SELF PORTRAIT

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Jan. 4, 1955, in El Dorado FAMILY: wife, Julie; adult children Christoph Keller and Mary Olive Keller

MY MORNING ROUTINE: Awake at 5:30, a shower and a bowl of Wheat Chex and Corn Chex mixed. I’m here at 6:45 with the door closed, working on sermons until 9. Then, I open the door and start the flux of things.

MY EVENING ROUTINE: Home after 5:30. My wife and I practice a dance move for a minute at 6 o’clock,

eat supper about 6:30. Lately, I’m watching Blue Bloods, and then … in bed by 9:30.

THE BIBLE PASSAGE I QUOTE MOST IN TIMES OF CONSOLATION: Romans 12:12, Let hope keep you joyful; in trouble stand firm ; persist in prayer.

THE BIBLE PASSAGE I STRUGGLE WITH MOST: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, or love your neighbor as yourself.

I’M A SUCKER FOR anyone with an Ozark mountain

accent.

THE MENU FOR MY LAST MEAL: fried chicken and mustard greens, field peas, sweet corn and hot water cornbread.

DESSERT? Pecan pie a la mode. THE OTHER BOOK THAT HAD AN IMPACT ON ME:

James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

WHY? It both got me headed in a scholarly direction, and … Agee’s faith, his so deeply uncynical view of the people he was living with, his recognition of their value before God, affirmed my faith.

ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP: Inquisitive