A man's daughter had asked

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 yea, 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 am 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.''