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."
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