House of Hope

Last Saturday night Lani & I attended a dinner for the Hope of Hope - Portland. I want to encourage you to learn about House of Hope (they may have one in your community too) and to consider supporting them. They offer support, counseling, intervention, and (eventually in Portland) residential treatment centers for troubled teens. My brother-in-law, Troy Wagner, is now serving as the Executive Director for House of Hope - Portland as they build a base of support and begin to offer services in the Portland area.

You can see their website at: http://www.houseofhope-portland.org/HofH/House_of_Hope_Portland.html

Of course, at the banquet they asked for everyone's support and took up a collection and pledge cards. I wasn't able to give a whole lot there, but started feeling convicted about how much stuff I have -- just plain EXTRA stuff that I can't even use -- and decided that all the things I'd decided to list on Craigslist could just go to benefit House of Hope. Now, I'm not telling you this to say how good I am or anything (I'd much rather not let my right hand know what my left hand is doing here!), but I want to encourage you too to see what resources or stuff you might be able to let go of which can then benefit a good cause like this. It's been pretty cool. We've sold about five things so far and collected more than $300 and still have more items to go. It's a win-win-win situation too because I'm getting rid of things I don't really need, House of Hope is going to benefit, and other people are also picking up stuff they can probably really use. It also makes you feel good to be a part of reallocating God's resources for use somewhere else (it's all HIS anway, right?)!

So, what could you let go of and bless others with?