"The Agony of Defeat"

   As I grew up we did not have scads of sports TV stations like we have today. In the Summer we had one baseball game a week on a Saturday afternoon and on Sunday, one game that was shown as well. But we did have on ABC "The Wide World of Sports". This station showed a wide variety of different sports each Saturday and Sunday afternoon's. This show is best known for these words that were a part of it's slogan, "We will bring to you the Thrill of victory and the Agony of Defeat"!  In the 20 plus years of living here in Milledgeville I have seen hundreds of different athletic events that our Jr. & Senior High school atheletes have participated in. I have enjoyed along with these athlete's and their parents, "The joy of victory". But I also have been there in those agonizing times of defeat. Times when our Dutchtown youth  have sustained an injury and were told that their season was over. Times when our athletes have worked so hard , but seen little time on the field or floor. Times when they suffered one loss after another, yet still clung to hope. Times when they fell just short of moving on to the next round, the next meet, the next game by just seconds, yards or one point. But our youth are resilient! They pick themselves back after each agonizing heartache and they move on in life.
     You and I do not do as well as they do when we have to face the "Agony of Defeat" time and time again. But that is why we Christ gave us His Church! A Place, a People, who have been through it just like us! And a people who are there for us when we are in the grip of yet another defeat! I don't know how people without Christ and the Church do it?  But this I do know, I am so thankful that you and I do have the Church to be there with us, to help celebrate our victories and to lift us up as we encounter defeats! So go forth today and build up those around you facing a defeat. Go forth and Be Christ's Church!
     Your Brother in Christ, Pastor Rick Koch

I Whine a Lot!

  Just this past Sunday I was teaching the kids at church about "Being Thankful". I used the scripture from I Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Be Cheerful no matter what; pray all the time, thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Jesus Christ to Live."   The kids got the point and when the story was over most of them said ,"Thank You" for the sucker they got afterwards. Mission accompished!
     Yet here I sit today, weary and tired, not all that Cheerful. As I am writing this my head is bobbing like that little ceramic doggie in the back of the car, with his head bouncing to & fro with every bump in the road you hit. Yet in the midst of my yawning and whining I know that faith is revitalizing those around me, praying my way through this funk and continuing to Thank God, WHY! Because this is how he wants me to live!
   Sometimes we all need a little Slap upsides the head by the Holy Spirit to get us going again. So if you're in a similar place today or find yourself in one tomorrow, I will pray that the Holy Spirit will give you a little Love Tap upside your noggin' to remind you how to live as well. Man, if I get to many more of these Love Taps from Christ, I'm gonna need to see my Chiropractor! Your Brother in Christ, Rick Koch  

"Chance Meetings"

    Last week My wife, Beckie and I spent four days in Door County, Wisconsin. We came to see the color that we had heard so much about and we were NOT disappointed! As we turned down each new road that we had never been on before, there lying ahead of us was just one more breathe taking vista of God's Creation! But what I really want to share with you mostly today about our trip is this story. It was now Tuesday evening and our stomachs began to tell us that it was time to eat once again. WE did a lot of eating last week. As Beckie and I were walking down the stairway in our Inn, just before we walked out of the doors I glanced to my left into the welcoming foyer of our old English Inn. I then turned my head back and said, "Nay", but then turned one more time to my left and off in a corner of the foyer resting were Steve & Karen Bazzell, from Milledgeville. Friends of ours who lived only six or seven houses down the street! Come to find out, they have been coming to Door County for 19 years in a row now and staying at this same place! In the next few days we had severall visits with the Bazzells, shaking our heads each time at this "Chance Meeting" that had taken place.
    When I think back on this "Chance Meeting" I am saddened about how many Christians I know that hope that they get to have that "Chance Meeting" with Christ when their time on this earth is up or if Jesus comes back before then. But the scriptures are firm when thay tell us that we CAN know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our place in heaven is secure. This is what Romans 10:12 says, "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved!" It does not say "Maybe" or "If you do all the right things", it says EVERYONE! Your meeting Christ in Heaven will not be a Chance Meeting. If you have received Him as your Lord and Savior, your there! No if, ands or buts about it!
   Now go out and live your faith, not trying to earn something, but live it in the Joy of knowing your place in heaven is secure! Your Brother in Christ! Pastor Rick Koch Dutchtown Church   

Octoberfest

       Hre in the mid-west one of the big times of the year for our small communities is our Octoberfest's! Celebrations where the aroma of Brats and an assortment of German sausages can fill the air for miles around. A time when Beer tents crop up, places for those of you who choose to, can get a draft or two of your favorite fall ale. Celebrations proclaiming the changing of the season and the bounty God has blessed us with.
     In a similar way we in the Church celebrate our own Oktoberfest as well, but we call it Holy Communion. Communion is the celebration of Christ's supper. We eat unleavened bread, a simple feast, but one filled with symbolism and hope! You see this bread represents the body of Jesus, God's only Son. When we eat of this bread we are to be reminded of His body that taught the masses, healed the hurting, went to the Cross and their died for you and I. When we drink that little sip of juice we are to be reminded that it is a symbol of His blood spilt on or behalf. His blood which washes away our sins and  ushers you and I into the presence of His love.
     So you see this really is an Oktoberfest of a sort! A Celebration of Christ. This coming Sunday is World Communion Sunday. Go to Church somewhere and Celebrate with Christians around the world this Lord's Supper, Communion, our God given Oktoberfest!
     Love you all! Your brother in Christ Pastor Rick Koch  Dutchtown Church