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Screen~
~God's Chair~
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 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 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 think I was crazy."
The pastor
was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the man 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 he had passed away. 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~
"Give Thanks With A Grateful
Heart"