THE CHAIR

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 pastor at your 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
the Sunday service 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, pastor, 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, anointed him with oil, and
returned to his office.

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, pastor. In fact, beyond strange - kinda weird. Apparently,
just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed."