WE LIVE BY FAITH

A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with herfather. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with hishead 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. "Iguess you were expecting me," he said. "No, who are you?" said the father."I'm the new minister at your church," he replied. "When I saw the emptychair, 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 mydaughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how topray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it wentright over my head." "I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old mancontinued, "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. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in frontof you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because hepromised, "I'll be with you always." Then just speak to him in the same wayyou'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 orsend me off to the funny farm."

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man tocontinue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, andreturned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell theminister 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 meon the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found himdead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, justbefore Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair besidethe bed. What do you make of that?" The minister wiped a tear from his eyeand said, "I wish we could all go like that."

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7