#205: Mike Kinney: Out of the Fire
A horrible crash, a life-changing encounter, and a story of hope. You don't want to miss this conversation with Mike Kinney.
https://www.mikekinneystory.com/
https://www.instagram.com/twmilt/
EP. 205
Tony: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Reclamation Podcast, where our goal is to help you reclaim good practices for following Jesus. If we haven't met yet, my name is Tony and I'm your host with over a decade in the local church. I want to help you move closer to Jesus. Through word de. So I hope that this conversation is uplifting to you.
If it is, do me a favor. Hit that subscribe button everywhere you listen to podcast. Leave a rating or review on the platform that is easiest for you and the highest compliment you can give us. Share this episode with a friend. Maybe somebody who you'd know that needs to hear about some hope about the real presence of God, because that's what today's story is all about.
Mike Kenny is an author and a speaker, and he's a survivor. He's a man who cares about hope. His life was saved by God from the Flames for a unique purpose and his latest resource outta the fire invites [00:01:00] readers to live out the purpose God has for their. So I think you're really gonna love this conversation.
He's got a great voice. It's something that I know many of us need to hear, especially if you're going through something. So without any further ado, here's my conversation with Mike Kenny. Hey everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm excited today to be here with entrepreneur, author, speaker, worship leader Mike Kenny.
Mike, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. Thanks for having me. . So I always love to kind of start out, we're gonna jump into your story real quickly because it's a big story that has a lot of kind of twists and turns and it's, it's all about your it's, it's all told and your latest resource out of the fire.
But before we jump into that, I like to start by asking people, how would you define the calling that God has placed on your life?
Mike: Oh, I love that question. You know, it's only recently become clear. I feel like over the years that's part of the reason I wrote the book was I was trying to [00:02:00] figure out what my purpose was and if I could even if I could even live up to the purpose and the calling God I had on my life.
And so I put quite a bit of pressure on myself. I guess I would define my, the purpose. I feel like God has placed on my life as one that is just sharing my story with other people in, in hopes to, that the right people and the right place hear it and those that are broken and hurting and lost and feel like there are all alone, and that maybe they felt abandoned.
They've been through trauma and they're just kind of scratching their head or wondering, where's God in the middle of my story. Hopefully they hear, they hear about my story and they realize that Jesus has been with them all along. And and so that's the, I don't know if that answers your question, but that, that
Tony: No, that's great.
Yeah. No, I. . I, I think that's beautifully said. And in one of the words that [00:03:00] you used in there that, that really stuck out to me, and maybe it stuck out to someone else too, is the word trauma. Now your trauma as in a moment will, we'll jump into was very easily defined, but I think that there's there's more trauma in the world that we live in today, maybe than ever I've seen in my lifetime.
How would you define. What trauma is, how, how do we know if we've had a traumatic experience?
Mike: Man there, there are layers to it. I mean, trauma, like an injury. Trauma, right. And certainly I had that with the burns and the scarring. But then there's, there's emotional trauma. Yeah. Physical, emotional and for me, the trauma was in some ways, you know It was I mean, it was mental.
It was emotional. I wouldn't call it, it wasn't spiritual trauma, but it was trying to sort through what just happened to me and what does this mean, you know, for the rest of my life. What am I supposed to do with this? And[00:04:00] you know, it's traumatic being a teenager and. , you know, having all these questions that a teenager is gonna have about what am I supposed to do?
I was going into my senior year of high school when the accident happened and was kind of, you know, trying to fill, figure out what God had for me, but who I was and where I was accepted. And I, I started to find that in leading worship. And you know, through accolades from not just my parents but other people in, in the, my community, I was thinking, this is it.
This is what I'm supposed to do. And started leading worship for two or 300 kids every weekend. And at that point in time, that's all I could see is that's what my purpose was. So, after the accident, it was like I had all these limitations I started facing cuz I had this severe brain injury. , and it was like, Okay, what in the world am I gonna do and what's my purpose?
And that felt a little traumatic, [00:05:00] you know? Mm-hmm. When you just feel like something's kind of ripped away from you, or, or you're kind of just lost in this haze. And that's where I felt that I was us
Tony: l Let's, let's jump into the, a little bit of the story. in your senior year of, or going into your senior year of high school?
