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 priest 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--kinda weird. Apparently, just before Daddy
died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed."
