 The Prayer 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, I wasn't; who are you?" said the father.
"I'm the new minister at your church," he
replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you
knew I was coming to visit."
"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man.
"Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the
minister closed the door.
"I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,"
said the old 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."
The old man continued, "I abandoned any attempt at
prayer until one day, about four years ago, my best
friend said to me, '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 sitting in the chair. It's not
weird or anything 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.'"
The father continued, "So I tried it. 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
to off to the funny-farm."
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged
the old man to continue on the journey. He anointed him
with oil and prayed with him. Then he left.
Two nights later, the daughter called to tell the
minister that her father had passed away that afternoon.
"Did he die in peace?" he asked.
"Yes. When I was leaving for the store, he called me
over to his bedside, told me that he loved me, and kissed
me on the cheek. When I returned an hour later, he was
dead." She continued, "But there was something
strange about his death. Apparently, just before Dad died,
he leaned over and rested his head on the chair next to
his bed. What do you make of that?"
The minister, wiping a tear from his eye, said, "I
wish we all could go like that."
Author
Unknown
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