Bill And Mary

BILL AND MARY

Bill was a retired pastor who helped out now and then in our church in San Antonio. He was a huge man, the image of what you think of as a lean tall Texan, and he was man with a huge heart. Everyone talked about Bill and what a wonderful pastor he was. Bill died a couple of months before I started working at the church so I only got to know his wife Mary. I heard so many things about Bill, what a generous man he was, how funny he was, how gentle he was – but I never heard much about Mary.

But it soon came to my attention that Mary seemed to be everywhere. I would visit folks in the hospital and whoever I was visiting would inevitably say, “Oh, Mary says hello, she was just here a few minutes ago.” It was amazing. Even if I received a call on my cell phone and drove directly to the ER – almost without fail, Mary had already been there. It got to the point where I would speed and take short cuts to see if I could get to the hospital first. One day to my surprise I arrived ten minutes ahead of Mary. Victory!

So I asked around and found out that Mary and her visiting was not new, Mary had always been quietly visiting people. I figured she had started this visiting after her husband Bill died, but no, she had always visited people – she even arrived at to the hospital before her pastor husband when he was alive.

What was Mary doing in all of these visits? Mary just didn’t say hello to those she visited, she spent most of the time praying…and she was quietly praying for those who would come next – she was preparing the way for the pastors, praying that their visit would be effective and that those in the hospital room would be open to the Holy Spirit.