Karla Akins - this Pastor's Wife really does Wear Biker Boots!

About the Author:

I’ve always been a little weird. While most kids were out dating and partying in high school, I was sitting at my mother’s typewriter (you know, those things we used to write with when dinosaurs roamed the earth) writing plays, poems and stories. My senior year in high school my drama teacher rounded up enough students to perform one of my plays—a three-act musical—at a theater convention in New York City.

In grade school I’d read the entire fiction, biography, and history sections of the school library. I read some of the science section but I was mostly interested in how people’s stories played out. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love books. My parents kept shelves full of them, and I think I’d read a great deal of the classics by the time I was in eighth grade.

Circumstances of my childhood created opportunities for developing a vivid imagination. Even when I found out at the age of nine that my mother was my step-mother, I imagined my birth mother a Russian princess. I was more fascinated with the drama of being an abandoned child than I was with the sad reality of it. I think I still am.

One thing that was consistent in my childhood was that I had a rich resource of supportive adults in my life: school teachers, Sunday school teachers, and parents who loved books and supported my writing. I entered all sorts of writing contests as a kid. One morning I heard my name mentioned and my poem read on the radio when I won a tie for my father with a poem I’d written.

In college (my first time around) I majored in Music Theater and before I could graduate met a handsome minister and married him. I then earned theology degrees and a doctorate in Christian Education. We have been in the ministry together now for more than 32 years and I still minister as the church pianist and Christian Education and Women’s Ministries leader and a host of other things.

I homeschooled or cottage schooled my five children during most of their schooling. All my children but my youngest (adopted twins with autism and developmental delays) are grown.  My youngest now attend an outstanding program at the local high school and vocational school in the afternoon. I am blessed with five gorgeous, perfect granddaughters. After rearing four boys and one girl, the granddaughters are a real delight to this grandma's heart!

I’m currently pursuing another degree in Special Education. I asked the Lord to show me whether or not to attend school or simply write, and He didn’t answer. He left it up to me. So for a season I’m doing both. My goal is to be an online teacher in a college or high school setting if this writing gig doesn’t pan out.

My first loves (as far as things I enjoy doing) have always been music, theater, teaching and special needs people. But my greatest passion for writing has never faded. It’s only grown stronger.

However, my very first love is Christ Jesus. I believe He has forgiven me of my sins (which are many) and has redeemed me from the mistakes of my past. I believe that if I ask Him, “Lord, do you remember when I did that horrible thing?” that He answers, “No. It’s under the blood of my son.” I like what Corrie Ten Boom says, “God throws our sins into the sea and puts a sign there that says, ‘No Fishing.’”

I pray that my writing will help someone in their journey toward knowing God and developing a relationship with Him. I hope it answers hard questions but also creates questions that people want answers for. I want to be salt so that seeking souls will thirst for the Water of His Word. I pray the legacy I leave will be, most of all, that I loved God with all my heart, soul and strength, and that I truly loved my neighbor as myself.

 

About the Book:

Pastor’s wife, Kirstie Donovan, lives life in a fishbowl, so when she hops on the back of a bright pink motorcycle, tongues start to wag at the conservative, century-old First Independent Christian Community Church of Eels Falls.

Kirstie loves roaring down a road less traveled by most women over forty, but she’s not just riding her bike for the fun of it. Kirstie has a ministry. However, certain church members have secrets to hide, and when God uses Kirstie’s ministry to fill the pews with leather-clad, tattooed bikers, those secrets could be exposed…and some will stop at nothing to hide the truth.

Join Kirstie and her motorcycle “gang”—two church matrons and a mouthy, gum-smacking non-church member—as they discover that road-toughened bikers are quite capable of ministering to others, and faith is fortified in the most unexpected ways.

Buy on Amazon 

 

Karla, what do you love about this book?

I think every author loves their first novel.. I cut my novel-teeth on this one and learned so much about the craft from my critique partners. I also love it for the story because it deals with a pastor’s wife, a child with autism, and church relationships. As a pastor’s wife I was able to share through fiction what it’s like living in a fishbowl. I like making people laugh, and that’s another reason I love this book.

What two things have you learned from being a pastor’s wife that you can share with anyone to encourage her?

 

1.      Please God not man or woman. You are accountable first and foremost to Him and if you’re pleasing Him, that’s all that matters. Be yourself, not someone you think everyone wants you to be. You will never please everybody so don’t try.

2.      Let the love of Christ flow through you. Picture people as the lost lambs they are and you’ll be able to love them well. There are some people you can only love through God’s grace and by seeing them as the very people Christ died for.

 

Karla, share one of your funniest moments on the motorcycle.

I stopped to take pictures of some cows. I like to tool around in the country on my motorcycle with my camera. I was fascinated with this one little calf because he had a heart shaped spot on his forehead. I thought it was unique and was snapping away at his face. When I looked up from my camera he was surrounded by the herd and they all stood staring at me with the same mark on their foreheads. It felt like I was in one of those Happy California Cows commercials in the twilight zone.

 

 

Lisa: Okay, I thought Eels Falls was funny - this is a hoot! Thanks, Karla, and my very best wishes with the book.