We went to Duluth, MN and ate at Grandpa’s, went fishing, swimming, kayaking and spent a lot of time around the camp fire. It was an extremely relaxing and meaningful time. It is so important for every family to be able to get away just to themselves and spend some really quality and quantity time together, making memories.

Here is a video and some pictures of our trip.

Here is a link to a video of:

Avery Driving the Boat

Good Times By the Campfire

A Campfire and a Sunset

Avery and Daddy On A Hike

Two Beautiful DeMars' Girls!

Amazing Views of the Sunset From Our Cabin

A Beautiful Day In Duluth, MN

I know for myself I’m in front of a computer for 9 or 10 hours a day at work. I’m making a concerted effort to not be on the computer at home in the evenings so I can spend time with my family.

The other thing that we do is to have dinner as a family as many nights a week as possible. In the typical week we have about six meals (including breakfast, lunch and dinner) together as a family. This is really important for us, but my desire is to have more focused time with my family outside, in the living room and wherever we go.

This is wonderful, but there are also many responsibilities that I have and at times it can get overwhelming to keep up with everything. With my work, my ministry in Minneapolis, also at my church and responsibilities around the house it becomes overwhelming and very stressful. In the midst of all the busy-ness it is so important to manage my time well so that a part of my ministry is the time, quality time, I spend with Amy and Avery. It is absolutely critical to every part of my life to relate properly to my family and to minister to and care for them. If I neglect them then I will neglect everything else. My prayer every day is to find the right balance with everything I do so that I honor God with my life.

We did the usual trips to the Coho Cafe in Tofte, MN (2 times) for breakfast and dinner or second dinner really as we had eaten about 2 hours earlier, but when you are sitting in a chair in front of a campfire or in front of the lake you work up a tremendous appetite. For breakfast we met a nice young man that worked there named TJ who was an exchange student from Turkey. Of course since they had organic coffee I drank at least 5 cups.
We also made the trip up to Grand Marais for shopping, which usually means going into shops that we never really intend to buy anything in before going to Sven and Ole’s to eat pizza. Its great excercise since we are about to go and consume thousands of calories on one of the best pizza’s in known universe. I had an iced cold press coffee (isn’t the fact that it is called cold enough?) and the rest got some sort of ice cream or smoothie.
That day happened to be the fourth of July so later we went to Bluefin Bay in Tofte to watch the fireworks which was an awesome display over Lake Superior, very fun to watch.

Avery thoroughly enjoyed playing in the dirt and getting involved in her favorite pastime which is putting small rocks she could choke on in her mouth continuously causing mom and dad the need to watch her constantly and say, ‘mommy have it’ or ‘daddy have it’ which we then take it and throw it on the ground. Her response is then to find either the same tiny rock or a different tiny rock and put it back in her mouth to which we respond by saying, ‘mommy have it’ and/or ‘daddy have it.’ She gladly responds in obedience, but continues in her favorite pastime. She also developed a new favorite pastime which consists of sitting on her bottom in Gitcheegumi or as our European ancestors renamed it Lake Superior which reaches the lofty temperature of 45 degrees and splashing to her hearts content thus creating a diaper that weighs roughly 69 pounds. It is also about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. She did really great with camping, sleeping outside, even taking naps outside. She is well on her way to be a professional camper as she did not get a late start like her daddy.

It was a rare occurrence over the camping weekend to find two things;
1. Avery without a dirt mustache
2. Me without sweat on my face.
It was an unusually humid weekend on the shores of Gitcheegumi which if I moved from my chair caused me to sweat profusely. Those who know me understand as I frequently start sweating when washing dishes in hot water.
Amy’s new pastime has become taking pictures of inordinately small things and make them fill the screen. She does a masterful job at this considering our current camera is meant to be a digitial video camera without a true zoom lens. Since she has taken up this art form it is time for me to invest in a better digital camera and a photography class for her so she can develop her talent.
We also discovered that it is a complete waste of money to purchase wood for the campfire at Lamb’s Resort. It is very wet and does not burn well and they only have birch. Of course, in Minnesota you can’t bring wood anywhere as the ash borer is on the lamb. So, we purchased wood about a mile up the Sawbill Trail at the world’s first wood supermarket. It was all done on the honor system and you received 299% more wood for the same price that you would buy it at the campsite.
On Monday we had a wonderful day relaxing around camp and then later Amy, Avery and I went to Coho Cafe for our second dinner which consisted of a modified reuben that was delicious along with a wild rice sausage and mushroom pizza. I highly recommend them both. Then on Tuesday morning we went to breakfast at Bluefin Grille and I unfortunately ordered the smallest item on the menu, the House Fritta that was extremely delicious, but did not come with toast or hashbrowns. So I ordered the hash browns separately and it became a more acceptable (and delicious breakfast). Then we began our sad ride home which consisted of Avery being fed up with being in the car for so long and me thinking and planning how I can save enough money to either buy a home or a Bluefin Bay unit on gitchigumi.

Scripture teaches us that there is one God, who is one eternal Spirit that is present everywhere, knows everything and is all powerful. By definition God is one according to Jesus this is the greatest command in Mark 12:29.