I, I think I read 17 at the time. Yeah. And can you, can you kind of take us through that night? What, what happened?
Mike: Sure. Absolutely. Yes. So this would've been about 20 years ago that the accident happened, and second in my senior in high school, I had been swimming five hours a day. So I was pretty tired.
And but was gonna be hanging out with my good friend Matt Blake Andorf. And you know, we, we had all these plans. We changed them to be able to spend some time together at his parents' lake house. And on the way to the lake house. I fell asleep at the wheel. We were going about 55 miles an hour.
Matt was driving in front of me and [00:06:00] even though the dimmer was set on his rear view mirror, He saw my lights kind of moving back and forth across the road and, you know, off the road through a hollow tree and into a telephone pole. And wow. You know, everything collapsed on top of my legs. I was trapped in the truck and by the time he got to it it was, it was on fire.
I had a cloth interior so that the flames were spreading pretty quickly. And so this, this kind of journey began for Matt in that moment where he was all alone with me on this dark country highway, and pulled on me for probably five. Or so minutes before, finally he saw a car coming down this dark country road and left me hanging from the truck.
I had shattered the left side of my face. My eye socket, my eye, my eye apparently was hanging out of its socket. And he didn't know if I was alive or dead at this point. Wow. And so anyhow, he went to the road to try to wave this guy down. And the, the, the driver [00:07:00] slowed down. and just then zoom past him and he's like, He's gotta be kidding me.
You know, like, and so he's praying, he is shouting out to God and comes back to the truck and you know, it, it's I just can't imagine being in that moment that he was in. But. We've all been, we've all been in those types of situations before where it just seems like everything's hopeless.
We're helpless, there's nothing we can do, and that's where Matt found himself. So that's how the story begins.
Tony: Yeah, I, So, I, I'm curious what's your relationship with Matt like today? Are, how's he, how's he feel about this book coming out and him being a, I mean, obviously you're, he's a crucial part of your story.
Yeah. You know, and, and. And I would imagine now you're a crucial part of his. Yeah. You probably were before. I don't wanna undermine that friendship, but you, you have a moment like that and it, it changes everything. What's it, what's it been like for you two since then?
Mike: Yeah. Matt and I are bonded together for life.
You [00:08:00] know, through what, what happened and we were already friends, but of course, over the last 20 years we've, we've grown grown up together, and now we, we each have kids and You know, I've got all the respect in the world for Matt. He was the, he was the guy that God wanted to be with me that night.
Matt's a special guy. Not everybody, you know, stands by their friend and in front of a burning truck that could have blown up for five or six minutes, and he just wasn't willing to give up on me. And now I have three beautiful kids. Tho those kids are, they wouldn't be here if it weren't for Matt and.
You know, Matt's had his own story, his own journey that he's taken with, with he and and his family. And, you know, just time. And again, God has shown himself to be faithful to Matt. And his family. Doesn't mean it's been easy for him, but man, we've just been able to share life together. It's, he's a great friend to have.
Tony: You know, I, I imagine that one of the [00:09:00] things that could be challenging for you in this position is how, how do you ever say enough thank yous to a guy who stood in front of a burning truck for you? H how have you reconciled that? Assuming that you have, and maybe that's the wrong assumption, but like how, how do you deal with the fact that's like, Oh, I own my entire life and my kid's existence to this guy and Yeah.
I, I don't know why, but for some reason I have some anxiety about like, Man, how do you ever think, Matt? What kind of card do you get for him? Is there hallmark section of, Hey, you saved my life, Thanks for not letting me die on the side of a road alone.
Mike: Right, right. That's that's funny. I've, I've probably felt like that more so when I was younger.
You know, each year, probably on August 16th, which is when the accident happened, I'll send a text to him, you know, and you, you can't say thank you enough because as I go through mm-hmm. my life, and you know, each new day, each new blessing, you know, I can still circle back to Matt and say, Man, look at what God's doing.
