A man's daughter had asked the local
pastor to come and pray with her
father. "I guess
you were expecting me," he said.
Puzzled, the pastor shut the door.
"So, I tried it and I've liked it so
much that I do it a couple of hours
every day.
The pastor was deeply moved by the story
and encouraged the old guy to continue
on the journey.
Two nights later the daughter called to
tell the pastor that her daddy had
died that afternoon.
"When I got back from the store an hour
later, I found him dead.
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.
"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?"
"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."
I'm careful, though.
If my daughter saw me talking to an
empty
chair, she'd either have a nervous break
down or send me to off to the funny
farm."
Then he prayed with
him, and returned to the church.
"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."
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."