4 Ways to Star Soaking in Life (#3 Daddy’s Empty Chair)
I read a great story on Allworship.com today that went like this.
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 saw the empty chair and 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 until one day four years ago, my friend told me that prayer was just like having a conversation with Jesus.
“He told me to sit down and place an empty chair in front of you. In faith, see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky because He promised; ‘I will be with you always’. Then just speak to Him.
“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 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, at 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 he had passed away. 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.”
I love this story about conversational prayer. The old man in the story completely trusted in God’s individual love for him. Each of us has the same opportunity to talk to Jesus every day. Our schedules are probably much busier than the old man’s but there is no reason we couldn’t converse with Him while we’re driving, while we’re home alone doing chores, or before bed each night.
When doing conversational prayer, I’ve found that it is helpful to talk out loud when possible and imagine that Jesus is sitting by you as any friend would when you’re talking with them. You will probably feel silly doing this at first, but trust me, it will help bring home the reality that Jesus is right there in the room with you while you are praying.
As I said in a previous post, most of us who struggle with prayer have the same problem. We find it impossible to believe that this God who made us along with billions of other people wants to have a deep, personal, and unique relationship with each one of us. We cannot imagine that God is truly present each time we pray. He wants to listen to You more than your closest friend. He wants you to bring Him all of your problems and worries. He wants to celebrate the good times with you and help you through the bad. He is there waiting patiently to love you as only He can. He is hoping to connect with you every day and will help you stay focused on what’s important in life. That is why I chose to write about daily, conversational prayer as the third way to start soaking up life.
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