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 bed
 ridden 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, and when I left the house about
 two o' clock, he called me over to
 his bedside and 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."

Prayer is one of the best free gifts
we receive. There is no cost but a
 lot of rewards.

 Just remember, the chair is never
 really "empty".

No matter where we
are, what we do, how we act, what we
 say, who we are with -

He is always with us.