Bob and Stan were good buddies and baseball friends. One day at a ballgame, they made a vow to each other that whichever friend died first, that friend would send a message back to earth to let the other friend know if there was baseball in Heaven. Sure enough, one day, Bob died. After a while, he sent a message back to Earth to Stan: “Hey, Stan, this is your old baseball buddy, Bob. I have good news and I have bad news for you from Heaven.”

Stan thought about it and said, “Let’s hear the good news!” Bob said, “Well, the good news is there is a lot of baseball going on in Heaven! Mickey Mantle is hitting home runs a mile long and you should see Babe Ruth hit a baseball up here, too! It really is baseball Heaven!” Stan smiled and said, “Hey, Bob. What about that bad news?” There was a long pause. Finally, Bob spoke from Heaven and said, “The bad news is you are scheduled to pitch up here tomorrow night!”

A faithful Christian man was dying. His wife, son and daughter, who were all devout Christians, came to his bedside. He hugged them and said, “Good night, I’ll meet you in a better place.”

He had another son, however, who never obeyed the Gospel. He was a good boy, but he just never saw the need to turn his life over to Christ. While giving him a hug his father said very sadly, “Goodbye, my son, goodbye.” Having touched the young man’s heart, he said, “Dad, you said good night to Mom and my brother and sister, but to me, you said ‘goodbye.’ Why is that?”

The dying man said, “Son, your mother, brother and sister are Christians, and I know that one day we’re going to be together again in Heaven. So to them, I said, ‘Good night.’ But you know that as much as I’ve prayed for you and pleaded with you to believe the Gospel, you never have. I will never see you again, and as much as it breaks my heart, all I can say is ‘goodbye.’”

With tears welling up in his eyes and the conviction hitting him for the first time that he would go to hell if he did not turn from his sin. The young man said, “Dad, don’t say goodbye yet. Don’t go anywhere; don’t die. I’ll be back.” He quickly ran out of the room and drove to the church building where his parents were members—the very same church he grew up in but now never attended. He found the preacher and told him that he was ready to give his life to Jesus.

Both he and the preacher drove back to the hospital and rushed to his father’s room. “Dad, Dad, I realized for the first time in my life that was lost in sin, but now I’ve given my life to Jesus and promise I will serve Him until the day I die.” The dying man, with his fast declining strength, put his arms around his boy and said, “Good night, son, good night.” That father died a happy man.

Jack Ward is the pastor of Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church.