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 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.
"I'm the new minister at your church," he replied.
"When I saw the empty chair, 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 said, "until one day
about four years ago my best friend said to
me, 'Joe, 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'll 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 dad 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 Dad 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." We live by faith,
not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7
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