You know, And, and none of this happens. And who knows where Matt would be, you know, [00:10:00] if, if things had been different that night, you know? And. I mean, we both, we both may not have made it out of there. And yeah, so it wasn't just my life in the balance, but Matt's life as well. And so we both are thankful.
And Matt's kind of let me off the hook with that. I mean, he's always told me, Look, you know, he's like, If it had been me and you, or you know, if it had been me in the crash, you would've done the same thing. And, and that's always been his, his attitude and, and he is right. And you hope that you would do that.
But I'm telling you, in that situ. Matt had incredible courage and faith and he was the right guy that God wanted to use in that moment.
Tony: So how does the story progress from there? Because it, while you're in care, a lot of like, like the, the, the truck would've been crazy enough, but a whole lot of things happened.
Take us through the next part.
Mike: Yeah, so. The next part of the accident scene in particular. Yeah. So it's really incredible [00:11:00] for me to share this story, I feel like is not totally fair because Matt lived it, experienced it, and so. So I wrote a book about it instead, but I'll, I'll try to share what happened.
You know, in that that's in that moment that we were by ourselves, this stranger that drove past. Matt comes back to the accident scene running through these woods and he is like, Get away from the truck. It's gonna blow up. What are you doing? And they argue for like a minute back and. And finally with hasta feel like an eternity, right?
Tony: Like a minute while the truck's on fire and your friend's hanging out with his face, basically dismembered, right? Like, I mean, that's, yeah. I mean a minute's, a very, just, the trauma has gotta be like
Mike: real at this point. Very long time. And Matt was just, he was in the zone and he was focused and he said like, I am not leaving.
This is my brother. I'm not leaving him in the truck. I need your help. And finally the guy came. The flames at this point were like 15 feet up a wooden pole. Wow. And we actually had video footage of this from when the, [00:12:00] the fire trucks came. I mean, it's just crazy. You can hear the back and forth between the officer and Matt and I.
You can even hear the stranger. It's absolutely crazy. And so you don't get to hear everything, but you hear enough to, to know what the intensity of that moment was. And so finally, they, they pull me out on three and my legs fall outta the truck. Matt apparently takes his shirt off to beat the fire off of my legs my hands, and and then this stranger that helped him.
Was kind of running circles around the truck and then he just kind of disappeared. We don't know why but disappears from the scene of the accident and Wow. And so it's just Matt and I in this field. And Matt is, he's been calling out Jesus' name like the whole time. You know, we had just led worship for the youth group service services at our church.
And my guitar is burning in the back of the truck at this very moment. And So Matt's calling out to Jesus. He's got, you know, he had already [00:13:00] felt like there was an angelic presence in the passenger seat because everything was on fire, but there was just this one little clearing in the passenger seat and that, that was comforting.
The Matt, he felt like there was an angel that was there and that was giving him hope as he tried to pull me out. And so anyway, we're, we're in the field. He's kneeled down next to me and he sees. Jesus coming up by the corner of his eye walking slowly, like not in a hurry at all. He's got like, you know, he describes it as like a wearing a button down shirt.
He's got a black doctor's bag and he, he said, he, he, he walks up, you know, and knees down across from Matt and. He, the way he describes it is that he's like, you know, if you're in the room with somebody and you turn the lights off and it's like, and it's completely dark, the person's still there. Like they're almost so real.
You [00:14:00] can reach out and touch him. And he said, That's the way this moment felt. And he said it was like he, he. Jesus like, like lifted up his head, looked at him and said like, Mike's, you know, Mike's gonna be all right. You're gonna be right. You know? And he and Matt's convinced to this day that the Lord was performing miracles on me in that moment in the field.
Tony: Let, can we, can we jump in on some? Yeah. I, I'm gonna call 'em theological discussions. Sure. But just some Jesus talk, Right? Like listen, I, I really believe, and the my friends who listen all the time, they know that I'm, I believe in the real presence of Jesus every, like that it's there for us. Yes. But I also know that there's somebody listening who's been through some tough stuff.
Right. Maybe not pulling out of a burning. Truck, How do you reconcile the theology that you and, and Matt got a visit from Jesus and a lot of [00:15:00] people don't.
