Podcast Summary

Podcast: Imagine Heaven Podcast with John Burke

Episode: Teen's Jet Ski Tragedy Leads to a Startling Near-Death Experience

Air Date: August 26, 2025

Overview

In this episode, John Burke, author of Imagine Heaven, welcomes Riley Huddleston to share her extraordinary near-death experience (NDE) as a 19-year-old, resulting from a traumatic jet ski accident. Riley’s story is a profound exploration of the afterlife, encountering God, spiritual revelations, and how her understanding of love, purpose, and faith were transformed through her experience. The conversation weaves together Riley’s personal background, the details of her accident, her visions of heaven, life review, and deep theological insights, challenging listeners to consider what really happens after we die.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background: The Accident and Its Aftermath

• Context: Riley was a year out of high school, enjoying a carefree day at Lake Cypress Springs with friends. What started as innocent fun ended in a life-altering accident when Riley fell from a jet ski and suffered shocking internal injuries from the waterjet (07:16).
• Immediate response: She experienced severe trauma, with her organs exposed, losing consciousness as friends and bystanders rapidly moved her to shore while emergency teams arrived (09:48).

Memorable quote:
"As we were coming up to the shore, I mean, I'm bleeding, and I realize chunks of my organs and intestines are starting to fall out of my body."
— Riley (10:10)

2. The Near-Death Experience: Out-of-Body Awareness

• Riley describes feeling her body failing, an overwhelming peaceful detachment as she leaves her body, and the pain vanishing:
  "I just went from being in the worst pain I've ever felt... to nothing... It was almost like a relief. I could breathe again."
  — Riley (15:22)
• She observes her physical body in the ambulance, while her consciousness is aware and lucid (14:36).

3. Journey to the ‘Hole in the Sky’ and Realization of God

• Riley describes “ascending into what looked to me like a hole in the sky... a light was coming out of the hole,” feeling irresistibly drawn toward it (16:54).
• As she ascends, she suddenly knows intuitively that "God is real... this is God's world" (19:23). Despite being indifferent and spiritually confused before her accident, she’s overwhelmed by a direct, undeniable awareness of God’s reality.

Notable moment:
"Now, I'm more sure than I was even sure that I lived a life on earth. This is more real to me than what life I just lived was."
— Riley (28:44)

4. Spiritual Downloads and Visions

• Instant knowledge: Riley describes being "uploaded" with profound knowledge—God explaining that it was only through Jesus that she could enter heaven, even though she had never understood or believed in Jesus before (25:40).
• Generational Curse: She is shown a visceral ancestral vision, witnessing a generational pattern of “lust and divorce” in her family, tracing pain through her lineage (33:03, 36:44).
• Comedy in Heaven: Riley describes seeing a comedy club in heaven, highlighting God’s sense of humor and the continuation of joys and personal traits on the other side (43:43).
• Heavenly beauty: She witnesses people, pets, nature, and colors unlike those on earth, all harmonizing in worship (46:34). Purpose, gifts, and joy abound:
  “They had purpose... God revealed to me that he gives us a spiritual gift on earth, and we choose if we want to use it or not. But you will use it in heaven.” (49:15)

Vivid depiction:
"It's like Earth, but just beautiful. More beautiful, more vibrant. But then there's colors that don't exist here."
— Riley (47:05)

5. The Wall of Heaven and Biblical Parallels

• Riley vividly recalls an ornate, gemstone-adorned, translucent wall—a beautiful, immense barrier. John points out this mirrors the description in Revelation 21 (56:19), a parallel Riley had never read—further affirming the spiritual authenticity of her experience.

