Where you are...Make the most of it!

Where do you find yourself right now? Are you doing what you dreamed that you would be doing 5...10...50 years ago? Are you living the way you longed to live? Have the job that you want? Family? Money? How about a passion for God? A relationship with him? Are you closer or farther from him?

Where are you right now? AND better than that...are you ok where you are? AND even more than that...are you making the most of where you are?

Life is such a journey...lots of paths...detours...and the key is to make the most of each moment. God knows where you are...he knows your dreams...but more than anything else...he simply wants your heart...he wants YOU...He loves you...NOW GO! Go make the most of your life RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!

The search is over

It has been 3 very interesting months...emotional times...relaxing times...restless times. When we closed our church 3 months ago, we had no idea what we were going to do. Frankly we are still figuring it all out! But we finally came together as a family on where we are plugging into a church body.

We have weighed A LOT of factors...and it has been very difficult for all of us...Kelsey...me...and our kids. We have visited some INCREDIBLE places...places where God is really working...and places where good friends are pastoring...frankly...that has made this very hard for me...knowing some of the pastors--we haven't wanted to jump too soon. And it has been hard because WE LOVE GRACE COMMUNITY!

Here is the thing...it is time to move forward...and I have been UNBELIEVABLY wrestless...frustrated...urgh inside! Just restless to get back to serving...to be more than just a Sunday attender...SURE I have liked sleeping in...liked not having Saturday night stress about Sunday...but I'm sooooo ready to get involved HOWEVER! Whatever...

The cool part is...the kids are excited too...excited to be settling in to the church where God wants us...

Looking forward to what God has in store for us at Living Stones Church...Why Living Stones? GLAD YOU ASKED!

THEY LOVE JESUS!
They share A LOT of Grace DNA...LOVE outreach...LOVE serving people...
THEY REACH OUR neighborhood...YEP...MINE! They want to touch the 46614 &46613 zip codes...AND THAT IS WHERE WE LIVE! I simply love the southside of South Bend and look forward to jumping in and expanding our influence here in SB.
We wanted to LIVE church where we are and Living Stones is just that...real people...they even say in their bulletin that they are a "come as you are church!" NICE!
I could go on and on, but Pastor Sam is a friend of mine and might get a little bigger head...so I'll stop now!

Where do we go from here?? GREAT question? No idea how we will plug in...no idea what ministries we'll connect with, but I know where we are going..how we are moving forward and I cannot tell you what a relief that is for me AND my family! (My kid's faces LIT UP when we said we were going there...Chloe asked to go to youth group this coming Sunday!)

Been a journey so far and looking forward to beginning to write the next chapter of what God wants to do with the Bouchers'...

The Night Before School

Our house is BUZZING tonight...the anticipation of a new school year...Chloe moving up to 6th grade...J in 3rd and LUKE ENTERING KINDERGARTEN!! Plus I am starting tomorrow!

A LOT of energy tonight...boys that had trouble falling asleep...Chloe is bouncing around...it is sooo cute and fun!! And Sadie is baby-talking like crazy...I think she is excited too...(I wonder what she will think tomorrow when she goes from having 6 of us to just her and mom!!)

The first days of school have so much anticipation...so much hope...kids and teachers are full of dreams for the year--I have been prayer walking the hallways and praying for my students, teacher, admin and staff at our school. EXCITING!!

ALRIGHT...back to getting a few last minute things done!!

From the mouth of kids and other thoughts...

Tucking the boys in tonight I told them how much I have enjoyed being around more this summer...how grateful I am to Grace Community Church Goshen's leadership for paying me through the summer so I could be with my family...and have time to reflect and restore. We always pray before bed and Luke prayed this tonight...

"God...'at (at means "that" to Luke...)help us to move on from Grace Community Church so 'at we can really like our new church..."

Whoa...the prayer of a 5 year old! He really touched me with that prayer...my kids LOVED Grace...they were more than just "the pastor's kids" there...they enjoyed their friends...enjoyed the people...their teachers...and what AMAZING perspective for Luke...He loved Grace, but he already sees the importance of moving on! I believe that God will honor my little man's prayer...God will lead us to just the right church and he will have us fall deeply in love with the church!