Mike: Yeah. You know, that's something I wrestled with after the accident was why doesn't everybody make it out of their burning trucks? And yeah. And that's a very, that was a very honest question that I had.
And You know, the only thing that I can say is that I was unconscious. I had a brain injury. I, I didn't see Jesus come up in he me. That's a story that I've always heard, and it's the same story. Matt's never changed. He's not a weird spiritual guy. His story has never changed in 20 years. He, he knows, he knows what happened.
He knows what he saw. He's a man of faith. And he called on Jesus' name and Jesus showed up for him in that moment. Mm-hmm. . And the only thing that I can say is that for me, I went through the hospital experience and not too long after that I think shortly after I maybe had come home from the hospital, I asked my parents if I could go see the truck in the junkyard because I'm wrestling with [00:16:00] like, okay, if Matt's now shared with me what happened in the field, , but I'm like, I'm like, was was he there with me?
Was he really there with me? And so a really cool moment was as we're at the accident scene, everybody we're looking at the wreckage. Everything is burnt up. You know, We're taking pictures and Matt is just kind of like humming to try to soothe himself, you know, because he's working through trauma in that moment.
Sure, of course. But I'm, but I'm searching for Jesus in that moment. I'm like, Where were you really there? And so I reach, I look inside the truck and right in the middle of this steering wheel. That was bent up. It was bent up and should have severed my leg. It, it, it didn't, it went right to the side of it in the center of the steering wheel.
Two pieces of metal had welded together in the shape of a cross, in the center of the steering wheel. And I took a picture of that and [00:17:00] have looked at it like, I can't even tell you how many times over the last 20 years. And it was like in that moment, Jesus was reassuring me that he was with me too.
Dang.
Tony: Wow, man. I got all the feels. You know, that's, it's such an interesting process of, of showing back up and looking for affirmation.
H how did your faith change? And we're, we're gonna kind jump all around your story a little bit. I'm sorry in advance. No, that's good. How, how does your faith change because of that welded cross? Because of, I mean, you know, by all accounts, right? You, you had burns on like over 30% of your body mm-hmm.
right? Your, your body's pretty jacked up right now. And this, this moment where you are at the accident scene, [00:18:00] this is not that far removed from the actual accident. How, how much time are we talking from?
Mike: No more than probably, I'd say three months or so after the accident.
Tony: Yeah. So I mean, I mean, in, in a lifetime that's, you know, that's nothing, that's a blink.
Right? How, how does. Let me ask the question in a better way, cuz that last question was not very succinct, but how, how does your faith change the rest of the journey of rehab because of that moment where you went back and confirmed that Jesus was there?
Mike: There's just something about
looking for Jesus, you know, searching for Jesus in the middle of our pain and. and our brokenness, and it's not always clear. In fact, I went through a three month process in the hospital of, of burn recovery and [00:19:00] multiple surgeries and skin grafts and pulling staples out of my, my skin. That was pretty tender at the, at the.
That time I was asking those questions then, and, and I hadn't seen anything yet, you know, But I, Wow. I was trying to, I knew what I believed, you know, I knew who I put my hope and my faith in, and I kept looking for Jesus. And so when I, when I saw that cross in the center of that steering wheel, I think it was just confirmation of what I already believed.
I knew he was with me. Not just because of what Matt had said. You know, I believed songs that I would hear when I was laying in the hospital bed that literally felt like he was speaking to me through the song. You know? You know I saw we saw Jesus through people that came and from the church and gave food and friends and family.
I mean, you could see him anywhere. It's, it's it's how open. [00:20:00] are you to seeing him in the middle of your trauma, you know? And and so I'm not saying it's easy though. It's not like, and I like what you said, it's, there's people that are dealing with some really serious stuff, some real deep pain and but Jesus is still there.
I mean, no matter how deep the pain is, Jesus is still there. And. So I kept looking. After I saw that cross, I kept again kind of wrestling with that question of why doesn't everybody make it outta their burning trucks? And right before I was going to give, kind of share my testimony in front of my high school with Matt, there was a news article that I read titled God Isn't Sovereign Overall Events, Which doesn't, you know, doesn't sound like You know the, the God a lot of people wanna follow, right?
