Kara Conniff

by Kara Conniff

Charlie Kirk, 1993-2025.

Sept. 11, 2025

Yesterday was a sad day. A sad day for America. A sad day for Christians. A sad day for the Kirk Family. A sad day for me. Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking peacefully on a college campus in Utah. He was brutally shot in the neck moments after describing his faith and love for Jesus. I am heartbroken. He was a 31 year old husband, father, and soldier of the Christian faith. He was asked recently in an interview what he wanted to be remembered for. He said he wanted to be remembered for having courage to speak about his faith and that his faith is the most important thing to him. He is a modern day martyr and while we are weeping, heaven is celebrating. 

It’s very hard to understand why this happened. Did God allow it to happen? It’s the age-old question of: why do bad things happen to good people? The Bible tells us that we fight not against flesh and blood but against the rulers of darkness of this age (Ephesians 6:12). There is real evil out there lurking around waiting to strike. Of course, evil wants to attack that which is good and effective and of God. Charlie was a man of God on a big stage with a big mission and evil has its own mission–to kill and destroy.

I heard once we aren’t supposed to ask why. Instead of asking why, ask where? Where is Jesus in this? Where is God? Where is Holy Spirit? Charlie is quoted as saying, “What can death do to the believer, but deliver him to God?” That’s where God is in this. He’s welcoming home a good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21). He’s comforting Charlie’s family with a peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7). He’s weeping for what we’ve lost (John 11:35) and collecting all of our tears (Psalm 56:8). He’s in it with us.

We are all part of the body of Christ and we are all required to complete God’s ultimate mission. God has a plan for each and every one of us. Charlie understood the mission and he completed the mission. How many of us can say the same? There’s no doubt that when Charlie faced God yesterday, he was welcomed with open arms and celebrated! He lived out his mission every day in every word and action. Of course, he wasn’t perfect (although I don’t have any evidence of his shortcomings), he was perfectly aligned with his calling. 

Each one of us is put here for a reason–to point people to Jesus. That’s it. Period. It doesn’t matter if we’re working, mothering, gardening, or driving, our lives are supposed to point people to Jesus. It’s actually the only thing that matters. 

Wow. Now that’s convicting. Is my new pair of shoes pointing people to Jesus? Not anymore than my old pair were. Is my complaining about my job pointing people to Jesus? Is my wardrobe? Are my finances? Are my hobbies? The list goes on and on. We are no doubt worried about too many things these days. 

In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus talks about worry and why it’s unnecessary. The birds and the wildflowers are taken care of by the father so don’t you know you’ll be taken care of too?

He goes on to say:

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes (Matthew 6: 30-34).

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now! Your entire attention! May we be inspired by Charlie to live like Charlie. Being constantly formed in the image of God. Pointing people toward the truth. Remembering what matters. Ultimately being willing to give it all up in order to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). If we want Charlie’s death to not be in vain, then we need to pick up his baton and keep running.