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MAX LUCADO: From empty tomb to eternal home, what happens when we die
Several years ago, I received an urgent call to visit a dying man in the hospital. I didn’t know Ray well, but I knew him well enough to know he was paying a high price for his hard living. Though he’d make peace with God through Christ, his liver was in conflict with his body.
When his ex-wife phoned me, she was standing at his bedside. Ray, she explained, was knocking at death’s door. Though I hurried, he entered it minutes before I arrived. The hospital room had a “just happened” feel to it. The ex-wife saw me enter and looked up. With eyes and words, she explained, “He just left.”
Ray silently slipped out. Departed. One moment here. The next moment … where? He passed, not away, but on. Yet on to where? And in what form? To what place? And, once there, what did he see? We so desire to know.
Who in your life “just left?” When the breathing of your spouse ceased, the beating heart in your womb stopped, or the beep of your grandmother’s monitor became a flat-lined tone, what happened in that moment?
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And what will happen to you in yours? Barring the return of Christ, you will have one … a last breath, a final pulse. And … then what? What will we be after we die? What will happen? Answers vary.
Nothing, some people say. We will decay and or disintegrate. Death is a dead end. Our works and reputation might survive, but not us.
Or, we become part of the universe. Eternity absorbs us like a lake absorbs a raindrop. We return to what we were before we were what we are… we return to the cosmic consciousness of the universe.
Christianity, on the other hand, posits a new, startling idea. “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54 NIV). According to the promise of the empty tomb, my friend Ray awoke in a world so wondrously better than this one that it would take God himself to convince Ray to return to earth.
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This is the Christian hope. This hope is verified by the Easter miracle, that stunning moment we celebrate as Easter. Do you know this miracle?
It was Sunday morning after the Friday execution. The sky was dark. The disciples had scattered. And the Roman executioner was wondering about breakfast or work or his next day off. But he was not wondering about the fellow he had nailed to a cross and pierced with a spear. Jesus was dead and buried. Yesterday’s news. Right?
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Wrong.
“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.’” (Matt. 28:2-6 NIV)
And out he marched, the cadaver-turned-king, with the mask of death in one hand and the keys of heaven in the other. He has risen!
AT CHRISTMAS, GOD FULFILLS HIS PURPOSE — AND GIVES US OURS
We know what happened to Christ when he died. What happens to those who believe him?
Simple, because the tomb is empty, the promise of Christ is not. If you trust Christ with your life, he will take care of you in death.
When you die, your spirit will immediately enter the presence of God. You will enjoy conscious fellowship with the heavenly Father and with those who have gone before. Your body will join you later. We believe this is true because of scriptures like this one: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8 NIV).
When Ray’s ex-wife asked me what happened to him, I could rightly say, “He is away from his body and at home with the Lord.”
Have you made this the hope for your life? If not, doesn’t it make sense that you do so? Doesn’t it make sense that you know your destination?
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Travelers do. I’ve engaged in dozens of airplane conversations in my life. When I’ve asked, “Where are you headed?” people always have an answer.
Every traveler worth a flight mile knows that the purpose of the plane is to carry us from one place to the next. Do you understand that the purpose of this life is to do the same? You were made for more than airplane peanuts and in-flight entertainment. You were made to go home.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead, not just to show you his power, but to reveal your path. Just like he did for my friend Ray, He will lead you through the valley of death. He will lead you home.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory” (Cor. 15:54).
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Artemis crew says they wanted to ‘connect with humanity,’ show what can be done when they put their mind to it
The Artemis II crew, following their return to Earth after a historic 10-day lunar flyby, spoke with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, describing the mission as a “glorious” experience.
The crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — returned to Earth on April 10, splashing down off the coast of San Diego after their journey around the Moon during which they set a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space, surpassing the mark set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Waltz gifted the crew “MUNGA,” or “Make the U.N. Great Again,” hats, inspired by President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
The crew was asked by Waltz what they thought as they looked back at Earth from space.
“As a crew, we wanted to go for all and by all,” Wiseman said at U.N. headquarters in New York. “And we wanted to set the stage for Artemis III. We wanted to get this space agency in this world ready for Artemis III and IV. But in the end, we really wanted to connect with humanity. We wanted humanity to just pause for a second and see that this world can still do something exceptionally well when they put their mind to it.”
Artemis III is expected to launch next year, and Artemis IV is targeted for the following year.
