Good news-bad news jokes are somewhat passé. Even so there is one that makes a good point to introduce the sermon this morning. There were two fellows who lived and breathed baseball. They were professional players with the Atlanta Braves and you would think that playing for a living would be enough. But not so – these guys breathed, ate, and slept baseball. More than teammates, they were very close friends. So, they talked with each other about that mattered most in their lives. One of their big concerns was whether there would be baseball in heaven. They loved baseball so much that they were not sure at all they wanted to spend eternity in heaven unless they could play baseball.

They had an agreement that the first one who died would somehow get a message back to earth, letting the other know whether baseball was in heaven or not. Well, it happened. John died, and Jim grieved. He grieved for days - deeply saddened over his friend John's death. About two weeks went by, and then it happened. Jim was awakened in the middle of the night by the calling of his name, "Jim, Jim, Jim, wake up! This is John." "John, where are you?"

"I'm in heaven - and I have some good news and bad news. It's exciting, Jim. We do have baseball in heaven. It's great. We play every day and there are marvelous teams, and tough, exciting competition."
"That's great," said Jim. "But what's the bad news?"

"Well," said John, "You are scheduled to pitch next Tuesday."