Emmanuel Dickson | + Follow Poet |
Prose | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

The Prayer Chair

Emmanuel Abiodun Dickson
The Prayer Chair:
“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end
be like his!” - Numbers 23:10
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.
“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
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,” 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 on the
chair. It’s not spooky because He promised, “I’ll be
with you always.” Then just speak to him and listen in
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
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 guy to continue on the 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?” 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 me on the check. When I got back from
the store an hour later, 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 all could go like that.”

Copyright © Emmanuel Dickson | Year Posted 2016

Please Login to post a comment