By now many of you have heard the news that Larry passed away on Sunday Feb 24, 2008. At this moment I am in the Minneapolis airport en route to Salem, Oregon, the site of tomorrow morning's memorial service for Larry (which, by the way, I am told will be pretty unorthodox--should we be surprised? :)). Progress on the book has been very slow (for many reasons, first & foremost the ongoing medical situation of our youngest daughter (www.toriisamazing.com), and at times I have wondered if I will ever get it done. Then this past Monday February 25, I received a call from Larry's son Mike, and as soon as my wife told me who was on the phone, I knew. It was the call I hoped I would never get, at least not until the book was done so Larry could have enjoyed it. But that opportunity has passed now, which brings us to the present. The book was never supposed to be "about Larry" in terms of glorifying him, so in that sense, I'm sure Larry is not sad or missing anything. With his passing, though, does come a renewed vigor to work at this as diligently as possible and still carry through the original main purpose--to shed some light on Larry's life but even more than that, to redirect people's attention to the God Larry loved his whole life and the God who Larry is enjoying now, face to face. For now, please know your entries continue to be welcome. I am guessing it will still be at least until the summer before this comes together, so the door is open for more stories to be shared. I will also let you know more about the direction the book will take, since I want to speak with Larry's son Mike, as well as Larry's brother Charles & his wife Kristin, about these matters. If you think of it, please pray for Larry's family at this time. I know how much I miss him; I can only imagine how difficult it is for the Norman family. I do hope to have more news to post after this weekend in Salem (I'm scheduled to be in town thru Monday morning), so do check back in soon to see if there are new developments. One last thing: If you are interested in helping support Larry's family at this time by contributing something towards Larry's funeral expenses (as referenced at www.larrynorman.com), please email me & I will let you know how you can follow up on that (this is one of the things I hope to speak with Mike & Charles & Kristin about this weekend). God bless you, td

Larry has touched my life; he's challenged me, inspired me, intrigued me, touched me, and taught me through his songs, his interviews, his writings, his concerts, and even backstage after his concerts. I remember a concert of Larry's in Kansas City in 1978. Perhaps a third or more of the way through the show, he stopped and said, "I keep thinking something different is supposed to happen here tonight, but I don't know what it is." He had a paper in his hand, probably with a song request written on it, and he said "this isn't it." After some more time spent muttering, messing with his hair, and concentrating, he explained his belief about how each concert was a unique opportunity to communicate with honesty, and his disappointment at the number of Christian groups who would say "the show must go on," no matter whether they were having a hard time or lousy day. He said again that he didn't know what was supposed to happen. He was quiet a moment, then he said, "I don't know . . . does anybody have any questions?" It was the beginning of an especially intimate time from this most intimate of performers. For at least the next 30 minutes, Larry just stood there holding his guitar, holding forth on a variety of issues.
The first thing from the audience was a comment: "I like your smile!" but he treated it like a question, and spent several minutes talking about his seriousness, and that he didn't really know he was funny until Randy Stonehill lived with him and laughed at so many things he said. Someone asked what he thought of Jim Jones, since the Jonestown mass suicide had recently occurred. He talked for a long time about that; he said an L.A. publication had done an article on Jones more than a year before he left the states, and that he was quoted in the article as saying he was God. Larry lamented that Christians read both too much and too little-they read entertainment to pass the time, but fail to read material that relates to news and the culture. I remember him saying "God has an opinion on everything, and we should, too." It was an enlightening and stimulating time; it was riveting. I wish I could remember more of what was said, but I'm grateful for the parts I have been able to hold onto, and glad that Larry turned away from the show, and tried to share his heart.