A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.



We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing as carefree as a child 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 were all caught in ' Mom let's run through the rain,' she said.

'What?' Mom asked.

'Lets run through the rain!' She repeated.

'No,honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: ' Mom , let's run through 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 young girl 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 re member? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'

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

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

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

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...

So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday... To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven..

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

Next time it rains I'm going to do just that, run through it!

Thank you Nick for sharing such a wonderful and inspiring story with us.  That's all it takes sometimes is a child to open our eyes.

Thanks for the memory, Nick.

I couldn't help thinking of the last time I remember running through the rain - it was my mother's 90th birthday and my sister and I had gone to a large supermarket just like the one you mentioned to get things for the party that afternoon. When we were ready to leave, a big bolt of lightening struck and out of nowhere came this driving rain. My sister said something about a monsoon, then we looked at eachother and just grabbed the shopping carts and ran through the parking lot to her car, laughing all the way.

We also got soaked and driving to Joan's house discussed how we were going to set up a pinata inside the house and what to do if we couldn't use the barbeque, but by the time we got home the sun had come back out and the party was held outside after all.

Yup, I guess we had to get everything washed up before the big event.

Great pictures, by the way.

Judy