Mark Your Calendar
- Jun 9-13 – Creative Arts Camp
- October 17-18 – Marriage Retreat
Background Checks
Do you work with kids at Eastside? Do you want to help with any of the kid’s programs at Eastside? If so, it’s time for background checks again. Please check the list in the foyer or see Jake Nosker to ensure you complete your background check.
Family Pictures
If you haven’t gotten a family picture, check the wall in the foyer. If your picture isn’t there, or you haven’t taken a family picture yet, please see Chip Edwards.
Church Directory
We will be printing a new Church Directory soon and we want to make sure your information is correct. Please see Chip Edwards or Leena Cha to make sure all your contact information is up-to-date.
Bathroom Remodel Project
We need to remodel the bathrooms in our education building and we need someone willing to coordinate the project (help the deacons get information, get quotes from contractors, etc). If you have a skill in coordination or research, please see the Pastor or Deacons to see how you can help with this important project.
Creative Arts Camp Signup
- If you would be willing to help coordinate and be part of the team helping organize this outreach event, please let us know! If you’re not sure, but you’re curious, please let us know!
- We need more volunteers for the creative arts camp this summer. If you are willing to help in an art discipline, can support a teacher, can help set up or teardown, can serve snacks, or want more information, please let Pastor Tom or one of the deacons know.
Nursery Schedule
2/9 – Haley Nosker, Leena & Charlotte Cha
2/16 – Jim & Janet Saunders
From the Desk of Pastor Tom
You know how it goes—you’re talking about “this”, but then someone brings up “that”. You try to share your thoughts on “that”, but deep down, you know you really wanted to say something about “this” instead. So, you bring “this” back up, but then they bring up another “that”. And you’re stuck, going back and forth between “this” and “that”.
I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago. He said to me “These are the most uncomfortable conversations I’ve ever had. I don’t like talking about this. But I’m not asking you to stop. I still want you to talk to me about it.”
He was firm—this was his least favorite topic, something that made him deeply uneasy. Yet, he didn’t want the conversation to end. He did, but he didn’t. He felt torn between the discomfort of the discussion and a desire for the answers it might bring.
And the topic of this conversation? The Bible.
You see, my friend was okay with the broad concept of religion. It was familiar, comforting even. But when we started talking about the truth found in the Bible, that comfort turned into tension. At one point, I pulled out my phone to show him a verse directly from Scripture. His anxiety visibly increased, and he urgently asked me to put it away. He was fine discussing religion until the status quo of his beliefs was challenged by the undeniable truth of God’s Word.
And that’s the question, isn’t it? If he was so uncomfortable with these conversations—so resistant to hearing what the Bible has to say—why would he ask me to keep talking about it? Why invite more discomfort?
The answer glimmered in front of him, even if he couldn’t articulate it. Perhaps he recognized, better than anyone else could, that his “comfortable” place was ultimately empty. Somewhere deep down, he saw the hope shining through the loving, life-giving truths of Scripture. This conflict, this battle between comfort in ignorance and the truth of God’s Word, is one our adversary constantly wages. It’s an eternal struggle where God’s truth offers freedom, yet sin beckons us to stay in the shadows.
The question remains—will you listen when God speaks? Will you hear the truth, even when it shakes your comfort? There is hope and life in His Word for those willing to seek it.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Heb 4:12–13)
