Raining Faith

Raining Faith..........

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom. She must have been 6years old, this little round-faced, pig-tailed image of innocence. Itwas pouring outside, the kind of rain that gushes over the tops of therain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth that it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning, justoutside the door of the shop.

We waited - some patiently, others irritated because nature had messedup their hurried day. I was mesmerized by the thunderous shower. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt anddust of the world. As I breathed in the sweet smell of freshly soakedearth, memories of running as a child, splashing through puddles socarefree and delighted, came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we wereall caught in, "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.

What?" Mom asked.
"Let's run through the rain!" she repeated.
"No honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.

The child waited about another minute and repeated, "Mom, let's runthrough the rain."
"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the younggirl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer,you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us throughanything!'"

The entire crowd stopped dead. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one moved, no one came or left inthe next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now somewould have laughed it off and scolded the little girl for being silly. Some might even have ignored what was said. But this was a moment ofaffirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can benurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

Mom made up her mind. "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God lets us get wet, well ,maybe we just needwashing."

Then off they ran. We all stood watching as they darted smiling andlaughing past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case but they got soakedanyway. A few of the people around me followed them, hesitating atfirst, but soon screaming and laughing like children all the way totheir cars.

And yes, I ran too. I got wet. I needed washing.

I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions. Theycan take away your money and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories.Don't forget to maketime and take opportunities to make memories everyday. To everythingthere is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forgetthem.