Other things...
Today was the end of my summer...I have meetings tomorrow at Jackson...more on Wednesday and then students on Thursday. It is strange to think that after 7 years I will be back teaching full time...been part time for a lot of that, but this is different. A bit strange feeling...I am looking forward to the adventure of the school year...seeing what opportunities there are.

Feeling grateful tonight...grateful to be a child of God...grateful for my family...grateful for my friends...for how blessed my life is and has been...

"What If..."

School is about to start and "What if..." is a question that students LOVE to ask...last night Kels, Chloe and I watched "Soul Surfer" If you haven't seen it...it is a MUST SEE! Powerful true story...and just as good as the movie was the documentary of the actual person...

What if...is a question that has wondered through my head a few times in the past months...I learned A LONG TIME AGO to shut out that question...at least when it is coming in a negative way...Between that movie and my class reunion last weekend...I have thought about some what ifs...

-What if I hadn't blown out my knee my junior year...that changed the direction of my life...at the time it was DEVASTATING...now I see a clear detour in my life...a detour that led me to Grace College to study music...a detour that led me to my AMAZING wife and 4 kids...a detour that gave me the opportunity to fall in love with a city I hadn't heard of and see many lives changed for eternity...Sure college soccer would have been great...but I wouldn't trade the last 20+ years for that!

-What if...what if I hadn't stepped out and spoken up and wanted to plant a church? What if I would have sat on the sidelines...truth?? I would have missed out on meeting some amazing people...missed out on watching people walk into the arms of Jesus for the first time...met people that have shaped my life forever...people that I dearly love...

-What if...I had been more strict with myself and not had a heart attack...(ooooo...this is a big one!) the answer I keep telling myself is the same one from the movie last night: "God works all things out for the good of those that love him." And I'm holding on to that to be honest...I could go on and on about how this has changed me...and changed me for the good (and it really has!)...but truthfully...I have to get back to you in 10 yrs or so and give you God's big picture on that one...from my earthly standpoint...I believe that if I had not had that heart attack I would still be the pastor of Grace Community Church South Bend...but clearly God had other plans...and I plan to find it out!

-What if...what if...instead of looking for God...looking to fall more in love with HIM...we keep feeling sorry for ourselves? What if...WHAT IF...we keep looking so hard for that next opportunity that we miss HIM...that we miss the opportunity to fall in love with JESUS...this is where I'm at tonight...

What if...can be a good question if it is used right...that movie last night moved me...challenged me..."What if..."

"God...move EVERYONE who reads this post to fall more deeply in love with you...to stop worrying about the 'What ifs' and to focus on you...oh...you really do love us...for all of our questions...our struggles...our victories...thanks. In Jesus Name..."

"Doing Great!"

I remember hearing a story about a pastor of a large church who was attending a conference and eating with some other pastors...they had gone around the table and asked how each one was doing...they all spoke of how GREAT everything was going in their personal lives and their ministries...when it got around to this pastor he said that it was time for him to go...because "we really don't need each other anyway since everything is so perfect."

See that pastor knew some of what was happening in the other pastor's lives...he knew that one of them had a marriage that was in trouble...another pastor's ministry was falling apart...yet they all had to much pride to admit what was happening and ask for help...so that pastor removed himself from the conversation...

How often do you do this? This isn't about spilling every struggle to every person you know...but do you have people that can share your struggles...that you are willing to be honest with? If not...I encourage you to pray for that person to come into your life...OR maybe they are there and you are not willing to open up...DO IT! Be willing to be honest and share the struggles of your heart...that life just isn't as perfect as put it out to be...THEN you will find true encouragement to walk through this life!

"Do you like your seat?..." Class Reunion!

We had our 20 year class reunion...it was good to see some of my classmates and hear what they have done over the past 20 years...during our dinner Saturday night...Julie Solomon (Cookro) who I had gone from Kindergarten through graduation with read some papers from 3rd grade. They were sooooo funny...they were short letters from each classmate...Mine...well...it wasn't the nicest...here it is...

"Dear Julie, Do you like your seat? I don't. Your Friend, Timothy"

AND THE DEAL WAS...we sat by each other!! Ouch!! Now you couldn't find a sweeter...kinder girl than Julie and I wrote that! We got a good laugh about it, but I imagine it wasn't toooooo funny at the time...

