Two men had been best friends all their lives: growing up together, going to school, and especially playing baseball. They LOVED baseball. As they aged, though, instead of playing baseball they took to watching it, from local teams to major leagues. They would attend games as often as possible and never miss a game on TV. They knew the stats, the players and managers, and even the schedule. 

They even made a pact as they grew older that which ever one of them passed first would send back a message from the great beyond about whether there was baseball in heaven.

And so it happened, one of the friends passed. A few days passed when one night the remaining man had a ghostly visitor, his friend from beyond with a message. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is there is baseball in heaven! Not only that, but we are young and healthy and strong and we  get to play just like when we were young."

The man was ecstatic. "That's great! Thanks for keeping our promise, but you said there was bad news?"

"Yes," said his friend. "The bad news is you're scheduled to pitch tomorrow."

There are hundreds of jokes about heaven and maybe even more stories about peoples' real near-death experiences of the life beyond. I don't doubt that heaven is real I just don't know what to expect exactly.

What I do know is this, Jesus said he was preparing a place for us. (John 14:3) In Greek, the "place" that has been translated as house, mansion, or room is actually an insula. That was a common, modest, family home in the Middle East especially that had a main living space and a sleeping area. When a son was of age to begin his family, a new addition was created with another living space and "bedroom". If there were multiple sons, there would be several additions and in the case of the next generation, even more additions. The insula became a family compound. 

You can see modern evidences of this still today across Palestine, multi-level homes with identical stories and unfinished tops (for additional stories). 

What Jesus was talking about is that heaven is a heavenly family compound where connection, togetherness, peace, and grace live in harmony, where the residents are family.

As children of God this is encouraging, whether there is baseball or not. The real image of heaven is that Christ is in the middle of it and he is preparing a space just for us.

In the meantime, we get to live our best life here enjoying the benefits of heaven before we ever arrive. 

It's like enjoying a baseball game knowing it will be perpetuated in heaven. 

And may you not be scheduled to pitch anytime soon! 

Peace ><>

Pastor Chris