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A man's daughter had asked the local
minister to come and pray with her father.
When the minister arrived, he found the man
lying in bed with his head propped up on two
pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed.
The minister assumed that the old fellow had
been informed of his visit. "I guess you
were expecting me, he said.
'No, who are you?" said the father.
The minister told him his name and then
remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I
figured you knew I was going to show up,"
"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden
man. "Would you mind closing the door?"
Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
"I have never told anyone this, not even my
daughter," said the man. "But all of my life
I have never known how to pray. At church I
used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,
but it went right over my head." I abandoned
any attempt at prayer," the old man
continued, "until one day four years ago, my
best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is
just a simple matter of having a
conversation with Jesus.
Here is what I suggest." "Sit down in a
chair; place an empty chair in front of you,
and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's
not spooky because he promised, 'I will be
with you always'. "Then just speak to him in
the same way you're doing with me right
now."
"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much
that I do it a couple of hours every day.
I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me
talking to an empty chair, she'd either have
a nervous breakdown or send me off to the
funny farm."
The minister was deeply moved by the story
and encouraged the old man to continue on
the journey. Then he prayed with him,
anointed him with oil, and returned to the
church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell
the minister that her daddy had died that
afternoon.
Did he die in peace?" he asked.
Yes, when I left the house about two
o'clock, he called me over to his bedside,
told me he loved me and kissed me on the
cheek. When I got back from the store an
hour later, I found him dead. But there was
something strange about his death.
Apparently, just before Daddy died, he
leaned over and rested his head on the chair
beside the bed. What do you make of that?"
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and
said,
"I wish we could all go like that." |