Scripture also teaches us that this great eternal God sent forth his Spirit to overshadow Mary that she would bring forth a child that would be the Son of God. Luke 1:35. This is the birth of Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:18. He was made of a woman, made under the law not in eternity. Nowhere does the bible teach he is eternal, not even in John 8:58 where Jesus says, ‘before Abraham was I am he’ which of course is reference to being the Messiah. See John 8:28 where the same phrase is written, which clearly points out that the “I am he” is the Son of man.

John 1:1-3, 14 teaches us that God’s spoken and revealed word became flesh, not a pre-existing person, but his very word of prophecy and revelation took on human flesh. The word that spoke of God’s Messiah and Son that was to come in the future was born.

The same God, who is Spirit, (john 4:24) came down at Jesus baptism and dwelt in him in fullness so that Jesus could say, “I and my Father are one.” “God, was in Christ…” and “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” The same God (who is omnipresent) spoke from heaven saying, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Even though the Father dwelt in Jesus (John 14:10) Jesus could still lift “up his eyes to heaven” and pray. (John 17:1)

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:31

Jesus is the anointed one, the Son of God, the promised Messiah. God was veiled in his flesh insomuch that Paul wrote Jesus “being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” The Son of God is equal with God for his speaks God’s words and is God’s perfect representation and manifestation to mankind. John 14:9 tells us that he that has seen Jesus Christ has seen the Father. “No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared.” John 1:18

“There is one God, the Father…and one Lord, Jesus Christ…” 1 Corinthians 8:6. There is not one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Paul does not write these words, but there is one God, the Father. Nowhere does scripture speak of God, the Son and God, the Holy Ghost, but only God, the Father. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit is the very presence, power and Spirit of God.

The divine name then changed from Jehovah to the Lord Jesus Christ. God is fully identified in our mediator, the man Christ Jesus. There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved.

“The belief was general that the sending of the Messiah was part of the Creator’s plan at the inception of the Universe. “Seven things were created before the world was created: Torah, repentance, the Garden of Eden (i.e. Paradise), Gehinnom, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah” (Pes. 54a). In a later work there is the observation: “From the beginning of the creation of the world king Messiah was born, for he entered the mind (of God) before even the world was created” (Pesikta Rab. 152b)

This was their view point towards “pre-existence” and I believe what Paul and John had hidden in their hearts as they wrote “he that came after me was preferred before me for he was before me” and “he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created…” Writing under inspiration in the gospel and epistles they understood Jesus was born before time when he entered the mind/plan of God. Messiah was born in the mind of God before the creation of the world and he was God’s perfect man, so all things were made by this perfect man, who was still a thought in the mind of the Creator. This Jewish understanding was lost and thus ensued the Greek philosophical trinity of persons. The Greeks understood these scriptures in terms of a pre-existent second divine person whereas the apostles that wrote the words understand they were referring to the pre-eminent thought and purpose of God, the Messiah.

Brother Branham stated this, “Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. How did he begin? In the womb of a virgin.” [Future Home]

Paul said that God calls those things that are not as though they were. Another rendering of the verse is “calls the things which do not exist as existing.” God’s thoughts are real and they have life in them, even if they have not been manifested or brought to pass yet. Thus all things were made by God through Messiah who was born in the mind/plan of God before creation. It is not a contradiction to say that Messiah created all things when in fact at the creation of the world he had not yet been born. He was merely born in the plan or mind of God before the creation of the world.

Some may say that Jesus is the word of John 1:1. Brother Branham said that if you make the word a separate person from God you make him one out of three. [Christ Revealed In His Own Word] I want to take a closer look at this. From the Encyclopedia Britanica. “Greek: “word,” “reason,” “plan”) In Greek philosophy and theology, the divine reason that orders the cosmos and gives it form and meaning.” Logos can literally mean the divine plan. We could render John 1:1-3, 14 as this, “in the beginning was the divine plan and the divine plan was with God and the divine plan was God. The same was in the beginning with God. In it was life and the life was the light of men. The divine plan became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” The great divine plan prior to the incarnation was with God and was God himself. God’s revelation is God, you cannot separate God from his self-revelation and plan. God’s plan reveals him and his nature and invisible attributes. This divine plan became flesh. That is when the Son was born (brought into existence) the plan was made flesh. All the prophecies concerning Messiah and what God planned to do through the Messiah became flesh. The prophecies literally took on flesh. This is not a second pre-existent person, but rather the divine plan or prophecies becoming flesh.

I asked Amy (my wife) to lay hands on me and pray for me as we were driving in the car. I said amen and in my heart thanked the Lord for healing me. Then I forgot about it. I was laying in bed just about to fall asleep and thought, hey I don’t have that congested feeling in my lungs any more. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but it must have been shortly after Amy prayed for me because I didn’t think of it again after that or even feel it the rest of the way up to the cabin.

I’m so thankful for the grace of God in healing me.

Avery is now not only crawling, but she can sit up from her crawl. But not only that our little superstar girl can pull herself up on stuff which she absolutely loves to do. It’s amazing to see her doing these things so early. She is definitely a strong, strong girl. I’m anticipating that she will be walking much sooner than normal. Which is crazy to think about, but its wonderful to see her grow and learn so many new things.

