A man's daughter 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. Beside the bed, sat an empty chair. The minister, assuming that the old fellow had been informed of his visit, said "I guess you were expecting me." "No, who are you?" said the father. "I'm the new minister at your church," he replied. "When I saw 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 this to anyone, 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, '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 front of you, and in faith, see Jesus in 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 speaking to 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 his 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?" the minister 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. An hour later, when I got back from the store, 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."

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." {2 Corinthians 5:7}