By: Phil Williams
Our nation just experienced one of those singularly significant events that a whole generation of people identify with, rally around, and grieve over corporately. One likely to become a catalyst for many in the next steps of personal growth, service, or calling. The murder of Charlie Kirk is a generational moment in time.
There are days in which a thing occurs, an incident happens, an emotion is triggered, with such import that we can distinctly remember where we were when it happened. And to be clear, I’m referring to events that are NOT planned. We will certainly always remember our wedding day or the birth of our children. Such things we could foresee and plan for in advance. I’m talking about those generational moments in time that rise up unexpectedly and plant themselves in our memories, our emotions, in such a way that they shocked the conscience, and embed themselves in our psyche.
I’ve heard it said that people can still remember where they were when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor or the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I distinctly remember where I was on 9/11. As I watched the towers come down, I thought, “Everything is going to be different now.” I was right. Within a short time, my life changed dramatically as I said goodbye to my family, the comforts of home, and spent a year living in the badlands of northern Afghanistan. All because someone somewhere hated America enough to fly planes into our buildings and kill our citizens. A generational moment in time.
The real crux of the matter is to decide what we DO with these generational moments. What do we do with those unexpected events that try our souls? It becomes a fight or flight moment. Some will retreat, others will rise up, others will lash out. Still others will stand in confusion looking for direction. I find myself wanting to do something meaningful.
Days after 9/11, I was at church. A time was opened for those who wanted prayer, and I walked up to the altar where an old Vietnam veteran stood waiting. My friend was a highly decorated Force Recon Marine, and he gave me a knowing look as I shook his hand. “I don’t know what God’s doing but I want to be in it.” I said. “I don’t want to miss it.” That grizzled old Marine prayed a warrior’s prayer over me, and the next thing I knew I was riding horses in Afghanistan. My personal response to that generational moment in time was to get meaningfully active.
There is a scene from the epic movie Saving Private Ryan that comes to mind. A group of World War II Rangers were sent to find one man whose brothers had all been killed in battle, and to bring him home. One scene near the end made the whole movie so much more than a war story. Following a pitched battle, young Private Ryan sat staring at the man who had just given his own life to save his. As he died, Ryan heard his rescuer’s last words when he said, “Earn this!” In the final scenes, Ryan was an old man who looked at his wife and said, “Tell me I led a good life…tell me I’m a good man.” A generational moment in time had occurred for Ryan’s character. He had been given an opportunity to go and do something meaningful. Something to “earn this.”
Charlie Kirk’s passing is on that level. I did not know him personally, but for some reason I feel like I did. Perhaps because he was such an effective and gifted orator on topics I care deeply about. But he was also somebody who stood in the face of every opposer and kept a smile on his face, telling people that Jesus was Lord and that conservative values were meaningful and worth aspiring to. My wife refers to him as a joyful warrior. And because of the application of his gifts, he inspired an entire generation. What an epitaph, what a eulogy! I would hope one day people could say even half about me as what is being said about him.
In the message translation of Ephesians 2:10 we are told, “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” Work that we had better be doing… It speaks of a mission…a calling…a meaningful thing that you better not avoid.
And now there’s THIS moment in time. Will you get meaningfully active? My hope is that you will “earn this.” That you will be galvanized, girded up, pushed and pulled in your very core. Make this a moment in time that galvanizes you to an action that you might not otherwise have committed to. Grab hold of the notion that there is something you should be a part of. It would be a shame to let this moment pass without taking the gifts and talents you’ve been given and driving them forward. That’s the thing. There is a time for grieving, processing, and inquiring. But then there is the afterward. We could spend all our time talking ABOUT the generational moment, but it is not the event itself that changes the world. It is what we do with it.
If you were moved by the death of Charlie Kirk, if it got to you, if you can remember where you were when you first heard about it, then you have likely just encountered one of those very select, very precious, generational moments in time. Now go and “earn this”.
By: Phil Williams
