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 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 the Sunday service 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,
Pastor, 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, anointed him with oil, 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, Pastor. In fact,
it was beyond strange -- kinda weird. Apparently, just before Daddy died,
he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed."