Rain In The Desert

As Tom* entered the village deep in the Sub-Sahara desert the reality of his surroundings caused his heart to beat faster. The eyes of the Kagoro people watched as his team's bus arrived and the village children greeted them with, "Tubabu! Tubabu!" (which means white person in their native tongue).  According to tribal customs he led the team to greet the elders of the village who then led them to the Chief. After the normal exchange of greetings, he discovered the extreme hardship that this village currently faced. 

Drought. 

For months it had not rained, and now in the middle of March still three months away from their rainy season the people had little hope of a refreshing rain anytime soon.  The anguish relayed in the conversations he had with the Chief about the drought spoke of a life seeped in folk Islam and Animism. Here was a village full of people who had no hope. 

"How can we pray for you and your village?" he asked the Chief. 

The Chief replied, "We know that you are followers of Jesus. We would also choose to follow Him if He could make it rain."

Struggling not with the question of could God make it rain, Tom stepped back spent time in prayer and asked the question, "Will God make it rain?" Amazingly enough earlier that morning as he was reading Scripture a verse in Psalms jumped out of his page, "May He come down like rain upon mown grass, like showers that water the Earth." 

Notes in his Bible found at Psalms 72:6 

With little faith, he and his team were in agreement that they would pray together and leave the results to God. They were challenged in a new way, would God send rain among the Kagoro? 

"God make it rain, please." 

Continuing on their travel to another unreached people group, Tom and his team traveled eight more hours to a remote village deeper in the Sub-Sahara to set up camp and sleep for the night. As he laid down to sleep he mentioned to his team, "I smell rain in the air," and it was the truth! He immediately began to wonder if it was just him wanting to believe or if God truly was sending rain. 

As he fell asleep Tom was awaken to the drops of rain, and not just a few drops but a full-on downpour. For fifteen minutes it rained, then stopped, then continued on for another fifteen minutes. 

God sent rain! Had the Kagoro, who were eight hours away, witnessed this miracle?

A year would pass before he was able to return to that Kagoro village. He spent the entire year praying for that village Chief, wondering if he remembered the miracle of rain and his promise to follow Jesus as a result. During that year in his own Bible study Tom came across Jeremiah 14:22, "Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O Lord our God? Therefore we hope in you, for You are the One who has done all these things." It was this verse that he shared with the Chief when he returned a year later. 

"Do you remember what you said to us on that day a year ago?" he asked the Chief. 

"Yes, I do," the Chief replied. 

"Did you witness the rain that day?" he continued to ask. 

"Yes, we did," the Chief again replied. 

An open door was created and before the team left that day new believers came to Christ and the village now has Christ followers among them for the first time. 

Just like rain brings life to dry ground, God's rain brought eternal life to those without hope among the Kagoro people! 

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*Name changed to maintain security and protection of our School to the Nations team member