Reminded me how much our words can hurt others...Julie read mine letter through laughter Saturday night, but how often do we say things...simple things...that can shoot through someone's heart.

Let's be careful with our words...careful to say things that encourage other people...build them up. I'm lucky...I wrote that in 3rd grade and Julie is forgiving!! So that makes it funny now...BUT it is toooo easy to hurt others.

Pain Creates Compassion

Pain...tragedy..."tough stuff"...disappointment...these things can destroy a person if you are not careful. BUT they can also do something else...the difficult stuff in life can create compassion. Those hard things do something inside of us...make us want to help other people...make us understand another person's struggles...

I was reflecting this morning on a story from some months back...a person was going through a very difficult situation and another person really came along-side of them and loved them. I wrote this in a journal entry at the time...

"Then it hit me...we just want no pain...but without pain there is no room for moments like this...what a teachable moment...to step up when someone else is hurting!"

We long to live without pain...but it is truly in those painful moments when we are softened to think of other people. It is in those moments that we become more compassionate to others.

Allow your pain to help other people...allow it to soften you and to push you towards helping people.

Give Everything You Have!

Coaches OFTEN talk about giving everything you have in sports..."Leave it all on the field!" I have to confess that I was EXTREMELY proud of Chloe, Jaden and Luke at the Triathlon on Saturday...they had to swim 25 yds...ride their bikes for 1.3 miles and run a 1/2 mile.



During practice (YEP...we practice for the triathlon...the older actually ask to practice!) Luke didn't think he could do it...it was quite a struggle to get him to finish...QUITE difficult. At the race he really stepped up...his run was what most impressed me...we were so proud of him...and it was his first race ever!!

I cannot say enough about the week that Jaden had last week...we once again spent time thanking God the night before the race that Jaden could even do it...1 month ago--we asked his doctor if we should have him try the race...she said: "he can try it...might be good to have a goal out there for him." 1 month ago he could hardly run...he had an AWFUL time after he had broken his leg...he didn't want to do the race...mostly because he didn't think he would finish as well as what he would like...So he worked hard and raced yesterday...

THE BEST PART of his race was how he felt afterwards...he felt like he wanted to throw up! He had left EVERYTHING on the race course...he gave his best!! And he finished 2nd in the 7-8 yr. old group and had a fast enough time that he would have finished 5th in the 11-12 yr. old age group. I am so proud of his effort more than his place...he gave EVERYTHING...wish you could have seen the look on his face when he had someone coming from behind trying to catch him...PRICELESS!!

THEN there was Chloe...3 years ago...actually 2years ago she had to walk several times during her run...YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HER SATURDAY! He was MOVING on her bike and on the run. (Not mentioning the swim...cause OF COURSE she rocked that!!) I was a PROUD PAPA when she was sprinting the last 100-200 yards...she GAVE EVERYTHING and blew her time from last year away by 45 seconds...YEP...she felt like throwing up too!

So proud of the kids...giving EVERYTHING they have!!

How are you refueled?

Some years ago I went through some of those personality tests...one of them revealed how you were energized or how your personal energy tank was refueled. Some people LOVE to spend time with people...and when they do, it restores them...fires them up--refuels them. Others are simply DRAINED when they meet with people...it just saps all of their energy and they just HAVE TO get away-by themselves to restore.

How about you? How are you energized? What refuels you? Does spending time with people fire you up or drain you...do you need time to get away...to get by yourself?

Personally...I am refueled by spending time with people...I like to have quiet sometimes, but not nearly as much as I enjoy a good meeting or time to hang out. My tank gets FILLED up by spending time with people...that is why I feel SOOOOOOO good today...Last night I had the chance to talk with a friend a hadn't talked with in over a month and then this a.m. I had my first meeting in a month with a friend...MAN--it was sooooo good! I left my conversation this morning just ENERGIZED! Spending time with people just charges my batteries...especially when the conversation is focused on our walk with God...his church...and vision/direction of our lives. GREAT STUFF!!

Understanding how we get refueled can help us understand better how we need to recharge...if you are a person who gets recharged by people...you better MAKE TIME for that...and if you are recharged by being alone...make sure you make time to be by yourself...

TODAY...it was just good to be with friends...good to hear what God is doing in their life and wondering where we will be in the next 1-5 years...no answers from he conversation...but just good to be hanging out together!