But the, the right, the article was talking about how God's not God's not responsible for [00:21:00] someone that, that you know, prays on the week, or , you know, some of the injustices that happen to all of us, you know, God is, and Jesus. Came to fight the darkness, that this is what was in this article. And when the darkness fights back, he lays down his life on the cross, you know?
And so I think some, sometimes we just, we want to look to God for everything and get angry at him for a situation. But the point of this article was Jesus suffers with us. When we're suffering. Mm. You know, it's, it's, he's not distant from our suffering. He he is right there with us and, you know, one day we get to find complete wholeness in, in heaven, you know, and it's, he didn't promise us that this life was gonna be easier without heartache or hardship.
He, He, but he did promise us that he will be with us.
Tony: Hey guys, just pa in this conversation with Mike to [00:22:00] remind you about Spirit and Truth. Spirit and truth is the 5 0 1 C3 ministry that makes this podcast possible. If you wanna support the podcast, the best thing that you can do outside of sharing this episode with a friend is donating to the work that God is doing at Spirit and Truth.
We're a Wesleyan equipping ministry. We walk alongside churches and pastors. Helping them live out the great commission for more information to get connected or to give, go to spirit and truth.life. So post accident, post encounter with Jesus. What, what does, what does the next season of life look like for you?
Because it, you gotta talk a little about that. You know, things obviously have to change in your life. Mm-hmm. , What, what happens next in the story? .
Mike: So what happens next is I began a journey to try to understand what my purpose was and what, why the accident happened to me. And and it was a long journey[00:23:00] because the brain injury was pretty severe and it, it's like these things were unfolding over not months and days.
They were unfolding over the years. And so , you know, I did the best that I could. I kept the faith, you know, when it was pretty hard at times. But that what happens next is I have a dream in 2000 and, let's see, 2003, so about a year after the accident in 2002. And it's of this fully functional KPO that lets you a, a kpo.
For people that don't play music is is something that a guitarist will slap on the neck of their guitar. And what it allows you to do is if a song is too low to sing, you put that capo on the second fret, there's frets along a guitar neck, you put on the second fret or third fret. Now all the sudden you can use the same chord shapes for the guitarist.
But now I can sing the melody because it's. Well, that's what a normal KPO [00:24:00] does. And at that time, guitarists were using both secular and Christian artists were using something called the shortcut kpo that would hit strings number two, three, and four out of the six guitar strings. And what that would allow you to do is have more open string tuning.
You could do alternate tunings and, and that can be fun, you know, for musicians. And for me, I play music by ear. And so You know, the area of my brain that was impacted should have impacted my ability to play music. But because of the way God made me and, and wired my brain I, I was still able to play after the accident.
And anyhow, this k o I was playing with two KPOs, the a full KPO and the shortcut KPO in a banded college. And my roommate said, Why don't you just learn how to play the capo like everybody else? But for me, You know, toward shapes were a little bit harder after the accident my motor skills were not the greatest and they were getting better, but it just still wasn't easy.
And I played by ear and [00:25:00] that's something I kind of felt like confident in. And so anyway, I had this dream about this fully functional capo that I didn't know that it existed. I hadn't seen anything like it. It would allow you to push down like a retractable button, push down a foot over each of the individual string.
So this was 2003 right after that. To kind of progress through the story, I find out I have narcolepsy In 2004, I have another car accident. Wow. In on August 16th, the same exact day that I had had two years prior. I have another accident at 55 miles an hour in the middle of the afternoon. And fortunately the, I hit the guy in front of me.
Fortunately, unfortunately, hit the guy in front of me going 50 miles an hour. So the accident wasn't that bad, but we went and I got tested and find out I have narcolepsy. So then it's like back to square one. It's just another limitation that I'm facing and took years to kind of figure out the right medication for me to take.
And lots of implications to that. But yeah, I mean, so that's kind of how it progressed [00:26:00] was I had I think an important part of the story too, to share not to get off track, but is that in the hospital? I received a guitar from Pete Townson of the Who and I didn't even know who Pete Townson was.
Apparently he's like a rock legend. And well, right.
