I’m posting a chapter a week of my newest book!
Chapter 2
Rosa and the Christ Statue
“If you’ll heal my little boy, I’ll make an offering to you every week for a year.” Rosa Franco prayed with her eyes open, with her face up. She prayed to the huge bronze statue that stood outside of Ocaña, almost hovering over the whole town.
It was 1948, and the Christ statue, El Cristo Rey, had stood there for thirteen years. It stood as tall as three men, on top of a pedestal twice that high. With its huge stone arms outstretched, it looked as if it could do anything.
“I’ll keep this vow!” Rosa cried to the statue. “Every week I’ll bring you an offering, even if it means I go hungry! Just heal my little boy!”
Rosa trudged back down from the statue to Ocaña with a heavy heart. Little Santander, her son, had only recently started to walk. She had seen at birth that one of his feet was twisted, but now she could see how that twisted foot affected him. Even though he was almost two, he hobbled, turning his foot to one side and walking on his ankle. Bruises and sores covered the area where he tried to walk.
“I have faith,” Rosa muttered as she trudged. “I have faith in El Cristo Rey. Surely if I give a good offering, he will hear my prayer.” Women in the village who were older and wiser than she had assured her that if she made a vow and kept it, then . . . well . . . maybe . . . El Cristo Rey would heal her son.
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This chapter was posted for about a week and then removed. To read the whole thing, you can purchase Lights in a Dark Place: True Stories of God at Work in Colombia when it’s published in the fall of 2014.
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