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 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."

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.