Tony: I, because you were on Bob and Tom. Right, Right. But they heard about your story on Bob and Tom. The, So I'm in Dayton, so we get Bob and Tom in the morning. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, we're close enough to where you're at in Indiana. They're in Indiana based, you know, I think they might even be nationally syndicated radio show.
Bob and Tom. They are, Yeah. They play humorous skits and classic rock.
Mike: Right? Yeah. And it's, I mean, they're not, it's. I don't know if they're necessarily doing Christian radio, but like they're, they're good guys. Got a funny show and they heard about my story cuz they were collecting guitar picks. My friends and family were collecting guitar picks and so we were like, had a connection with Bob and Tom Radio with Tom Griswold and we said, Hey, would you be willing to talk about this?
He does. And I start getting guitar picks from all over the. [00:27:00] And they reached out to the who in London and said, Hey Pete, would you be willing to send Mike a guitar pick? And he is like, How about I send him a guitar? And so he sends me a Gibson guitar and he signs the body of it in big letters to Mike.
This is the Phoenix Pete. And man, that. Gave me so much hope and meaning and purpose. I don't know if I could have wrapped my head around it at the time. Exactly. You know what it was. But there was people like visiting my hospital room just to see the guitar. So apparently people thought he was a pretty special guy.
And he wrote me a note on his letterhead, you know, said he'd be praying for me. And. This is a stranger to me. I mean, Pete Townson, I don't know him from Adam. And but I guess I've, I had always hoped over the years as, as I worked through this brain injury, had the narcolepsy, the capo dream is kind of developing.
I had always hoped that maybe there's a way that I could one day meet Pete Townson, you know, [00:28:00] and just say thank you to him and So anyway, there's, there's, we, you, you can ask me another question. There's some other things that kind of tie into that story, but it's definitely, I felt like the Lord was working through those things.
Yeah.
Tony: Yeah. Well, I mean, how do you I mean, cuz I, so here's the thing that I just keep wrestling with is I hear your story, right? Mm-hmm. , you're 17 years old. Right. I have a almost 17 year old, he's a junior. He's as we record this, it's fall, the, the, your book's getting ready to come out. But like, he, he, he's, he's vibrant.
He thinks he's invincible. He plays multiple sports. I mean, he's, he's probably like you, he's working out four or five hours a day, right? Like he's, he's 17. He loves the Lord, thankfully. And and yet I can't imagine. , the emotional rollercoaster that you must be on. What, and here's the question [00:29:00] that has a really long setup , but that's good.
What did, what did you do to prevent yourself from giving up or prevent yourself from. becoming a, a victim of your circumstances, cuz by all accounts, you had every right to Yeah.
Mike: You know, I had been leading worship, like I said, for the few years prior to the accident and I actually took over leadership of the youth group worship for the.
The previous year leading up to the accident. And so I'm setting up the services, I'm making the song order, I'm doing transitions, and these songs that we're singing, it's like the accident happens and it's like, okay, now we're gonna really test our faith. You know? And so I think in that moment what I did was I never stopped leaning into My faith, I never stopped singing those songs.
I never [00:30:00] stopped believing those words and, and going over them and, you know, speaking them out, singing them out loud. And so I think, looking back, I, I probably couldn't have realized it back then, but it's like when we draw close to the Lord, He draws close to us. I mean, it's a relationship, right? Yeah. And so I think that's the, the key is maybe, again, I don't even know if I knew what I was doing, but it's like in that moment, I, I wouldn't let go because I knew it was real.
I just knew that, I knew that he loved me. I knew that he had a plan of purpose for me and everything I had sang about before the accident,
I could still sing about after the. because he is, because he is good regardless of my circumstances.
Tony: Yeah. What an incredible perspective, right? That God's goodness doesn't depend on who I am mm-hmm. or what's [00:31:00] happening in my life. You, you kind of had this catalytic moment with Pete Townsend How, how do you now find yourself giving moments like that away, right? Because now you're, you're 20 years post this mm-hmm.
right? As we record, and, and you've encountered a lot. You've seen a lot. You've got kids, you got a beautiful family. Like your whole, your life has, has moved on. Yet this moment was so pivotal for you. How, how, if someone's listening, right, How, how do we create Pete towns and moments for people in our lives today?
