It’s been a year since Charlie Kirk was gunned down mercilessly. I remember so clearly that day. I remember I didn’t move my calendar off of September 10 for a long time. I didn’t just want to skip over it, business as usual. For it wasn’t and it still isn’t. What was his crime? Encouraging an open forum for any and all opinions, tossing shirts, giving away hats. Telling people who disagreed with him to “come to the front of the line.” He dared to stand up for Jesus, no matter your opinion of his politics. It seems it’s open season to kill those you disagree with.

I remember also the story of the preacher on the street corner, also shot in cold blood in Peoria, Arizona. You can read about it here. I think of the heroes of the Bible we have been studying all year. Truth has in fact been leading to a death sentence for a very long time, since just about all of the Old Testament Prophets, as well as Jesus early Apostles died martyrs’ deaths as well. 

It seems to me the world has gone even more off the rails. We’ve lost our collective minds. Now a woman has murdered her three children and it’s called into question whether she should be held accountable. It really doesn’t matter what we think. It always matters what God thinks. His Word is pretty clear on the matter. 

Just last night I was reading again how John the Baptist was thrown in prison (and ultimately killed) for telling Herod that he was sinning with his brother’s wife. So, not a new thing. Now, people don’t even want to be told the truth from the pulpit. Historically, that was the one place we could always hear the truth. But this should really be no surprise. The flip side of this is that when evil is exposed, righteousness shines all the brighter. And we are called to be salt and light in a dull and increasingly dark world. 

Now more than ever, we need to share Jesus to a world that needs Him more than ever. As Billy Graham used to say, “Now is the accepted time…” There are no guarantees that we will get another day, or another minute. And if I could only tell you one thing, I would tell you from my own life that whatever you lose or give up in this life, Jesus will fill up that empty space in ways you could never imagine.

Not long ago, the Bible once again came alive to me as it once did when I first became saved. A dear friend (click link to hear lectures) and Bible teacher flipped the switch via the Holy Spirit, during a Bible study on Corinthians and I began to really think about how I was living my life. After that, I said goodbye to a friend I thought I would have forever. This friend accompanied me for every celebration, holiday, evening, weekend, dinner out for years. That friend had a hold on me. I truly thought if I gave up that “friend” I would always feel a loss that couldn’t be replaced. The friend was alcohol, and I did love it. Absolutely. I was captured by the image of the writer with his glass of whiskey, clacking words to life on an old Smith Corona in a corner cafe. The whole fellowship of the thing that was drinking.

Now, I no longer have it in the house. I am just about living a life of sobriety though I do have a glass of wine from time to time with dinner out. I was never an alcoholic, but I can honestly say, it had a hold on my life like a millstone. I was at the very real place in my faith where I didn’t want anything to have a hold on me but Jesus.

All this to say that Jesus has replaced that old habit with his “Living Water” and I have never been more at peace or more joyful. And friends, whatever you are holding onto in this life (other than God) let it go. He will replace it with something so good, in fact He will replace it with Himself. It’s my new story and I will keep telling it as long as anyone will listen. God is SO good. Just give Him your one and precious life and see what He can do.

He will never disappoint you! In Jesus love, Lori