While we were in evening bible study, the nursery worker answered the church phone and brought in a message that a dear saint of the church, Mary Phillips had had a heart attack and bad fall. After Bible study, I headed out. I walked over because I knew Jessie had some work to do before we'd leave. Carol Pierce graciously drove me over.


What I found when I visited Mary is worth telling. First, she was not in the ER where I was expecting her to be. When I came into her room, she was looking pretty good. She was happy to see me-- it's funny. I have been wanting to see her for a while, but have not had the chance.

Why I wanted to visit her was that I had heard that she has a ministry of passing out tracts at Cracker Barrel and a few of the staff have found salvation in Christ because of the ministry. Wow! Can you believe it! I keep hearing you shouldn't do evangelism like that! It doesn' work! Tracts are... what? Cheesy? Inelegant? Simplistic? Go ahead, keep it coming! We will just keep handing out tracts and witnessing to the love of God in Jesus Christ.

So as I was sitting with her, asking her what was wrong, she said she had a heart attack that caused her to fall and break her hip. But the break is probably not so serious as to need surgery and they are just going to monitor her heart. We had a wonderful time praising the Lord.

We read sections of Psalms-- 23, 24, 25, 27, 34, 62, 63 and Matthew 11:28-30. We spent some time in prayer.

Some things to reflect on. Mary started handing out tracts because she wondered what she could still do for the Lord then she selects the tract from a variety she carries with her. How simple this would be! Just carry some tracts, Billy Graham's Peace With God is a good one. Give it to a server, a cashier, a co-worker...

Mary mentioned someone who is a “prayer warrior” who wins many to Christ, and I was reminded of how often that is true. I am thinking of Ada Sweeney, such a force in the old Epworth church, her constant praying and prayer meetings, and how many people were “wonderfully saved” in her living room.

So... pray that people would be saved. Pray for them. Pray with them. And have a tract ready that they can take home and think about.