Any, any thoughts on that? That may not even be a fair question.
Mike: Yeah, no, it's, that's a great question. I think it's looking at every moment that we live is an opportunity to to, to try to live into. You know, our purpose and our calling and to share our faith. It's like, I think we all, including myself all the time, just [00:32:00] take for granted conversations that we're having.
You know, it it, it's easy when you're having a, a podcast, you know, or you know, but when you're in a drive through line or when talking to a customer that comes in at your. You have, like, we have no idea what somebody is going through. And, and what they might be facing in that moment. And so I'm gonna use one example from the book and then an example from yesterday.
So an example from the book is a gal that sat across from me in chemistry. Her name's Clancy. I ended up writing a chapter of the book is called Reaching Clancy, and she. I don't even know how many conversations you know, we had had. But you know, the accident happens and it's towards the end of that senior year that I'm about to share my testimony.
I, I share it and afterwards she hands me a note the next day and talks about how she had been through a life threatening experience where [00:33:00] she tried to kill, he. And she said, Hearing your story reminded me that God saved me for a reason. And she said, You know, I feel like God saved you and sent you to save me.
And she said, Oh, wow. You know, I just you know, thank you for sharing your story and, and may God always be with you and I have this note framed now. In, in my barn. It's it's out there and can't tell you how many times I've looked at it over the years. And what she didn't realize was that maybe my story had impacted her.
And I'm glad that it did and gave her hope, but she didn't realize that what she did made a dramatic impact, a significant impact in my life when I had some really dark moments myself and She doesn't know that. We had a, a tragic loss of one of my family members that served in the military. And, you know, her note gave me [00:34:00] so much hope.
And so when I reached out to her to ask her if I could, you know, use her name in the book, I said, I don't know if you remember me, this is like, you know, 20 years later. And sure had two beautiful girls, like on her, on her, in her pictures and everything. And I'm. You know I just want you to know this note changed my life and I sent her a picture of the note and she said she didn't even remember writing it.
Wow. And you talk about a note that's that personal, right? I mean, that's talking about a dark moment. And sharing her story anyhow. So I just, I love it. And so, and then the story yesterday was I had somebody come to my model home again, I work in new construction and she noticed I had the book out on the table and she said, Wait, is that Mike Kenny?
Like, is that you? And I was like, Yeah, I'm writing the book and we just got to talking. , and I don't know what the conversation meant to her, but she was welling up with tears, just hearing a little bit about the story. And I wasn't trying to do anything [00:35:00] special. I was just trying to share , but it's like, I feel like that's the, when we look at it through the perspective of like, no, God does have us each here for a purpose.
We each have something we can share with somebody. And sometimes it's making 'em laugh sometimes. You know, talking about something that's a little more serious, you know, But man, each moment is so rich with potential and I think we just, we can't lose sight of that. Yeah. That's good.
Tony: I, I want to talk a little bit about the writing process.
Sure. I can imagine putting all this down on paper. Was really difficult. You know, we're, we're a couple weeks away from this book, like officially being out into the wild. Although, you know, like a lot of us, you know, we have our copies already and like all the stuff. H how's your heart in the midst of seeing the most vulnerable, scary moment of your life out there for the sea?[00:36:00]
Mike: Oh man. I mean, there's, there's some, an anxiousness with it, you know? I'm not anxious about sharing my story. I'm anxious about making sure that you know, I, I, I fulfill the purposes God has for me through this book, and I, it's not something I need to worry about. He's already, he's already got my days numbered and knows the plans he has in front of me.
But you know, the writing process itself was. Challenging man. I mean, to actually get it all out there and be really honest with yourself, I almost had to relive all of it, you know, Not only the accident Yeah. But the, the last 20 years and you have to grieve. I had to grieve some, some things and, and also maybe for, forgive myself for certain things and And then kind of lean into, Lord, what are you wanting to do through this?
