Clyde Compton: Miracle in the Desert

Sitting along the Pacific Ocean coast in southern Mexico 200 miles from nowhere sits the small village of Cordova.

Cordova has been here forever and surrounded by a terrain of vastly sparse vegetation. Because the area received very little moisture year round, Cordova’s very life depended on preserving every drop of moisture to help grow the small amount of crops that preserve their very existence, along with the catch from the ocean everyday. Lifestyle in the community has remained the same from generation to generation but because of its remote location and the eternal hardship, life expectancy was extremely low.

Victor was a normal 8-year-old boy who did not yet realize how hard living in Cordova was going to be in the future. Being 8 sometimes has its advantages -- like not knowing that you are living day-to-day or that your parents prayers every night included that everyone would see the dawn of day.

Victor thought it was strange that some of the children he was used to playing with sometimes did not show up on the town plaza and all his parents would say was they probably were visiting someone. After a while, Victor started to entertain himself by wandering the area looking for adventure as most 8 years old do. One day, walking around looking under every rock Victor felt a sharp pain in his hand and instinctively knew something was wrong and ran home to tell his parents.

"Scorpion's sting," the town’s only medicine lady explained to Victor’s parents as his temperature soared. There is nothing we can do because trying to get him to the closest city will be far too late and all we can do is pray. 

On the sixth day after the sting, Victor was quickly going downhill when the town’s religious leader came to Victor’s bedside and asked him if he had a last wish. Victor, in a shallow voice, said "I would like to have all the children and myself see it snow."

The religious leader smiled and patted Victor’s hand but knew that his wish was impossible.

But just as the rooster announced the dawn of the seventh day, Victor’s parents rushed to his bedside. They carried him outside and it was snowing. Looking around, all the children rushed outside to see the phenomenon as the snowflakes melted on their eager faces.

Soon after the snow ended, Victor went into a deep sleep and his parents carried him inside to wait for the inevitable. Victor suddenly saw a figure standing in front of him, which then leaned down and whispered into his ear.

"Victor what you witnessed was not only snow but tears of God for your unselfish wish," the figure said. "And for that, not only are you cured but also every child that the snowflakes touched."

Some people after all these decades say that this story was just made up but I know better. That's because my name is Victor.