Personal news and Tabernacles conference heads up

I took Darla to the clinic this morning for her checkup from her hip surgery two months ago, so I won’t have time to do a regular Bible study today. She is doing very well and is now taking long walks with me without any difficulty. The doctor says it takes a full year to return fully to “normal,” but I think she will achieve that much sooner. Right now she just needs to regain full flexibility to get back her long stride.

We are taking a trip out of state in early June and plan to be gone about 8 or 9 days. I will be teaching in a small church and visiting family for a few days. During that time, it is not likely that I will do regular weblogs (Bible studies) while I am away from my library resources. However, if I have time, I might post some articles from my laptop.

The governor of Minnesota extended our “lockdown” until May 18. It has not affected me much, except for the closing of restaurants and the flood of news that I try to keep up with. I know the lockdown has affected many of you, along with the rest of the country, especially if you live in a Democrat-run state or city. Minnesota has a Democrat governor, but our situation is not nearly as oppressive as in states like California.

With trillions of dollars being thrown at the problem, many people are making more money from unemployment insurance and the “stimulus checks” than when they were working full time. My son who works at Walmart says that the store is having difficulty finding enough employees, such as cashiers, because they make more money by staying home. In this case, they are allowed to claim that they are afraid of contracting covid-19 as an excuse to stop working. After all, if you can make more money by not working, most people would take that option, unless, of course, a person owns a small business.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of the ministry during this time of uncertainty. Some of you have been extra generous, and this has kept the ministry going pretty much as usual with no hardship. As the apostle Paul would say, “I thank God for you all.”

I have made arrangements to hold the Tabernacles conference at the same hotel that was cancelled earlier when we had to cancel the Passover conference. We will be holding it at the Clarion Hotel in Knoxville, TN on October 9-11. I had discerned this shortly after the Passover conference was cancelled, but waited until I received confirmation before calling them and signing the paperwork. I will be posting more details as soon as all of the speakers are confirmed.