kirblog has moved

here is my new spot for kirblog. yeah, going to try and get to writing again.

on being Pentecostal

here's one piece that i think is important - maybe most important. one church planter that happens to be from my particular tribe says, "The key to being Pentecostal is to live missional lives."

i need a new definition

what does it mean to be Pentecostal in the 21st century?

me and Willie G

God is coming

getting back to the story

i could tell you that my life has been just really busy of late and that would be true. i could tell you that Thanksgiving and Christmas and relatives and shopping and school Christmas concerts and Christmas services filled up my schedule for some time. that would also be true. i could tell you that i'm not the best at time management (not bad but not the best) and that could account for why i have not kept up with my story here. all those things would be true.

but the real truth about why i haven't written is because of what comes next in the story. next is one of those chapters from my life that i would rather delete if i could. the problem is, it's my story. it is what happened. and it's hard. and still ... there is grace.

more later ... and soon ... really.

harley grace - part four

what an amazing thing! i was soaring. it was blessing time for the kirbys. new life was coming into our lives, into our home. a tiny light began suddenly shining in the midst of so much darkness. it was a huge reminder to me that God had not forgotten us out here in our desert place.

there was so much to do, so much to prepare for in our home.

we started trying out baby names and talked about baby furniture and baby clothes and baby toys. we started talking about baby's first Christmas which we realized would happen this year. on and on we talked, planned and, for a time, rejoiced in secret about our baby.

but we waited only a little while and finally began telling friends and family our incredible news. our joy and that of our friends and extended family was limitless. good things were happening and good days were coming.

well, i continued on my path, albeit with with a decidedly new skip in my step, just praying, hoping and looking for opportunities to connect with bikers in the community. i had heard about a guy, indian mike, as he was called (because he owned a classic indian motorcycle that he had rebuilt himself and with which he had won many bike shows), who worked at the local harley dealer. more importantly, indian mike was one of the founders and co-presidents of a chapter of the yellow jackets motorcycle club and he had been a part of another popular club in the area before that. in other words, this guy had connections to lots of bikers ... and ... it just so happened that someone in our church knew him, or at least, knew his wife.

this was an interesting development - finding out that someone in our church knew indian mike - and i intended to look into this guy and figure out how we might be able to meet him and maybe reach out to him and to others through him. yeah, i fully intended to look into this. but ... as ministry life goes, i got busy with so many other things and the days and weeks began to slip by.

then, one sunday after church i was talking with a woman, liz, who was very new to our church. in fact liz had only attended two or three times and i had met her and talked with her some but what i found out about this woman on this particular sunday just blew me away. her husband was a biker. cool.

"hey, that's really interesting because i just started riding again," i remember telling her.

"you should talk to my husband. he rides a harley. in fact he works at the harley dealer in town."

"oh, really?"

"yeah, his name is mike. you should meet him. and if you are looking for a bike i'm sure he could help you. here's his card."

liz's husband was a biker ... but not just any biker. his name was mike ... but not just any mike. he ... was indian mike.

more later...