A sad, yet joyful goodbye to Charlie

"Charlie Kirk was an ordinary guy who came from an ordinary background who went on to do some extraordinary things."

Today will be the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. There will be maybe 100,000 people attending at the football stadium in Arizona. It will be filled with friends, dignitaries, as well as just plain folks. It will be a sad, yet a joyous event. Wait - how can something be sad and joyful at the same time? It will be sad, because Charlie Kirk was taken from us way, way too soon. It will be sad, as he leaves behind a wife, two young kids, and many, many friends. But it will also be joyful. We are honoring a young man who changed so many things during his young life - and will change even more things by his untimely death.

What will the world miss about Charlie Kirk? Plenty, in a short answer. But the thing most followers of Jesus will miss was his unflinching faith. How he proudly and unashamedly proclaimed his love for his Lord and Savior. He loved his country, he loved the youth who live here, he loved his wife, his kids, and his friends. But it was his love for Jesus which really was his salt and his light. He was a beacon for all to hear and all to see.

Even though Charlie has been gone for only a short while, Turning Point is literally on fire with new applications for chapter affiliations. The news reports the number is up to 62,000 and still growing. Why in the world would that be so? Because Charlie Kirk attracted young people like moths to a light. He was kind, he was respectful, yet he was unwavering in his now famous college debates. I believe in the back of his mind he always knew there might be some kind of risk be doing these debate events. But I believe that Charlie lived his life by that short verse in Phillipians 1:21, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." 

Charlie Kirk was an ordinary guy who came from an ordinary background who went on to do some extraordinary things. Donald Trump told Charlie that someday he could be president - and he meant it. Truthfully, Charlie did have all the "right stuff" to be a fine leader, maybe even the leader of this great nation. But Charlie was taken from us. Not be some lingering disease or car accident. He was taken from us by an assassin's bullet. Fired by a young man, the age of whom Charlie was trying to reach.

Today we say goodbye to a remarkable young man who made the biggest impact possible on so many young people. Today will be sad, yet joyful goodbye to Charlie. Your watch is over Charlie, and now that mantle, your cause will be picked up by your wife, Erika. And Erika will have help in doing so. By whom? By how many? Legions, upon legions, upon legions.