Donald's Chair For An Unseen Visitor
Story★★★★★F. W. Boreham tells of a Scotsman who, being very ill, was visited by his minister. As the latter sat down he noticed a chair drawn close to the bed as if some one had recently been sitting there.
The minister, by way of introduction, said: “Well, Donald, I see I am not your first visitor today.” The Scotsman looked surprised, and the minister indicated the chair. “Ah,” said Donald, “I’ll tell you about that chair. Years ago I found it impossible to pray.
Often I fell asleep on my knees I was so tired, if I was awake my thoughts wandered, so I spoke to my minister of those days and he told me not to worry, but just to sit down and place a chair opposite, and imagine Jesus sitting there and talk to him as I would talk to a friend. I have been doing that ever since, so now you know the meaning of that chair.” Some days later the daughter of the invalid visited the minister.
Amid tears she intimated that her father had passed on. She said: “I did not think the end was so near. He was sleeping quite comfortably and I went to lie down. When I returned he was dead.
He had not moved except that his hand was stretched out resting in the empty chair by his bed. I think you will understand.”
The point
F.W. Boreham's moving story of an elderly Scotsman who, unable to pray conventionally, imagines Jesus sitting in an empty chair and converses with Him daily for years. When he dies, his hand is stretched out resting on that chair. A tender, profound illustration of prayer and intimacy with Christ.