6. Life Review and Divine Perspective on Death

• Riley undergoes a life review, re-experiencing every moment of love in her life—down to forgotten details and the last phone call with her sister (71:46).
• She is also given a flash-forward, seeing how her tragic death would affect her family, both emotionally and spiritually (61:38).
• God answers her lifelong question of why people die so horribly, revealing that “the way that we die, we're not there”—the soul is already in God’s presence (64:49).
• This challenge to earthly perceptions brings hope for those who grieve violent or tragic loss:
  "You might be watching someone suffer, but they might not be there, because my body was suffering... but I was having this whole separate experience." (65:09)

7. Encounter with God: Choice, Repentance, and Grace

• In the climax of her experience, Riley enters dazzling light and stands “in the presence of God” (84:13).
• God communicates:
  "Life back there was about me. He said, love is a choice. I am love. You didn't choose me." (88:55)
• Riley feels God’s hurt at her indifference, dropping to her knees in repentance. She is shown how God had persistently pursued her throughout her life (93:09).
• Yet, God tells her:
  "You've impacted enough of my people that I've heard their prayers for you. And I'm actually going to let you go back." (98:22)

Power of prayer:
"This power of prayer saved me. And the craziest part about it is on Earth nobody even knew I was dying yet."
— Riley (98:43)

• Before returning, God cautions her:
  "You have to stay awake. If you don't, the cards will lay where they lay. ... You'll never be able to be perfect." (101:15)

8. Return, Recovery, and a New Walk with God

• The trauma of returning to her wounded body is intense (101:41). Her survival and subsequent medical recovery are described as miraculous.
• A “God wink”: Her first night home, a TV sermon coincidentally reinforces the importance of relationship, not just goodness, for entering God’s house (106:23).
• Riley gets saved that very night, beginning a long process of healing, overcoming fear, and ultimately embracing her calling to share her story (108:18).

9. Final Reflections and Message to Listeners

• Riley, now deeply changed, encourages listeners:
  "Don't miss that boat. There's something really beautiful and not scary and amazing that's waiting for us. If you want it, it's your choice... I'd advise getting on that boat." (117:14)
• John affirms Riley’s testimony: Her story isn’t just about her; it’s for anyone who has wondered about the afterlife or walked indifferently past God’s call.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"Take the best day that you've ever lived, but times it by infinity. And that's what dying is like."
— Riley (70:08, and at the very end)

"Love is a choice. I am love. You didn't choose me."
— Riley recounting God’s words (88:55)

"He reached for me a lot. He chased after me. He really did. I just didn't reciprocate it out of my own anger or my own worldliness. I felt his hurt because I didn't want him back. And he sacrificed so much for me and I felt that and I felt sorry."
— Riley (92:56)

"It's a place and it's real and it's—He wants us all there. He loves all of us so much. And I felt that. A glimpse of that."
— Riley (114:58)

"If you're going to cry, cry for you. Because the experience of dying isn't what people think it is."
— Riley (69:15)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 07:16 | Accident and initial trauma | | 14:36 | Out-of-body experience in ambulance | | 16:54 | “Hole in the sky,” ascent begins | | 25:40 | Visions/downloads: Jesus, family curse | | 33:03 | Generational curse vision | | 43:43 | Comedy in heaven | | 46:34 | Description of heaven: people, pets, colors, worship | | 54:18 | Vision of the heavenly wall | | 56:19 | Parallel with Revelation 21 | | 61:38 | Life review: her death’s effect on family | | 88:55 | God tells Riley: “You didn’t choose me” | | 98:22 | God offers to let her return due to others’ prayers | | 101:15 | God’s warning: “Stay awake. You’ll never be perfect.” | | 106:23 | “God wink”: TV sermon on relationship vs. rules | | 108:18 | Riley’s salvation and decision to share her testimony | | 117:14 | Final encouragement to listeners: “Don’t miss that boat.” |

Tone and Speaker Style

• Riley: Emotional, vulnerable, honest, with moments of awe-struck wonder, laughter, and deep introspection. Her language often combines vivid sensory details with straightforward, sometimes folksy, humor and candor.
• John: Compassionate, affirming, gently theological, often referencing scripture or tying Riley’s experience to broader research and biblical narratives. He acts as a thoughtful guide and empathetic listener.

Conclusion

Riley’s account articulates not just a brush with death, but a profound, theologically resonant journey into the afterlife—one marked by love, humor, self-discovery, urgent warnings, and ultimately hope. It challenges listeners to question what they think they know about death, encourages those who doubt or feel spiritually indifferent, and affirms the life-transforming power of God’s love and relationship over mere religion or morality.

If you are seeking a moving, heartfelt testimony of life beyond death and the transformative impact of grace, this episode is essential listening.