God’s Chair
By Author Unknown
, A man’s daughter had
asked the local pastor
to come and pray with
her father. When the
pastor arrived, he found
the man lying in bed
with his head propped up
on two pillows and an
empty chair beside
his bed. The pastor
assumed that the old
fellow had been informed
of his visit.
“I guess you were
expecting me,” he said.
“No, who are you?”
“I’m the new associate
at your local church,”
the pastor 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 pastor shut
the door.
“I’ve 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 always 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’s what I suggest:
Sit down on
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 a
nervous breakdown or
send me to off to the
funny farm.”
The pastor was deeply
moved by the story and
encouraged the old
guy to continue on the
journey. Then he prayed
with him, and
returned to the church.
Two nights later the
daughter called to tell
the pastor that her
daddy had died that
afternoon.
“Did he seem to die in
peace?” he asked.
“Yes, when I left the
house around two
o’clock, he called me
over
to his bedside, told me
one of his corny jokes,
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, in
fact, beyond
strange-really weird.
Apparently, just before
Daddy died, he
leaned over and rested
his head on a chair
beside the bed.”
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