How many times do we stop and realize that we have gotten so caught up with our daily lives that we have neglected what really matters. We have that big project at work/school that needs to get done right away or we have to get the kids to piano, soccer, softball practice. We are a society of people who are on the move with places to go and people to see. Has anyone else ever been doing really, really well with studying the word, only to realize one day that you can’t remember when you last picked up your Bible (as in a time that wasn’t at a worship service)? Have you ever realized you haven’t prayed in a few days? If we were all truthful, I think we could all say that this has happened to us on occasion.

The problem is that we sometimes get so distracted by the things of this world and get so caught up in it, that we think that this is the stuff that really matters. Sometimes we focus all of our attention on our daily lives, problems, issues, life, and try to shove or fit God in where we can find the time. What scares me is the parable of the soil (Mark 4:1-20, Matthew 13:1-23, and Luke 8:1-15) when it mentions the seed that is choked out by everything going on around you. As Francis Chan put it, “Don’t assume you are the good soil.” That hits home. Go back and reread this parable and you can see what made me want to write this post. I know we all want to be the good soil and even think of ourselves in that manner, but when we actually look at the verse describing the seed that was strangled out, does it look familiar?

What we need to do is remember why we are here and that is to love God and love our neighbor. If we do these things, we will take the focus off of ourselves and some of the things we thought were so important will suddenly seem trivial. When your excuse is that you just don’t have the time, remember this, you will always find or make time for your true priorities.

Sheyenne- Size 16 jeans, 9 1/2 shoe, x-large shirt

Shelby – size 22 jeans, 10 shoe, 3x shirt

Rhonda (mom) – size 16-18 pants, 8 1/2 shoe, x-large shirt

John (dad) – size 32 jeans, 8 1/2 shoe, large shirt

Carter Robison

Four of our Dominican interns fly there today while 2 more will be arriving within the next week. The Haiti interns arrive on Thursday. All of the missionaries in the DR and Haiti have been preparing for the interns and groups, while the interns and groups have hard at work for their trips.

MannaHaiti groups:

• Levy from Levy AR
• Cloverdale from Searcy, AR
• Medical group from Hixson, TN
• Sloan’s Team from AR
• Otter Creek from Otter Creek, TN
• Collective group from all over USA
• Redwood City from Redwood City, CA
• MannaHaiti interns:
• Felicia Blocker
• Jessica Hall
• Jeff Reese
• Savannah Sloan
• Jordan Smith
• Keely Williams

MannaDR groups:

• East Hill/ York, NE
• Lake Cities/Trophy Club, TX
• Northside/Jefersonville, IN
• Highlandview/ Oak Ridge, TN and Maricamp Road/ Ocala, FL
• Cloverdale/ Searcy, AR
• Westminister/ Westminister, MD
• MannaDR interns:
• Audrey Parker
• Nikki Mynatt
• Jill Rhodes
• Jordan Crow
• Carter Robison
• Glen Weaver