I have no idea if Erika Kirk, widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk who now runs the organization in his abhorrent absence, is a Rush fan. The late, great, and deeply lamented Rush Limbaugh, most certainly. The Canadian progressive rock trio? Given her age, and the fact that girls far too often grow up listening to the wrong music (I kid, I kid), probably not. Which is neither here nor there.
Rush the band is presently on tour, its two remaining original members joined on stage by the superbly gifted ebullience of Anika Nilles on drums alongside the sonic fleshing-out skills of keyboardist and backing vocalist Loren Gold. What was thought impossible following the 2020 death of Rush’s drummer and lyricist extraordinaire Neal Peart — namely, seeing the band live once more — has become a delightful reality.
It is not a reality without, for lack of a better word, reality. Peart’s absence is noted throughout the show via video clips of the man nicknamed The Professor by his rabid fans, and even with a setlist changing from night to night, every performance contains “Bravado” from the band’s 1991 album “Roll the Bones.”
The song’s closing lyrics hit hard.
If love remains
Though everything is lost
We will pay the price,
But we will not count the cost
This came to mind this morning (September 7, 2026) when reading Erika Kirk’s thoughts on love and loss as the first anniversary of her husband’s assassination on September 10, 2025, approaches. As one can readily understand, it is not an easy read as Erika shares from the heart thoughts and observations all who have dealt with loss at the deepest level can readily understand.
Eventually, I worked up the courage to go into our bathroom. I stared at his side of the sink. His toothbrush was still lying on its side, his towel still hanging on the hook. “I’ll never touch that towel,” I told myself.
Erika Kirk also shares the wise advice she received from Second Lady Usha Vance.
As she held my hand, she said: “You know when you’re on an airplane with your kids, and you’re going to land in 15 minutes, but the kids are going crazy, screaming, throwing things, and then the plane lands, and the kids relax, and everything is fine again? That’s how it will be. Just get through the next 15 minutes.”
Her words are seared into my heart.
Erika Kirk goes on to explain how she has seen the God to whom she fervently clings work miracles through Charlie Kirk’s death, bringing individuals back to Him and healing previously torn apart families. The loss and grief remain, yet she remarks that she welcomes them and their reminder that she and her family are still alive. As is Charlie Kirk, now in heaven, receiving the rewards for his faith and deeds performed to spread the Gospel and love of Jesus to the world.
I am reminded of a scene from the 2024 biopic “Reagan,” in which, after the assassination attempt of President Reagan by John Hinckley, then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill visits Reagan in the hospital. Despite the severity of the situation, O’Neill cannot help but remark with a grin, “You’ll do anything to get that tax cut of yours passed.” He and Reagan were old-school politicians and for that matter people, fighting like terriers all day over matters of policy and platforms, yet getting together after work for a drink and camaraderie. We don’t see much of that these days in an era ripe with the politics of personal destruction.
Grief, no matter how blindingly agonizing it often is, has a purpose. It should drive us not into bitterness, but rather into the arms of a loving Savior, the Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief. It should bring us who remain closer together, mindful that life is sacred no matter the screechings of those obsessed with the notion that alleged hormonal imbalances are an excuse for ending innocent lives. As the Scripture says, death is swallowed up in victory. We should be thankful for the example of Erika Kirk, who acknowledges her grief yet continues to press on. As the song says, if love remains though everything is lost — at least on the surface — we will pay the price, but we will not count the cost. We cannot count the immeasurable riches of love.