THE EMPTY CHAIR

A man's daughter had asked the local minister to

come and pray with her father. When the minister

arrived, he found the man lying in bed with
his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair

sat beside his bed.

The minister assumed that the old fellow had been

 informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting

me," he said. "No, who are you?" said the
father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked,

"I see the empty chair I figured you knew I was going

to show up." "Oh yeah, the chair," said
the bed ridden man.

"Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the

minister shut the door. "I have 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 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, 'Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter

of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest." "Sit down in 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 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 minister was deeply moved by the story and

encouraged the old man 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

 minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

 "Did  he die in peace?" he asked. "Yes, and when
I left the house about two o' clock, he called me

over to his bedside and told me he loved me

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 about his death. Apparently,

just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested

his head on the chair beside the
bed. What do you make of that?"

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said,

"I wish we could all go
like that."

Author Unknown

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