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"