A man's daughter asked the local priest to come and pray with her father.
When the priest arrived he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows and there was an empty chair beside the bed.
The priest assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. " I guess you were expecting me" he said.
"No, who are you ? asked the old man.
"I'm the new priest at your local church" the priest replied.
"When I saw the empty chair by your bed I assumed that you knew I was coming"
"Oh yeah, the chair" said the old man "Would you mind closing the door"
Puzzled, the priest shut the door.
"I've never told anyone this before, not even my daughter, but all my life I have never known how to pray" said the old man.
"In church I used to hear the priest talk about prayer but it always went right over my head"
"I abandoned any attempt at prayer 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 is what I suggest" continued my friend
"Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on that chair. It's not spooky because he promised to be with us always.
Then just speak to him and listen in the same way you are doing right now to me"
"So, said the old man, 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 would either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm"
The priest was deeply moved by the story the sick old man had told him and encouraged him to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him and returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell the priest that her father had died that afternoon.
"Did he seem at peace ? he asked her.
"Yes" replied the daughter, before 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 shopping an hour later I found he had died..
But there was something very strange, in fact beyond strange, really weird actually.
Apparently just before daddy died he must have leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside his bed"
--author unknown
