Travis Johnson

Somewhere a younger version of me is very confused right now.

This is the heart of an American patriot. Four months after he died on 9-11, his daughter was born. She went on to play soccer at his Alma mater, Wheaton.

Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.

Love never goes out of style.

The windbreakers, however, probably should. 😂

I remember where I was when I heard Charlie Kirk had been shot.

I keep coming back to the same thing today, though. I keep thinking about Erika. About two little kids who are growing up without their dad. That’s a family.

He was a husband. A dad. And he was not embarrassed of Jesus. He used the biggest stage he had to talk about the cross, not just conservatism. That mattered to me. Still does.

I’m blessed with a treasured friendship with Dr. Alveda King. Her life and witness informs a lot of my thoughts about Charlie’s life and especially his family.

Dr. King’s father, A.D. King, and her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were both taken from her by violence. She has spent her whole life carrying that loss while still choosing love, still choosing faith, still choosing to advance her thoughts and concerns in the public square instead of being consumed by bitterness over how she lost them.

Now Charlie’s own kids will grow up the same way, knowing their father through stories and video instead of his voice in the next room. That’s the real cost of political violence. It follows children their whole lives.

Charlie was shot on a college campus while he was literally handing a stranger a microphone to disagree with him. That’s it. That’s what got him killed, talking to people. Using violence to silence someone you disagree with isn’t strength. It’s tyranny.

Today, I’m grateful for Charlie Kirk, a man of consequence who advanced his ideas and spoke to and with people who did not hold his same thoughts. That man loved his family, loved Jesus, and wasn’t afraid to say so out loud.

And I’m grateful for people like Dr. King who show us what it looks like to carry grief like that without losing your faith.

My prayers are for continued comfort, strength, and grace on Erika, his family, and for all people everywhere who value free speech and the ability to speak without resorting to violence and viciousness. That’s a gift. And, it’s a blessing to live in a nation that is founded on this value and this right.

There will never be another President like President Trump.

Would you pray for revival and reformation in America?