Daddy's 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 saw the empty chair and 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
will 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."