It rained most of the weekend so that also assisted us along in doing nothing. Usually we spend a lot of time out by the camp fire, but this time not so much since it was rainy and muggy when it wasn’t raining. Rain or no rain the cabin is always a wonderful, wonderful time.

And what would a cabin trip be without doing some good old fashioned charcoal grilling?!! On Saturday night we had some steaks and on Sunday we had hamburgers. The burgers were delicious, but the steaks were so so. They were organic grass beef and the fat has more omega 3′s in them so it tends to taste a bit fishy. Its really, really good for us, but the flavor was not what we were used to. We also did my famous corn on the grill. If you want the recipe here it is. Simply take the corn run it under water and put it on the grill. It’s GREAT stuff and very easy to do. The water in it helps it steam as well it keeps the husks from burning.

Below you’ll see a video of the layout of our cabin on Lake Minnewawa in McGregor, MN and what the outside looks like.

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We went camping July 30th through August 1st in honor of my father-in-law’s birthday. Don and Mary stayed at the Cliff Dweller just north of Tofte, but spent the whole day with us while we were camping at Lamb’s Resort which is south of Tofte in Schroeder. Lamb’s Resort was a very busy place this weekend. It was packed with campers and with mobile homers. Amy, Avery and I went with all of Amy’s family. We had two sites right off of the lake and two sites just up from the sites on the lake.

Of course we spent most of our time in the campsites on the lake. There’s nothing like sitting on Lake Superior with a camp fire and good friends, 16 of us in all.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and to basically sum Thursday afternoon and evening up was it rained for a few minutes and then stopped for an hour or so and then rained for a few minutes. Only once was it a real down pour. Fortunately Peter Snow and Nate Morris brought up some tarps that we hung from trees over our picnic tables so that we and our food could stay dry. Great idea guys!

In the above picture you see Avery taking a little nap in daddy’s arms with Charity my sister-in-law looking on.

This was Avery’s first camping trip and she did really well. She didn’t get any good long naps, but she still was not a fussy baby. She just had short naps here in there in our arms and even a nap when she was in the Baby Bjorn while we were taking a hike on the Superior Hiking Trail.

On Thursday night she woke up a few different times and mommy was quick to get up and get her back to sleep. Friday night was daddy’s night to get up with Avery and she didn’t wake up the entire night, even once. She slept like a rock. She was tired, but it probably didn’t hurt that the waves were crashing in on the shore and the rain was hitting the top of our tent.

On Friday we went to Grand Marais after our hike and headed straight for Sven & Oles. Amy and I absolutely love the UffdaZah that is basically an everything on it pizza. It’s some of the best pizza in the world. There was a big festival in Grand Marais so it was very busy, but thankfully we came at just the right time to get a few spots to sit.

After that we went out and Amy need to satisfy her several week craving for mini-donuts. Then we walked over to watch the lumberjack competition which was quite loud, but fun to watch.

Here is the view I had when I was doing my devotions in the morning.

Of course each morning we had the Hoffman’s version of “camping eggs” which is scrambled eggs combined with cut up sausage and cheese, delicious. On Saturday morning we had Mary’s famous carmel rolls. We then packed up and did some more relaxing and we finished it up with a short hike on the Lamb’s Resort property. You can watch a few of the videos I took where the Cross River flows into Lake Superior.

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Typically, prophecy scholars teach that the coming of the Son of man is a sudden event. But does the Scripture teach us this? Yes and no. Certain aspects of it are immediate events, but other aspects of it are not. Take for instance this scripture. The coming of the Son of man is likened unto the DAYS of Noah. Not the day that Noah entered the ark, but the DAYS of Noah, a period of time before the flood.

The word coming there in Greek is “parousia” and it means presence. The presence of the Son of man will take place over a period of time. Before the flood they were living in pleasure and wickedness. Noah came with a message and warning that judgement was coming, but they continued on in their pleasure and in their wickedness not knowing that there was impending doom for them.

In this day we have witnessed the presence of the Son of man through the mighty works of God in the ministry of William Branham. God vindicated his ministry showing forth His presence through it. A message came forth calling for repentance and the world continued on and said, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.” Just as in the days of Noah they were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage not knowing that doom was near. The message in this day is the same as it was in Noah’s day. Noah taught the people that the Ark was the only place of safety. In this day, the Ark of the word of God is the only place of safety. We must enter into Christ to be safe from the judgment that is coming.

To reiterate, here is what happened in the days of Noah.

1. Noah had God’s message calling the people to enter into the Ark

2. The people were content to go on status quo not caring for God’s message.

3. God brought destruction upon the world

The points I am making are these.

1. The coming (presence) of the Son of man is an event that takes place over a long period of time.

2. A message has come to the church to repent and turn back to Christ the only place of safety. A message will soon come to Israel to repent through the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah.

3. The presence of the Son of man has been revealed through the ministry of William Branham.

4. The majority of the church world is continuing on status quo even though God sent a message to them.

5. God will judge this wicked world in a massive, unprecedented way.