program! Our Worship Center was absolutely packed, front to back, wall to wall, main floor and balcony. Absolutely amazing.

There was a bluegrass band that played for about 30 minutes. They were absolutely fabulous, talented and so incredibly funny. A true crowd pleaser. After that, our orchestra played two or three songs, then we joined them for the remainder of the program. We had the pledges to the flags, the Bible, and the presentation of the flags for the different branches of the service, the Memorial Flag, lots of patriotic songs, etc. Below are a few pics that Gina took from the balcony. Some are blurry, but I'll post the best ones.

Fireworks were planned to close the program. The company that was doing them is the one that does them for the Braves, Atlanta's baseball team. They are evidently used to all sorts of weather and wanted to do them anyway, so they did! Fireworks were a first for our program and they set them off from the roof of the Worship Center! They were very good, even in the drizzly rain. The good thing is that all the rain set to rest any worries about fallout catching anything on fire.

Rick, our Minister of Music, said it best....'God must have felt that Jonesboro needed a good rain more than we needed an outdoor concert.' It's just cool that the rain and a last minute change of plans couldn't dampen the spirit of about 2000 people ready to show their thanks to God and patriotism for our country. It was a fabulous night after all. We are lucky indeed.