What are we to do?

As many of you are, I’m devastated over the murder of Charlie Kirk. I watched so many of his videos debating others with respect and with truth. I’m heartbroken, but also comforted that he is now with his Savior. Still, what are we to do? I feel like there is bound to be a shift in our society as a result.

Since June 18th this year, I’ve felt a nudge in my spirit that things are changing. Maybe it is just personal at a new stage in life, new adjustments, or because our farmstand exploded in growth and more and more neighbors in our Portland, OR suburb were coming to our house, to our yard and front porch… but I feel a strong pull that I need to be more faithful (and brave) to talk with these people who come. To ask questions, listen well, and “always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” (and I’ve failed guys, I have failed.)

So as I’m listing to God all the reasons why I can’t possibly to this, He’s been rebuking and exhorting me through His word. You see, back in June of this year, I realized that if this was how the farmstand and this new stage in life was going to go, I better get serious about Bible reading. I remembered a Bible reading plan my friend told me about years ago, and looked that up. It’s Dr. Grant Horner’s Bible reading program. It is a 10 bookmark plan, where you read one chapter from each bookmarked place each day. There’s a PDF here, or a printable checklist here if you don’t want to mess with bookmarks. (Note: I haven’t read either of those websites, just linking to printable for you, not endorsing the site behind the printables.) I have so much to say about this plan, but I’ll leave that for another post. Just briefly though, in this plan, you read one chapter a day, resulting in 10 chapters read. That takes an average reader about an hour. But it is EXTREMELY flexible, I’ve been doing about 5 chapters a day (or just one or two on busy days) and picking up where I left off on the next day. A comfortable, thoughtful pace for me right now is 5 one day and the next 5 the following day. I’ll write more on how I’m doing this later. I want to get back to the original point I was making…

What are we to do?

The only hope for our cities, our nation, our world is the hope of the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Share the gospel.

How do we do that? We get back to serious reading of our Bible (thus the reading plan above). And, at the same time, (not after we feel that we know it inside and out) we talk to people. Scared? Me too. So I also watch people who engage others well, even if I don’t necessarily agree with everything they say and do, but they are out there doing it and showing how it can be done. People like:

Charlie Kirk (especially how he asked questions, listened, clarified, THEN spoke truth)
Ray Comfort (great way to start conversations, hear what they are thinking, then share the gospel)
Wise Disciple (especially when he engages with tik tok videos, because those are the people in our neighborhoods and workplaces)

And I also know that in addition to learning how to engage, I more importantly, need to be building myself up in the most holy faith (Jude 1:20): Reading my Bible, meditating on and praying through Scripture, praying, going to church, discipling others and being discipled, reading widely, and learning good questions to ask (and answer myself).

I’ll post more about each of these later, but today wanted to give us something to think about in the midst of this tragedy. And to encourage you, I think this faithful blogger worded it perfectly. Read her post here:
https://barbaraleeharper.com/2025/09/11/when-evil-gets-worse/

(If you know of any good resources, like videos, bloggers, etc on sharing the gospel, and building yourself up in faith, please leave comments below to help other readers (and me). I’d appreciate it!)