Day 100-DANCING WITH THE LORD

Now, it’s time for a brother blog post. By now most people have stopped reading the blog I’m sure. So, it’s safe to let me write something…here goes nothing. I’m the twin, the pea in the pod, the sibling pair, partner in crime, or whatever you want to call me. The Koch kids were all born with a sibling pair based on age and the gaps between the years we were born. Kelsey and I were quite the match-up. We were different in almost every way possible. I could eat the foods she couldn’t, do the math, and drive her insane. I don’t know if anyone was better than me at driving her crazy. We loved each other completely though, as a true brother and sister should. Love was something we talked about all the time. She always told me that Alex was the “love of her life,” and she would continue to give me advice about love all the time. She was really good at loving something fully. She knew what was up. One of the last things I remember her telling me in the hospital was to find me a woman that would love me for who I am. She said I was a pretty special guy. Always positive but then she would smash me down again in typical Kelsey fashion. She went on to say that it was going to be very difficult to find someone that could love me because I was so, “special.” J I was told that I should love God like crazy and people like crazy too, so that is my super-secret mission from her.

We had our own traditions with each other. We did everything, like hiding the lucky charms in my toy dump trucks and holding our secret meetings at 11:11pm to go behind the parents back, and make that 11:11pm wish. She could talk me into anything and everything because I was pretty gullible. If I didn’t do something she wanted, I would get that whining “tyler” thing she always did or say, “you bugges me.” While I reminisce I tend to turn to prayer.

Last Thursday, while in a time of prayer, I was reminded of a particular moment in time that we had together. We used to watch this old cartoon version of the Pilgrim’s Progress on VHS at random times throughout this one year when we were just itty bitty. It was just a normal, nothing out of the ordinary day when we were watching it together. Being the old wiser sister she was, after the movie she told me this, “Tyler, this is how we are going to live our lives.” I trusted her, and as little tykes we understood that our time was limited here on this earth. We made the decision to live as “Christian” did, for Jesus. She pushed me and was my encourager in this, and I pushed her in the same way. Sometimes in life we want to throw in the towel individually and live differently than Jesus would have us live, but we wouldn’t let that happen to each other. Kelsey had it harder than, not all, but most people I dare say. I mean, I will, and we did make mistakes and slip up, but never abandoned the goal. We talked and grew up together very close. By very close I am referring to the fact that we were homeschooled and spent every day, all day with each other. It made it very easy to get on ones nerves, but we made up very quickly and every time this happened. Forgiveness is a good tool to have. We were able to work with each other to sharpen that skill, quite often sometimes.

One of the things we liked to talk about was what we were going to do when we got older. Kelsey always wanted to help out in the medical field in some way, and she told me this for her whole life. She was “called to it” she told me. Boy did that calling ever come true! She made a massive contribution in that area of her life.

Sometimes we are scared in life but God has “got this” which is another popular Kelsey phrase. We can rest in him. The burden on our backs is too much to carry, but God always did and will always get us through. Jesus has taken the sting out of death. I do miss her quite a lot, but I know that she is living with the big man for eternity. I will see her again one day.

~Tyler Koch