FOODFORTHOUGHT

THE PRAYER CHAIR
Author Unknown
February 13, 2011

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.

"I'm the new minister at your church," he 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 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. 'Joe, 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 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 minister 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 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 check. 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 all could
go like that."

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight)

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