And I think that's probably where I'm at now more than anything, is just remembering that back in 2000 2000, I'm gonna go [00:37:00] real quick on a 2014. Was when I met my wife. I was graduating from Learning rx, which was a cognitive rehab program. So this is 12 years after the accident. I'm with several, eight and 10 year olds in this class, and I'm graduating from this thing trying to, you know, work through this brain injury.
I get married and we, we have our, our, our first child jack in 2016, 2017. We lose. My cousin and it was just heart wrenching, you know, just to this day. It's, it's a low that I've never experienced in my life and I just don't think it's a coincidence that in 2018. I got asked to share my testimony on a men's retreat at my church. The title of the talk was designed for God's Purpose, and I think that like he just has a sense of humor, you know? And as I'm sharing my story with everyone, it's on that weekend that I had a vision of myself [00:38:00] kneeling down next to Matt by my burning truck, and it was like, Matt's got one hand on me and one hand lifted the sky praying for the Lord to come.
And it was like in that moment, Jesus was like, This is why you're here. You know, you're, I want you to share your story with other people that are lost and hurting and, and need to know that I'm with them. And so that starts to process. I still didn't know what to do. And then six months later, I have somebody come to me and say, Hey, I, I think I'd like to make a movie about your accident.
And I'm, I'm like, Okay. I feel like the Lord's wanted to do something with it, but the more we talked about it, it felt like it was gonna just be about the accident. And I was like, there's so much that happened after the accident that I want people to hear. So I went to my pastor at my church and he said, You need to write a book.
And, you know fortunately he was able to get me connected with the right people to help me with that process. But I guess that, yeah, just what I was gonna say about that journey was, it was in [00:39:00] 2018 that while I was preparing for that talk, I'm leaning, I'm reading purpose Driven Life. I'm in the word every day.
I'm like, I'm drawing closer. And what did you know that the Lord was speaking to me in those moments? Right. And it's like, it's, it's not fake. It's real. It's like when we, And so I think that's where I'm at now is it's like, okay. , God, what, what do you have for me? What do you have for this book? And, and you know, it's like, it's just a reminder that God wants to walk each day with us, every moment with us.
And he is with us. Even if we don't see him or know he is there, he's there. And if we just draw close to him, he, he will show us what he has for us. So that's where I'm at. So good.
Tony: So good. Okay, I have one more question for you but before I ask it, I know that my people are gonna wanna follow you on the Innerwebs. Where's the best place to find you online?
Mike: So, mike kenny story.com. That's my social handle as well. So [00:40:00] I'm on Facebook and Instagram Twitter You can, you can find me there and we've got an email list that's kind of growing organically.
So you know, yeah, please, please join the list and you can hear about what God's doing with the book.
Tony: Love it. Love it. Okay, last question. I always love to ask people. It's an advice question, except I get to ask you to go back and give yourself one piece of advice in the season that I, I get to name.
So I, I wanna take you back to the morning before the accident, right? That, that morning you wake up. You're a young 17, your world's in front of you. You have no idea what's about to happen. If you could pull a chair up in front of that young man look him in the eyes, and what's the one thing that you're gonna tell him?
Mike: Oh, man, I, I, I could almost get emotional just picture in that, that [00:41:00] scene. I think that I would tell him, That it's real. Jesus is real. You know? Buckle up, you know, and, and, and, and get ready. It's gonna be quite the ride. But never give up. Never stop believing. God's got a great plan for your life.
Hm.
Tony: Hmm. So good. Mike, thank you so much for your generosity of time today. Thank you for your story. I'll be praying for your book. I know that my, my Reclamation family will be praying for your book as well. And man, let's, let's stay connected as we both continue to lean into what God has for next.
Mike: Awesome. Thanks Tony. I really appreciate you having me.
Tony: I told you guys what an incredible conversation with Mike. I love his heart. I love the way God has wired him to do these amazing things. I know like many of you, [00:42:00] you heard this story and I was like, Wow, it's just crazy to see what God will do. I think God wants to do something crazy in your story too.
So sometimes you just have to be willing to surrender it to him. Do me a favor, Go follow Mike on the innerwebs. Hit the subscribe button where every listener podcast, and share this episode with a friend. So thankful to be here with each and every one of you. And remember, if you wanna follow Jesus, you must be willing to move.
