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TITLE: He Touches Us | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dorothy Purge
10/21/05
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He Touches Us.

Four year old Tommy lived with his mother and two older brothers Ken and Ricky Gooden in a small village in rural Jamaica. Tommy was born as one ‘less able to see’ and enjoyed outdoors with his older brothers.

Mrs. Gooden was particularly proud of Tommy especially the way he did every-day things - in a timely and fairly accurate manner, in some instances just as good as her sighted children. Tommy played “All Things Bright & Beautiful”, “Now the Day is Over” and several other gospel songs by air on the piano. He could also lace his shoes and put jig-zaw puzzles together in record-breaking times. He even listened to the sound of the kettle while his mother filled it with water each morning and was able to tell her exactly when it was full.

Mrs. Gooden had been observing young Tommy carefully as he grew and realized that he had an unusual fear: He was afraid of rain. Whenever he was outdoors and there was a threat of rain, he would immediately run indoors. Mrs. Gooden, had tried unsuccessfully, various ways of getting Tommy to overcome that fear.

One fine day, or so it appeared to be, the children were playing in the yard, then suddenly there was a roar of thunder followed by a light drizzle. No doubt, soon there would have been a heavy down pour. Knowing of Tommy’s fear of the rain, Ricky quickly held his hand and they ran towards the house. Terrified, Tommy ran as if he was running for his life, his heart throbbing. They made their way from the gate to the veranda and into the small sitting room. The thunder continued and Tommy scampered under the dining table where mother kept the ripe tomatoes for sale. Tommy stumbled and fell in the basket full of ripe tomatoes.

“Help !, help! cried Tommy, “Help ! I am killed! I am killed”!
Tommy was not killed, but a good many of his mother’s tomatoes were.

“Hush, hush my baby”, said Mrs. Gooden as she picked Tommy up from among the squashed tomatoes and cuddled him gently. She held him in her arms as they sat in the old rocking chair.
“Why sweetheart, are you so afraid of the rain”? asked Mrs. Gooden
“I don’t know”, Tommy whimpered. I don’t like it mama”.
“What’s the rain really like mama”? Tommy asked curiously. He, being less able to see, liked to know everything.
“It’s not very easy to explain Tommy, but I will try”. Let’s go to the window. By then the rain was drizzling heavier.
“Now Tommy, said mama, you’ve got to trust me, o.k.”?
“O.k. mama”, said Tommy.
“I am going to put my hands outside, through the window, and you are to do the same.
“You mean like we are playing ‘Simon Says’ “ ? asked Tommy
“That’s right”, said mama. “Simon says “Put your hands outside of the window so you can feel the raindrops”.
“Do we have to put our hands up in the air to touch the raindrops “? asked Tommy.
“No sweetheart, just keep your hands still and the raindrops will come down and touch your hands.
“You see Tommy, the raindrops are like dear Jesus. We do not have to stretch our hands up to touch Him. He comes down and He touches us”.
“But sometimes the drops sound odd mama, they don’t all sound the same”. What do they look like mama”?
“You are right”, said mama. Sometimes there are tiny drops - very gentle, sometimes there are bigger drops and sometimes the drops are so big they cannot be separated. It’s really like Jesus giving us blessings: Sometimes the blessings are small other times they are bigger, and some are great, big blessings.

“This drop feels like happiness”, said Tommy as a raindrop fell on his hand.
“And this one feels like peacefulness”, said mama.
“What shall we call the next one”? asked Tommy? enthusiastically.
“Let’s see”, said mama hesitantly , “Let’s call it wisdom”.
“This one is laughter”! said Tommy, and they both began laughing as the rain began pouring.

“Oh I understand and believe everything that you say mama”, said Tommy. “From now on I am not going to be afraid of the rain. I’ll listen carefully to the drops and I’ll even let some drops fall on me, just as they are falling now”.

From then on, just as Tommy had promised, he was never afraid of rain.

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