Maybe I should write an update about my personal life. Lots has been happening. I last wrote a post about personal matters when I was in Brazil 2 years ago. Back then I was on a trip to Rio and Sao Paulo to do recordings in Portuguese for the Prophecies of Daniel videos. The first Portuguese video I did went on YouTube in the fall of 2019, a very fulfilling milestone for me in the work I was doing to get these into foreign languages.

But a funny thing happened. Around that time I felt prompted from the Lord that I should begin to turn back towards completing the Prophecies of Daniel series in English, doing videos in English on Daniel chapters 10 through 12. I had last done videos in English when I completed the second video on Daniel chapter 9, back 5 years earlier.

Then as I prepared to film the Daniel 10 video in early 2020, I began to go through what the whole world was experiencing at that time: the impact of the global Corona virus pandemic. Although some dear friends of mine got sick with it, even friends who lived very close to me, I’ve stayed healthy through it all and I personally know only a handful of friends who’ve died of the virus.

One thing the pandemic did was to increase the social isolation that I’d been experiencing for the last 5 years or so. And maybe I should tell you how that affected me as I don’t want to make this just about what’s been getting done but also what’s been happening in my life, even my personal life.

Through 2020 I was concentrated on getting the 4 videos done that would complete the Daniel series in English. I stayed very focused, possibly too focused on getting these done, including all the myriad details that go into each one. And the Lord blessedly raised up some dear friends in the Houston area who were able to do the filming on the videos, which they did well and the end product was coming out nice.

By the fall of 2020 I was filming on the third of the 4 videos that were to be done. But inside I felt like I was drying up. Between the Corona virus restrictions and my own super-focused work on finishing the English videos, I just felt like something, perhaps many things were missing in my life.

So one afternoon in Houston, I guess I sort of “had it out with the Lord”. I told Him I felt like I just couldn’t go on with the regime and pace that I’d been having and that I needed a more well-rounded life, more social interaction with real people, not just in cyberspace, and a better balance between work and all the other aspects of life.

It was almost like the Lord had been waiting for me to pray that prayer. Immediately I got the strong impression that I should finish the rest of the English videos on Daniel and then make a real effort to move back to Austin and get my own place. I’d been living rurally for nearly 5 years northeast of San Antonio with some dear friends, renting a room from them. But I had established very little in the way of a personal life there and what I did have still revolved around visiting Austin, well over an hour away up the freeway.

In January of 2021, the last video in the series, the Daniel 12 video, went up on YouTube. It was the longest one I’ve ever done and one I enjoyed very much. Then, right after that, I turned my attention towards what the Lord had pointed out to me was my next step: moving back to Austin and getting my own place there. And, truly amazingly, in 5 months time I was moving into this wonderful house that I now live in.

Even in normal times that would be pretty quick but any of you who are familiar with the Austin housing market right now know what a marvel that is. Prices in the area are so high now that it’s becoming a regularly reported subject in the news in the States. But the Lord raised up a very helpful real estate agent from the Sunday school group I’ve known in Austin for years and she really came through, helping me navigate all the hoops and hurdles.

It’s been incredible to get the place I have in the circumstances and conditions of the present. I don’t say “it’s just right” very often but I do think this is appropriate here. And just to show the Lord’s love in all this, the property is covered with trees and I’ve always liked gardening and things like that. Back in January I put a request out to friends for their prayers that the Lord would provide a good house for me; thanks so much for the many of you who prayed for this.

So, “the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” (Psalm 126:3) Meanwhile, I haven’t visited my kids and grandkids in Scandinavia in 2 years, because of the pandemic. And efforts in recent days to see if I can now visit over there haven’t gone well, mainly because the travel restrictions to Norway are still very daunting and I’m literally not allowed to go there, even though I have been vaccinated. I’m hoping and praying that there will be a easing of the restrictions soon so that I can see all of them again, including a new grandson who I have never seen.

And I’m not really finished with the videos yet. I have 13 foreign language videos which were recorded in my travels abroad between 2015 and 2019 that have not been finalized. I still have a lot of work to do just to complete these ones that are already well along the way.

This move and recent events have all been a major “sea change” in my life, one that has been very needed and also rather surprising in how well it has all gone. Sometimes the Lord does “exceedingly abundantly, above all we ask or thing.” (Ephesians 3:20) I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.