>    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 about 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."
>
>  Just  send this to four people and do not  break this,
>   please. Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.
>   There is no cost but a lot of rewards.
>            =====
>  "I never said it would be easy,  I only said it would be
>   worth it"
>   ---- God
>
>
>
>


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