Daily Update - April 6, 2026

Nothing Insignificant About Us

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A fresh photo from Artemis II shows Earth as a tiny speck in a vast, cold universe, but today’s reflection digs into why that speck — and every soul on it — matters eternally to God. Drawing from the cross and the empty tomb, we explore how Jesus bore the full wrath of God, conquered death, and proved that no distance in space or time can separate us from a Creator who chooses to adopt us as His children when we simply believe.

The inhabitants of a tiny speck of a planet are the most important things in the universe.

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Monday April 6, 2026

Early this morning the crew of Artemis II sent back a stunning photograph of Earth. In it, we see our planet as never before seen by actual human eyes – a tiny almost indecipherable dot cast against the bleakness and vastness of space.

Taken by itself, this photograph could lead one to ponder just how insignificant we are in these unchartered backwaters of the unfashionable end of the spiral arm of the galaxy - hat tip of course to Douglas Adams. Through the eyes of faith, however, the people on this planet are so important to the Almighty God who created all this vastness that He sent His only Son to live and die among us so we would never again be separated from our Creator by a gulf of space measured by eternity.

Last Friday Christians all over the world remembered with shame that a lowly carpenter from Nazereth named Jesus was nailed to a cross for the crime of telling people that God loved them. On that cross on an insignificant hill on this insignificant planet, the wrath of God for every sin committed past present and future was poured out on Jesus. There was no sin in this man – so he alone was worthy to be offered up to God – by God – as a sacrifice for the sin of humanity. Being God, Jesus alone could withstand the laser-focused wrath of our Creator. When Jesus gasped out “It is Finished” he made it plain that our sin and disobedience would no longer destroy us in the presence of a God in whom there is no sin because the blood on the cross has wiped them clean.

Easter was the final glorious outcome of God’s redemption for us. After He died on the cross, Jesus demonstrated that not even death can stop the love of God on this backwater of a planet. The women discovered an empty tomb, the disciples placed their hands on the physical flesh of their resurrected Rabbi, and the Spirit of God transformed and empowered disciples in every age to spread the good news of a loving God who wants nothing more than to adopt us as children, and we have do nothing other than just believe it.

Am insignificant speck of a planet that almost goes unseen in a photograph from space. But in the eyes of God, there is nothing insignificant about us.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.