The Empty Chair

< 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 bedridden
< 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, when I
< left the house about two o'clock, he called me
< over to his bedside, 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."
<
< Just send this to four people and do not break this,
< please. Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.
< There is no cost but a lot of rewards.
< =====
< "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be
< worth it"
< ---- God
<
<
<
<

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