So, we're in Elcho, WI now and it's been an interesting few days.  Our trip up here was full of surprises.

It was about 11:30 p.m. this last Wednesday night when we were headed toward Elcho.  We had received a call from our host, Bear, saying to watch out for the deer because they were running rampant that night.  As it turns out, not even 10 minutes later we saw one on the side of the road that looked like she was just itching to run out in front of us.  But...instead of running out in front of us, she decided to run into our trailer, thus bending the fender around the tire that we had just fixed in Chicago.  Just after that, we noticed sparks flying off of the fender because it had been rubbing up against the tire, so we pulled over and had to fix it.

A few minutes later, we were headed on the road again for Bear and Amy's house.  On our way, we ran into a "road closed" sign and ended up having to take a long detour around to a road called Blue Bell which looked like something you'd see on a horror movie.  Soon, however, we were in the safety and comfort of Bear and Amy's beautiful home out in the wilderness.

On Thursday, we were scheduled to go into the island town of Minocqua, WI with George Kupfer to just pray and ask the Lord what He would have us do.  We stopped by a lake to sit and pray, while I couldn't help but going out to the docks just to be closer to the water.  There was so much beauty in the natural, but I wanted to see into the supernatural.  I wanted to see what God saw.  If you all know me, I have a thing for lighthouses.  Any time I see a big body of water, I think about lighthouses.  They serve an awesome purpose to anyone on the water.  As the currents bring the boats in at night, they show them where the land is, or where a "safe place" is.  As I was thinking about this, I looked out across the lake and saw a building that read "Beacons."  I felt like God was trying to say something, so I left myself open for it.

As we continued walking, we decided to stop by a museum so we could learn more about the history of Minocqua.  It turns out that an early Indian tribe had retreated to a nearby island town to escape a smallpox epidemic.  When they arrived, they called it Minocqua, which today they say means, "place of the midday rest."

That night, we met with the Kupfer's house church there in Minocqua.  There were people there from several different religious backgrounds, which we were excited about, but the enemy had a plan for it.  The worship was amazing.  We felt God so heavily resting among us.  It was so peaceful.  Suddenly, like popcorn, people started giving word after word after word that they had received from the Lord.  Becca gave a word about us being priests who were called to speak God's word into the darkness.  Shortly, though, the enemy started to work.  Two men that were in the group started having an argument about an issue concerning healing.  The funny thing is, they were both right, it's just that neither one of them was willing to admit that the other was right.

One thing that I didn't mention was that since we had entered Wisconsin, we all began feeling very weird.  We knew that something wasn't right in the air.  Thursday night, we were able to pinpoint what it was.  We were battling with a spirit of division.  Like I said, the two men were both scripturally right in what they were saying.  They were just not willing to submit to one another's opinions.  Rachel put it this way:  "It's like one of them was saying, 'Apples are healthy for you' and the other was saying 'Oranges are healthy for you.'"  Ryan, George, and I all tried to keep the peace by telling them that they were both right, it just had to come down to submission.  One of the men ended up leaving early, while the other stayed.  So, that problem never really got solved.  But, in the light of all of that, we continued the service.

We started singing again and the Lord showed me the connection between Minocqua's history and the lighthouses.  Minocqua, being the "place of the midday rest," was to be a beacon of light, a safe place.  Midday is when the sun shines its brightest, the time of day when nothing is left in darkness.  Even shadows disappear at exactly midday.  This was Minocqua's destiny.  It was to be a gathering place for the hungry, the lost, the broken, and the weary.  The "light" that they were called to shine, was going to be an attraction to the environment around them.  They were to be a safe haven, a place of "rest."  So, I released what I was seeing and Ryan released it in prayer.  He also mentioned to them that our body in Shawnee was called to be a safe haven as well.  The north winds were meeting with the south winds in that moment.  And what happens when the cold air from the north mixes with the hot air from the south?  Rain.  A storm.  A tornado.  God is going to drench Minocqua in His glory!

Josh Cotts