Monday, April 12, 2010

Jesus, Pull Up A Chair...

I have read this following story over and over.  I have heard it told in sermons many times.  And honestly, it still gets me.  Oh how I pray that I can rest in Jesus like this:

"I read recently about a man who had breathed the summer air.  His trips up the trail began early in his life and sustained him to the end.  A few days before he died, a priest went to visit him in the hospital.  As the priest entered the room, he noticed an empty chair beside the man's bed.  The priest asked him if someone had been by to visit.  The old man smiled, 'I place Jesus on that chair, and I talk to him.'

"The priest was puzzled, so the man explained.  'Years ago a friend told me that prayer was as simple as talking to a good friend.  So every day I pull up a chair, invite Jesus to sit, and we have a good talk.'

"Some days later, the daughter of this man came to the parish house to inform the priest that her father had just died.  'Because he seemed so content,' she said, 'I left him in his room alone for a couple of hours.  When I got back to the room, I found him dead.  I noticed a strange thing, though: His head was resting, not on a pillow, but on an empty chair that was beside his bed.'"

— Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven

No comments:

Post a Comment