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A man's daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray
with her father.
When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his
head propped up on two pillows and an empty chair beside his
bed. The pastor assumed that the old fellow had been informed
of his visit.
"I guess you were expecting me," he said.
"No, who are you?"
"I'm the new associate at your local church," the pastor 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 pastor shut the door.
"I've 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
always went right over my head."
"I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued,
"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's what I suggest: Sit down on 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 and listen 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 to off to the funny farm."
The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the
old
guy to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him,
and returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her
daddy had died that afternoon.
"Did he seem to die in peace?" he asked.
"Yes, when I left the house around two o'clock, he called me
over to his bedside, told me one of his corny jokes, 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, in fact,
beyond strange--really weird. Apparently, just before Daddy
died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the
bed."
~author unknown~
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