“ALL IN” seems to be a timely word — for what the Spirit is saying and doing in the earth, and certainly in His Kingdom. Are you ALL IN to what you’re committing your time and life to? I hope so. The opposite is being lukewarm, which is something Jesus decried in His teaching, and far from what He modeled in His life on earth.
My good friend Ron has been mentoring four men for about five years next door. We meet once a week and this fall he chose the topic, “ALL IN.” We’ve discovered that Mark Batterson, a well-known author and pastor in Washington DC has a series of teachings from the Bible entitled, “ALL IN.” One of our elders taught Sunday about Jesus noticing the woman in the temple who put in only two small coins, but it was all she had. She was “ALL IN.”
With the events of recent weeks, Charlie Kirk certainly comes to mind. He was “ALL IN” by any metric. He was admired by his following of mostly young people — friend and foe, for his ideas, faith, work ethic, intellect, kindness, entrepreneurial spirit, and love for the truth.
He founded Turning Point USA in 2012 when he was just eighteen years old. He was self-educated mostly by correspondence courses from Hillsdale College, reading books (about fifty per year), and seeking out mentors. He would debate students and faculty in colleges far and wide, including Oxford and Cambridge. The Spectator asked him to write about his UK experience. They reported this, “The result was this well-observed, funny and now strangely prophetic-sounding piece about the condition of England.” They went on to say, “Charlie Kirk believed in free speech. He died speaking freely. RIP.”
To get a tiny grasp of how great this young man was, one only need watch his memorial service put together eleven short days after his murder and attended by 100,000 people according to police estimates. Over 100 million people watched on line according to a Grok search polling major TV networks and streaming services. Of course you can still watch it in segments or the whole on YouTube, which I highly recommend. You can decide for yourself what kind of young man he was.
To be only thirty-one years old, and have the President and Vice President of the United States, along with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War speak at your funeral or celebration of life service is incredible. Also to hear from his young, beautiful widow and new CEO of Turning Point USA, only days after her devastating loss was as touching as it was insightful into Charlie Kirk’s life and legacy.
With so much deception, sensationalism, and propaganda in our news media these days, I do not watch the news. I find it more peaceful to hear what I need to know from my friends, and to research newsworthy items on the web. So I’m a bit embarrassed to say I didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was. But as soon as I became aware and watched some of his debate and speaking clips, I was refreshed with his truth-loving — truth-speaking courage and candor. And I thanked God for a young man speaking to his generation and culture, in fact all generations and cultures, about a Biblical worldview of the Kingdom of God and how it relates to our personal lives and the political institutions that govern the way we live. I recently wrote a book on a Christian and Biblical worldview called Puzzling 2020. It’s the ancient path that got us to the good way we have enjoyed for so long, and holds the keys to its preservation.
Rest in peace Charlie Kirk, and may your movement and organization prosper and succeed in its mission a million times more than your wildest dreams. May God bless your organization and your family with success unimagined and peace.
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“A good name is better than a good ointment,
And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.” (Ecclesiastes 7:1)
“Thus says the Lord,
‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And you will find rest for your souls.’
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.'” (Jeremiah 6:16)
Charlie Kirk Shorts #1 (chosen because of so many views)
Charlie Kirk Shorts #2 (I’m a soul accountable to one Being)
Charlie Kirk Shorts #3 (giving your life to Christ)
Charlie Kirk Shorts #4 (about the LGBTQIA2S+ Community)
Remembering Charlie Kirk With Mike Huckabee, Franklin Graham, Matthew West, & More
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
— Pericles, Greek orator
