No one should ever die for their beliefs in a society that calls itself civilized. How did we get to a place where a man (Charlie Kirk) can be shot in the neck at a University campus while appearing at a speaking engagement. For me, the crazy part was he was in my area in Central California a short time ago.
Like many of you, my heart is heavy with grief at the news of this violent tragedy in Provo, Utah. A life has been cut short. A family is shattered. Children are left without a father, a wife without her husband. The pain that now grips their hearts is unimaginable, and it all began with a moment of hatred — someone waking up and deciding to destroy a life.
How did we come to this? How did we fall so far from civility that public spaces — places of learning, growth, and dialogue — have become battlegrounds? When did disagreement become justification for violence?
Now is the time for the people of God to rise, not with bitterness, but with prayer, compassion, and resolve. We must pray for the grieving family, for the shocked witnesses, and even for the one who carried out this evil act. Our Savior calls us to a love that is bigger than our pain, and a forgiveness that feels impossible in our flesh.
But make no mistake — prayer is not passivity. Prayer fuels courage. Prayer calls us to act differently than the world around us. It challenges us to model a better way, to speak truth with grace, and to refuse to let hatred have the last word.
As King Solomon wrote:
“For everything there is a season… a time to be born, and a time to die… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1–4)
This is a time to weep. This is a time to mourn. But let us not stay there. Let us also take this moment as a challenge — to be salt and light in a world that grows darker by the day.
Let us build bridges where others build walls. Let us love where others hate. And let us remember that Christ Himself was no stranger to violence, but through His death and resurrection, He showed us that evil never wins in the end.
The question before us is this: will we, the people of God, live in such a way that the world sees not just our grief, but also our hope?
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