great things.

So here it's come and here it's gone... thanksgiving was great this year. I hope all of my readers had a great one. Now we have Christmas just around the corner. In fact 25 days away. I am trying not to be overwhelmed with how soon this holiday is approaching. We are planning a few fun events here at "the upper room". I think we will have a "white elephant" gift exchange and a movie night pretty soon. Have you seen "the nativity story" movie that came out a few years ago? It a excellent portrayal of how I believe the birth story really happened. I think we will have that as our movie of choice. As soon as we have some dates set I will post it online. Until then have a great week.... listen to Christmas music, decorate the tree, drink your white peppermint mocha and have some fun! See ya later. Blessings.

-Tim

The Big Thanksgiving Bash... read below for more info

The big "upper room" Thanksgiving Bash!!!

When: This Sunday at 6:00pm 11/23/08

Where: "the upper room"

So we are having our first ever Thanksgiving dinner bash this Sunday!!! We have several confirmed people coming and have signed up to bring something since it is potluck style. If you didn't get an email from me than call me and let me know what your bringing and how many guests so that we can plan accordingly. It is going to be awesome and I can't wait!

Love ya all and look forward to seeing you this Sunday at 6:00pm.

Oh yeah and after the meal we will have our normal service with the message and an acoustic worship set afterwards with Joe and the gang, aka "Dwell".

-Tim Reed

Living Hope Church - Gresham

503-329-5203 txt capable.

Oh one more thing.. Here is what has already been volunteered to be brought

Turkey
Mashed Taters
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Yams
Biscuits
Apple and Egg Appetizers
Pecan and Pumpkin Pie
Sparkling Apple Cider

The Holiday Season is upon us...

The holidays are so much fun.... this sunday we are having a thanksgiving potluck with "the upper room" goers. What a great way to kick off the holiday season. Though I must say it is sick that they have christmas stuff out the day before halloween but it kinda grows on you the first or second week of november. I am already listening to christmas music. Some of you might think that i am sick for that, well deal with it! LOL. *sings* "have a holly jolly christmas, in case you didn't hear, oh by golly have a holly jolly christmas this year!!!" ... Though Crys won't let me listen to christmas music until December 1st. So I listen to it when she isn't home or when I want to plug in the headphones, which by the way don't stay in my right ear... the little ear bud does not want to stick in it. Drives me crazy. sorry side note.

That said, I am about ready to go to bed. I just thought I'd share my excitment level with you!

(: Good night and have a great Wednesday!!! :)

The Gresham Times

“the upper room”
living hope church gresham
11-12-08

HOPE: verb - to expect with confidence.

As we are go through this new series “hope” I can’t help but think about all the times in my life where the only thing I had to go on was Hope, Faith and Confidence in the Lord. He is always there; He has been there for me in times of trouble, times of excitement, times of discouragement and times of frustration.
Isn’t it true that we all go through times like that; where we aren’t sure what to do in times of uncertainty or discouragement? Maybe we’re not sure what God’s plan is. I have felt numerous times that I wasn’t sure what God is doing in certain situations. Though every time I come out of those times of struggle I can look back and can see where God was there beside me, and the times He carried me because I was too weak to even keep going.

I believe whole heartedly that this series was meant to happen right now. With the economic crisis and all the junk that we all seem to be in right now it can sometimes be hard to see where God is in it all, but trust in Him. We have got this far, He wouldn’t let us down. For He is never changing, “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. And not only does he not change; He also has a plan for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says so!

Take heart and don’t lose hope! Come be encouraged as we continue this amazing series this weekend. Don’t forget that we switched our time back to 7:00pm on Sundays. The people are warm, and the coffee is warmer. I hope you can make it this weekend.

ONLY GOD.

-Tim Reed
Living Hope Church
Gresham

Every married couple needs to see this! -Mars Hill - Mark Driscoll

wow... not sure my kid would have blonde hair but whatev.

Hope Series at LH

So we are starting a new series at Living Hope... it's all about "hope" and strangely enough that is what my entire blog was about last week... It really is cool how God confirms what He is trying to show us time and time again. Though I must admit sometimes I'm an idiot and don't listen.... sometimes.... well maybe more often than sometimes but none the less I do still enjoy a little confirmation every once and a while.

I work in sales in a retail store (subaru to be exact), and believe me when I say I am feeling what the market is doing.. My pocket book feels it when the market is down... I have been selling cars for over 5 yrs now and I have been through more than a couple of down times, but none that have lasted as long as this. I can say that I HOPE and believe God will work through this for our benefit.

I am a firm believer in the fact that God tests us and tests our willingness to continue to serve Him even when times are crappy. It strengthens us. And we need strengthening. Americans in general have it easy when you compare us to the rest of the world. My prayer is that we won't be blind to the rest of the world while we are going through this down time in our country. No matter what happens I am reminded that God has a better eternal life for us soon and we can not get so caught up in this mess of things that we loose sight of the ultimate goal and that is growing close the One that made us and bringing lost people to Christ.

So that is my story today and I hope to see you tonight in the upper room- 7:00pm in case you forgot.

-Blessings-
Tim