“You asked how it felt, and it wasn’t one feeling for the entire mission,” Glover told Waltz. “What we saw out the window was changing, and that is one of the unique things … I always felt the urge to just be grateful for what we were seeing, and to be grateful for what we were eventually going back to. And the other thing was just how blessed we are to have this.”
Koch said that when she looked back at Earth, the surrounding darkness made the planet feel “even more special than it’s ever been.”
“Instead of this absolute background that just exists everywhere for us, because that’s all we’ve had, it makes the lines that we redraw on it seem big and important,” she said. “You realize that actually, there’s nothing absolute or guaranteed about this, and that actually, there is such thing as a global scale. And this is the first time I’ve said that at the U.N., but the truth is that the global scale is our world. And what we do with it is our choice.”
Hansen described the experience of seeing the vastness of space and feeling both small as an individual and empowered by what humanity can accomplish together.
“It was like this weird thing where, like stars, some stars look closer in our galaxy than others. And it just kept catching my eye, and it just kept making me feel really tiny, really small as an individual. But then, at the same time, I was out there experiencing it, and it made me feel very powerful as a human race. What we can do together, the fact that we were out there and something that has been really heartwarming since we got back to Earth and started to see how many people stopped to watch the mission and resonate with it,” he said.
Glover also recalled the many emotions tied to the mission, including the “glorious moment” of returning to Earth.
ARTEMIS II ASTRONAUTS FACE TOILET TROUBLE AS THEY HEAD TOWARD THE MOON
During the visit to the U.N., NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wanted to take a moment to appreciate how far they had come, noting that it was not long ago that Trump established the Artemis program that led to the Artemis II mission.
“In fact, in just 2020, President Trump established the Artemis Accords. Now, the initial framework was an agreement of principles between the United States and seven other like-minded countries on the responsible exploration of space,” he said.
The crew’s visit to the U.N. comes after they met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Trump had also spoken to the crew as they were orbiting the moon in early April.
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Fever star Caitlin Clark avoids serious injury after scary fall leads to early exit in preseason game
Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark exited Thursday night’s preseason game against the Dallas Wings after colliding with one of their players.
Clark was seen hobbling on the court after taking a step-back three-point shot and landing on Wings star defender Alanna Smith’s foot in the third quarter of the matchup. Upon landing, Clark told reporters after the 95-80 loss that she hit her knee hard when she went down after the foul by Smith.
Clark rolled over on the court and tried to walk it off as she went toward the Fever bench. Officials ended up reviewing the play and gave Smith, the reigning co-Defensive Player of the Year in the WNBA, a Flagrant 1 foul for not giving Clark a safe amount of room to land after shooting.
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Clark exited the game with fewer than eight minutes left in the third quarter.
She finished with a team-high 21 points despite missing most of the second half. Clark hit two of her three attempted three-pointers, while knocking down 11 of 13 from the free throw line. She also had two rebounds, four assists and one steal in the contest.
Being this was a preseason matchup, Fever fans were holding their collective breath watching Clark in the moment, especially considering the tumultuous season she had in 2025.
CAITLIN CLARK RETURNS TO WNBA COMPETITION AFTER 2025 INJURY IN FEVER PRESEASON GAME
Clark played just 13 games in her sophomore campaign, far from what she had hoped after winning WNBA Rookie of the Year and setting the single-season assists record in 2024.
But it appeared Clark avoided a serious injury that could’ve come in that situation. Being in someone’s landing zone after a shot can lead to severe injuries, especially ankles turning.
Fever head coach Stephanie White didn’t seem to want to push Clark, and sat her the rest of the way.
The Fever still have one more preseason game remaining on the schedule, as they face the Nigerian national team on Saturday. Then, it’s regular-season basketball, with the Fever’s first game that counts on the record against these same Wings in Dallas on May 9.
The Wings are an intriguing team to watch, with Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, reuniting with fellow UConn teammate Paige Bueckers to begin her pro journey. Bueckers led the Wings with 20 points on Thursday night, while Fudd finished with four points.
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Former Minnesota Investigator: State Government ‘Harassed, Bullied’ Department in Alleged Coverup of Child Care Fraud Allegations
An ex-Minnesota state trooper and former investigator in the Office of Inspector General for Minnesota’s Department of Human Services testified this week that state officials tried to get him to delete findings from a child care fraud report and later tried to shut down his department after “members of our unit were harassed and bullied by DHS officials.”
The post Former Minnesota Investigator: State Government ‘Harassed, Bullied’ Department in Alleged Coverup of Child Care Fraud Allegations appeared first on Breitbart.
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