Posted April 09, 2026
The Artemis 2 crew is scheduled to return to Earth tomorrow, splashing down off the coast of San Diego, California, around 8:07 p.m. ET. As the Economist reports, they are “returning to a planet they have cheered up.”
From traveling further into space than any humans before, to naming an unrecorded moon crater for the mission commander’s late wife, to picturing an astronaut silhouetted by a luminous view of Earth, the article notes that “emotion, in the capsule and among millions watching from the ground, has been a significant part of the whole affair.”
We have needed to be “cheered up,” to be sure.
The two-week ceasefire with Iran announced on April 7 postponed what the Wall Street Journal called the “threat [that] gripped the world.” However, Iran stopped oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday in response to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. President Trump stated that Lebanon was not part of the truce agreement, but Vice President JD Vance is now affirming that Israel will rein in its attacks to preserve the ceasefire.
There was another story from April 7 that generated far fewer headlines but is hugely significant: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman reports on “a stunning advance in artificial intelligence” that will have “equally profound geopolitical implications” as the Iran war.
The AI company Anthropic announced Tuesday that it was releasing the newest generation of its large language model, dubbed Claude Mythos Preview. Here’s why this matters so much: Friedman notes that the model is finding “vulnerabilities in virtually all of the world’s most popular software systems more easily than before.” As a result, if this tool falls into the hands of bad actors, “they could hack pretty much every major software system in the world.”
Accordingly, the company has released the model only to the largest and most trusted tech companies and critical infrastructure providers. Anthropic hopes key software providers will find and fix the vulnerabilities before the bad guys do.
Studies show that chronic pain is more damaging to mental health and overall flourishing than short-term conditions. The same is true with cultural issues and spiritual hope. Crises that seem to have an end date, such as broken bones and thunderstorms, are one thing. But problems that have no apparent solution or end are another matter entirely.
The theocrats running Iran are as committed to their apocalyptic vision this week as they were last week. Artificial intelligence, for good and for bad, is only going to become more relevant to our daily lives. China is still playing the “long game” in its quest for global dominance. The next pandemic is just a matter of time.
Here’s the good news: as theologian and journalist Iben Thranholm writes in First Things, “Across the Western world, especially in France, Britain, and the United States, we are seeing a remarkable surge of adult conversions to Christianity.” Baptisms in France are setting records; Catholic Church attendance is rising; Britain is “quietly awakening” to “supernatural Christianity.”
In his latest Focus article, Dr. Ryan Denison reports on this phenomenon, explaining that younger generations are seeking meaning in an age of pandemics, political fractures, and social disintegration. Ryan quotes John Stonestreet, who recently told our podcast that we “have a whole bunch of young people going back to church talking about how secularism let them down.”
But there’s a catch. Thranholm cites psychiatrist and philosopher Iain McGilchrist, who agrees that our cultural crisis is first and foremost spiritual. However, he warns that a spiritual approach that is individual and purely personal will not be enough to meet this crisis.
According to Paul, the great “mystery” of the gospel is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Max Lucado comments:
For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions: Christ for me, Christ with me, Christ ahead of me. But I never imagined that Christ was in me.
I can’t blame my deficiency on Scripture. Paul refers to the indwelling of Christ 216 times. John mentions his presence 26. No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers. Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists. Influence? Instruct? Yes. But occupy? No! (his italics).
The fact that Christ lives in Christians by his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16) is the hope we need most in facing the most uncertain times. Consider four ways the indwelling Christ is at work in our lives today:
One: He infuses us with significance and purpose that secular culture cannot possibly rival, transfusing us with spiritual abundance that sustains us in the hardest places (John 10:10).
Two: He shapes our character into his own likeness, giving us victory over temptation and integrity that transcends challenges (Romans 8:29).
Three: He speaks through us to declare his word and draw others to himself (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Four: He endows us with the courage to face a critical and caustic culture with joy, producing boldness that testifies to his presence in our lives (Acts 4:13).
The limiter is not Jesus’ omnipotence but our obedience.
In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes that the resurrection means Jesus “has power now to convey his life to me.” It is therefore “gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Ghost can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we will obey him” (my italics).
Jim Elliot typified such obedience as powerfully as anyone outside Scripture, writing in his journal, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” After he was martyred by the tribespeople he sought to reach for Christ, his widow Elisabeth spent two years with them, sharing the gospel of grace and forgiveness.
She then wrote over twenty books and became widely known as an author and a speaker. From 1988 to 2001, she hosted a daily radio program called “Gateway to Joy.” She explained her secret:
“I have one desire now—to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.”
How “reckless” is your “abandon for the Lord” today?
“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” —Elisabeth Elliot
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