On September 10, 2025, a prominent voice in the American conservative movement was silenced by an assasin's bullet. Charlie Kirk was the founder and driving voice behind TPUSA (Turning Point, USA), a nonprofit organization that promotes conservative values like free markets, limited government, traditional family, and love of God and country on high school and college campuses. 

This wasn't the first time Kirk faced the threat of death, but it was ultimately the last (both literally and spiritually).

He had spoken to massive audiences on the world stage. He had become a friend and a confidante of some of the most powerful people in the US and around the world. He had grown a grassroots movement from a partnership with a handful of high school buddies to an international ministry with thousands of chapters on campuses both here and abroad. He is credited with having made the single greatest contribution for drawing young people into the conservative movement in modern history. He was a political powerhouse, a minister of the Gospel, a highly successful entrepeneur, a husband, and a father. And he accomplished it all before he even celebrated his 32nd birthday. He was, if nothing else, a classic over-achiever.

Yet when asked what he would most want to be remembered for, Kirk simply said ... 

"I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing; [the] most important thing is my faith."

Whether you agree with some, all, or none of his talking points, we can all agree that it takes courage to speak what we believe and to stand on and for our conviictions.

Every day, 24 hours a day, since the 1930s, the sentries of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary (badgeholders, as they are called) have honored their command to protect and defend that tomb. Regardless of circumstances, they have been ordered to hold their watch, and never abandon their post. Yet, on September 19, 2003, as Hurricane Isabel barraged the Nation's Capital with driving rain and nearly 100mph winds, the sentitels charged with guarding that sacred space were granted permission, for the first time in its history, to stand down to seek shelter.Yet that was not a permission they were willing to act on. NBC news reported at that time:

“They told us that. But that’s not what’s going to happen,” said Sgt. Christopher Holmes, standing vigil on overnight duty. “That’s never an option for us. It went in one ear and right out the other.” ...

With the fierce storm bearing down Thursday night, cemetery officials decided to let the guards move indoors if they felt they were in danger. Cemetery Superintendent John Metzler said he believed it was the first time they have been allowed to do so.

“We certainly didn’t want to put these guards in jeopardy unnecessarily,” Metzler said. ...

Holmes’ group was on duty for 24 hours, from 6 a.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday. They took turns patrolling the tomb in hourly shifts. ...

“Once you become a badgeholder, it’s like you’ll do whatever you have to do to guard the unknowns,” [Staff Sgt. Alfred] Lanier said. “For one, it’s my job. And for two, that’s just how much respect I myself have for the unknowns. That’s just something we cherish.”

Famed Christian author and speaker, Dennis Rainey, had this to add:

In 2003, Hurricane Isabel slammed into the East Coast of the United States, lashing North Carolina and Virginia, then moving northward all the way to Canada, leaving 16 dead and cutting power to six million homes. The edges of the hurricane passed through Washington, D.C., prompting the president and members of Congress to find safer quarters.

That was not the case at Arlington National Cemetery, where guards have relentlessly stood vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns every hour of every day since July 1, 1937. When the hurricane hit, the soldiers remained at their posts even though they were given permission to seek shelter.

That’s what a soldier does. He acknowledges the storm, but he doesn’t give in to it. He stands firm. As a friend told me, 'If these men can stand guard over the dead, how much more important is it that I stand guard over the living—my wife and children?'

Like these soldiers, we are called to stand and do our duty while staring down the very storms that seek to rob us of courage, taunting and tempting us to neglect our duty and abandon our posts. ...

Many have seen the 2016 historical movie, Hacksaw Ridge. It tells the story of Private Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist pacifist, who found a way to answer the call to serve in WWII without ever carrying a gun. Believing in the sanctity of human life, and committed to the victory of the allied forces, Desmond enlisted to play his part in the war against the evil Axis powers as a battlefield medic.

He suffered much abuse for his stand of faith, but he stuck to his guns (excuse the pun). He went to the front lines without a gun, and entered into one of the worst fights the Allied Army faced in the Battle of Okinawa. The Allied Army had to withdraw in the first engagement, having faced a strong enemy, and suffered multiple casualties.

As night fell and darkness covered the area, Private Doss stayed on the battlefield while Japanese soldiers roamed through the carnage, shooting wounded survivors. Doss crawled around looking for these survivors and one by one dragged them off that mountain, and let them down the side of the cliff, ultimately saving 75 soldiers who would have otherwise died horrible deaths!

As he crawled around he prayed, Lord, give me one more, just one more. And if that wasn’t enough, Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper's bullet while being carried back to Allied lines, and at one point had seventeen pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body after attempting to kick a grenade away from himself and his comrades. 

He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa.

*Actual photo of Doss receiving his medal of honor from President Harry Truman, October 12, 1945.