THE VOICE WITHIN

A woman once asked the minister of her church to come and pray with her old and ailing father. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on pillows. There was an empty chair beside his bed.

“I see you were expecting me,” he said. “No, who are you?” asked the father. “I’m the new minister at your church. When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up,” he replied.

“Oh, the chair,” said the bedridden man, “Would you mind closing the door?”

A trifle mystified, the minister shut the door. “I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” the old man began, “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 all went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer.”

After a pause, he continued, “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 on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on it. Trust me, it’s neither silly nor spooky! Hadn’t He promised, “I’ll be with you always”? So, just go ahead and speak to Him 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 have a nervous breakdown, or worse, send me off to the loony bin,” smiled the old man.

Deeply moved, the minister encouraged the old man to continue with his ‘prayers’. He then prayed with him, anointed him with oil and returned to the church. Two nights later, the woman called to tell the minister that her father had died that afternoon.

“Did he pass away in peace?”

“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, he was gone.”

With a wondering tone in her voice, the woman continued, “But there was something odd. I have been told that just before father died, he leaned over the bed and rested his head on the chair beside. What do you make of that?”

Wiping a tear from his eye, the minister sighed, “I wish we could all go like that.”

— the harbinger