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Topics: Prayer, Communication
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 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.
Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a
chair beside the bed."
Unknown
(Inspirational submitted by: Jessica Smith)