dave culbreath

lindsay and i participated in the susan komen 5k race for the cure. one of my best friends in the world has an awesome mother who’s fought this disease with incredible dignity and strength. she’s doing well and is a great example, just like one of the awesome ladies in lindsay’s department at work. hats off to them. the 5k was a drop in the bucket, but lindsay and i want to do what we can to help and represent such a great cause and such great people.

we ended up running quite a bit of it to make up for the late start (we had to be at tennessee skydiving llc at 11:30). it works out cool, because we ended up running with one of the contestants on this seasons biggest loser (the best reality show on t.v. - if there is such a thing - next to extreme home makeover). she was really nice and it fired lindsay up, cause she loves that show.

i got to talk about Jesus and matthew tonight in class last night.

lindsay and i have been hanging out and teaching small group classes in the youth group for almost 2 years now. we have a lot of good friends in there and it’s an honor to be able to serve in this regard… esp for jeremy (he’s an amazing dude that’s impacting a LOT of lives).

in a nutshell…

matthew 9:9 - 13 (NIV)

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus, the example whom i follow, would always be hanging out with the people no one else wanted to hang out with. this has been hitting me in the face over the past few months in my personal walk, so i was glad to get to talk about it.

Jesus looked out for those who were looked down upon. tax collectors, samaritans, prostitutes, social class, wealth (or lact thereof), race, red and yellow black and white… the King of Kings never discriminated in any way. He loved everyone the same, and because of His immense love, He died for us all.

as followers of the Way, we need to reach out to those that make us feel uncomfortable – whatever that is for you.

go sit down and hang out with the “sinners”… remembering that we all fall into that category.

i’ve neglected this website for too long. several good friends have indicated that they really like it when i throw stuff up here, so, i’ll start carving out time for updates (and experimenting with a few new web goodies). after all, if people want to dig up stuff on me, they’re gonna find it anyway…

healing hands international is taking tax deductible donations to help those effected by hurricane dean. any amount you give will go towards helping someone put the pieces of their lives back together… click here to help.

please keep my friends and family in jamaica in your prayers. they’ve had a tough go at it over the last 24hrs. my friend, leslie goode, said “It was the roughest I can remember in all of my lifetime.” he’s been through Gilbert, Ivan and all others… so that’s saying something.

i talked with goode, mike and others several times yesterday until the phone went out. goode called me this morning - i took the above quote from that.

email me if you want details as i receive them…

you have to check this guy out… my buddies are already working to create a new shirt for him (which i will need to acquire).

some highlights:

my good friend rod and i were talking last saturday evening as i was driving from negril to portmore. he pointed out something that hadn’t really occurred to me: out of the last 12 months of my life, i’ve spent one month in jamaica.

according to my family / friends in morant bay, spanish town and braeton, i’m a jamerican (although some say i’m nationalized), either way, i think is cool. but “cool” doesn’t really capture the magnitude of the fact that i’ve been to jamaica more times than i’ve been to mississippi, missouri, north carolina or virginia - half the states that border tennessee; that i enjoy driving in jamaica more than i do driving in the u.s.; that i’ve been to more places in jamaica than many jamaicans (only 2 parishes to go!); and that i literally don’t feel like a visitor in jamaica.

you that know me, know how i am. if you could transport me to jamaica right now, with the few dollars in my pocket and the clothes on my back, i would be completely cool (regardless of where you dropped me on the island).

what’s cool is how all this has happened.

in the summer of ‘98, on my first trip to jamaica, if you had told me what all would unfold as a direct result of that experience i would have laughed in your face. the Lord used countless past experiences to prepare me - a 17 year old fired up new Believer - for that opportunity, from which, countless others have been impacted over the following 10 trips on which i’ve been able to serve in jamaica.

what a privilege to be used by the Lord - in spite of me and all my many shortcomings - as a vessel.

however, the Lord is at work all around me, all the time. every day is a mission trip and every opportunity is a blessing to be seized.

my personal mantra… “everything is possible.”

added some new bixler photos from one of our shows in June (over in South Carolina). check ‘em out when you can…

here’s a couple i like of myself : )

since my last post, things have been a bit busy.

first, the show at rocketown went very well. it was a ton of fun - as you can see from some YouTube videos someone’s thrown up.

second, i went back to Jamaica with my awesome new friends from North Atlanta Church of Christ. it was a real privilege to serve with them, esp my good friends justin and bethany bagwell. we were in Breaton, a “suburb” of Portmore / Spanishtown, for 10 days… or at least they were…

i came home on the 4th of july cause of a several reasons… main ones being my lack of vacation time at work and my upcoming business trip to seattle - which leds me to the next point…

third, web design world in seattle. this was my 3rd time and it was no charm. the conference was phenomenal, hands down the best one i’ve been able to attend. great stuff from some great speakers. only drag… seattle really appeared to have changed for the worse since my trip this time last year.

i’ll type more on these last two areas soon… just wanted to get an update on here.

one week from tonight, come check us out at the the upcoming giftofwater.org benefit show at RCKTWN. get your tickets before hand for $10 - they’re $12 at the door.

gift of waters purpose is to provide accessible clean drinking water to children and families in developing countries. proceeds from this show go towards their work in Haiti.

Jim Chandler, and intern Adam, of 107.5 the River’s Woody and Jim morning show, will be emceeing the event.

a rock show with a purpose. respect.