Umm, it looks like you'll need two VCRs on Friday. ABC is re-running last years' Barbara Walters special, Heaven: Where Is It? How Do We Get There?. Joel apparently has a cameo in it. If you watched it last year and missed Joel, Barbara (via OnFaith blogger Sally Quinn) explains why he's suddenly in this year's re-edit of the special ...

During her many interviews for the piece, Walters was twice told that she was going to go to hell---once by an incarcerated, failed suicide bomber and once by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who said that if she wasn't a born-again Christian there was no guarantee she would go to heaven. "I was very cool," she recalled, "but it was a little chilling." Haggard’s interview was removed from the new version of the show because the national evangelical leader resigned from his Colorado Springs megachurch ministry after a male escort alleged that he and Haggard had had sexual relations and taken drugs together. An interview with Houston-based megachurch pastor and televangelist Joel Osteen was added to the show.

My own two cents, but if the topic is of interest - as it is with me - I might recommend Randy Alcorn's "Heaven" as an alternate study on the subject.

Walters' special will be on ABC's 20/20 Friday night, 8pm Texas time ... same time as Larry King Live has Joel's taped interview.

UPDATE: If you're in need of something to do Friday and don't already have plans, Grace Community Church is having a WinterFest event Friday night. Among those leading the worship if now-former Lakewood choir director, Dakri Brown. This event was rescheduled from a few weeks back. Wish I could have made it to this as I'd love to see what the HYPF group is all about as well as hear some of Dakri's solo singing. If anyone makes it out, a review of sorts would be nice.