Welcome. I’ve been a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) since my ordination in 1979. I live in Houston and work part time as an intentional interim. I work part time because in 2003 I was disabled with heart disease and depression. I’m married, have three partnered children (two of whom are twins, though not their partners), and a granddaughter.
My background starts in Johnstown, PA, 1948 and moves to Los Angeles in 1961. I spent three years as a trombonist in the Army band doing the twilight zone experience of Vietnam (marching between mortars) and then Hawaii. After being discharged I got fired from a stint with a circus band, so went back to college for a degree in Humanities with a concentration in literature and music from CA State University, Northridge. Sue and I were married in 1973; in 1975 we hoofed it off to St. Paul, MN for seminary (Luther). We did my internship year in Lubbock. My first call out of seminary was in Winters, TX, a fun place for four years. We moved to Houston in 1983, and I spent twenty years at a growing suburban congregation. Our kids were all born while I was in seminary.
I enjoy writing, and hope you enjoy reading the stuff. Your comments are invited.
Thanks for visiting.
Larry Keene
Which one’s Keene?!?!?
Remember, you asked for comments in the last “Kwikie.” 8^)
By: Rob Moore on December 6, 2008
at 2:55 am
Great idea, Larry for your web site. I’m glad to be a part of it and to at times repond…whatever that will mean…I do enjoy reading your reflections and observations of life and its living…in the environment of Gospel life and living….it’s like reading where the ‘rubber hits the road’ theology and wisdom….Maybe its proverbs Larry or wisdom Larry and just knowing life when one lives it and is able to step back and give some thought to its enery and flow….
Peace this Advent as we prepare to realize that Jesus, born in Bethlehem is already managered in our hearts…..Awake! He is there!
Chuck Kindsvatter
By: Chuck Kindsvatter on December 6, 2008
at 8:57 am
You complained of few blogs. Here’s one for you.
I recently served as a juror in a capital murder trial without the death penalty as an option. After we found the defendant guilty of capital murder, the judge sentenced the defendant to life without parole. My problems with this is that this defendant will be a danger for years to come for other prisoners. He has already completed one term in state prison in which he served the entrire sentence (no time for good behavior). He is big, strong and young.
In the past I have been opposed to the death penalty, but in this case I might go with it. If anyone deserves the ultimate fate, it’s certainly this guy and his brother. The only reason the state did not seek the death penalty was because it was not clear which one of them fired the gun.
I may never forget the video of the crime scene with the victim sitting on her own couch with blood all over her face and chest (she was shot in the back of the head with a .25 caliber pistol at about a 2 foot range, no exit wound). The defendants got about $300 for their brutality.
The trial will certainly be an experience I will never forget.
By: George Loftin on March 26, 2009
at 6:10 pm