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. He 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 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~
"Welcome Home"
Art by Danny Hahlbohm
Email
View
My Guestworld guestbook is full, but you may
sign my Bravenet Guestbook. Thank you!
Sign
View
Home
SITE MENU
This page and others on this site can
be translated here.
This website has been optimized for 800 x 600
monitor
resolution and for 16 bit or better color.
This Website was Born May 23, 2000
This site is maintained
and copyrighted © by
B. Barnes 2000-2001
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page
