Laugh and Love.

Happy the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding! For her profit is better than profit in silver, and better than gold is her revenue; She is more precious than corals, and none of your choice possessions can compare with her.
- 1 John 3:17-18


i remember the way i viewed the world just a few months ago… i remember what made me think i was distressed. i remember what i thought it was to hurt. i remember what i thought one could be justifiably fearful of…let’s just say my perception has found a new path. The best way i can try to describe the last 85 days is simply eye opening.

Marta,Me, and Ya with some of the boys

Meet Ya. She is always smiling:) And whenever you ask her how she is…the only response you will ever receive is “Thank God.”
Ya is one of our two wonderful cooks at Mission Liberia. She is a foster mother to ALL of our children, and to me – she’s an inspiration.
Ya’s time during the war was not extraordinarily different from many of the Liberians, but to me, hers was a story i could actually touch, something tangible as to how Love really conquers all…even in the face of death, destruction, and to us Americans – unfathomable odds.

Ya’s village, like most in Liberia and Sierra Leone, was plagued by rebels.
And when the rebels came, they were ruthless… Many of our children here at the mission watched their parent’s deaths… Ya was no exception. The rebels attacked her village at night when everyone was asleep. They tore into her hut, pulled her husband out of bed and cut his head off in front of her…
Ya now takes care of not only her 4 children with no father, but also 4 other children from her village who lost both parents that same night.


… i don’t share this story to mortify you, or to scare you. i share it not to try and get sympathy for her, because she wouldn’t want it. i’m sharing Ya’s story with you as an example of the type of trust and faith that can get us through anything. The wisdom that God is in control, and everything happens for a reason…and most importantly…He wouldn’t put us in a situation if He was not able to get us through it. That situation may be an inner struggle. It may be an addiction. It may be unemployment. It may be loneliness. It may be the loss of a loved one…


i say Ya is an inspiration not because of what she went through, but because of her strength to get back up – through unfathomable odds.
i say these kids show me love. They do. They show me that eyes that have seen the violence, destruction, and hurt of losing a parent…can still smile…can still laugh…can still LOVE…can still trust.

...so i was laying down on the ground... and the next thing i know i'm being carried away...and told i was going in the well

Ya made them put me down haha

Roland being his normal goofy self:)

When i first arrived, it was so hard for me to understand where this unrestrained joy that i was witnessing came from…i knew the history of the country, and i couldn’t fathom what was so wonderful as to let smiles of light shine though such a darkness…Ya’s story emancipated the answer for me…the freedom in letting go and letting God. Trust. Faith.

“Emancipate yourselves from inner slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
- “Redemption Song”, Bob Marley

My time is winding down here. But every single day, my eyes are still being reopened. Every day is a new inspiration. Every day my perception of what is important and what is not shifts just a little more. These people have shown me that this life goes much deeper than the surface i saw back at home. It digs deeper than an F on a test or a bum back - lack of power or ac or running water. They have helped me not only to see the oppression or the effects of war, but to see the people that become the oppressed, the families that are torn apart…and realize that they are no less human than those who watch their “misfortune” on tv thousands of miles away…
They’ve shown me that if i want to help, “charity” goes above and beyond putting a few bucks in the collection basket. Everyday a restlessness continues to brew…a rage, if you will…that will no longer enable me to merely watch the infomercials or potential minute-long review on CNN of the poverty and destruction that is haunting our oppressed and marginalized brothers and sisters.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

- Matthew 16:25-26

“Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news and life to ALL men. Not only the rich, not only to the poor, not only to the wise, not only to the simple, but to EVERYONE, to the brother, for His brothers we are, children of the same father, God. So there is only One race, the race of the children of God. There is only One language which speaks to the heart and to the mind, without the noise of words, making us know God and Love One Another.”
- IBID, Christ is Passing By, 106

Thus says the Lord:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Nor the strong man glory in his strength,
Nor the rich man glory in his riches;
But rather, let him who glories, glory in this,
That in his prudence he knows me,
Knows that I, the Lord, bring about kindness,
Justice and uprightness on the earth;
For with such am I pleased, says the Lord.
-Jeremiah 9:22-23

“Cuz it is not a human right
To stare, not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes so blind
That we might find the mercy for the need.”
- “Solution”, Hillsong

i pray that we might be filled with compassion. That we would work towards being the hands and the feet of the One Body that we are. i pray that we would run for justice and reach for truth. i pray that we might know that the Saints are not those who never sinned, but are merely those who refused to lay down - those who always got up again. i pray that we might not dwell on what is bad with our situation but be thankful for what is good. i pray that we might Laugh and Love.


“She told him she’d rather fix her makeup
Than try to fix whats goin on
But the problem keeps on calling even with the cell phone gone.
She told him she believes in livin
Bigger than she’s living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards and upside down
Don’t say so long and throw your cell phone
Don’t spend your day away, cuz today will soon be…

Gone.
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
Just try and prove me wrong and pretend like your immortal

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every day we borrow brings us one step closer to the edge infinity
Where’s your treasure, where’s your hope
If you gain the world and you lose your soul
She pretends like, she pretends like she’s immortal

Don’t say so long you’re not that far gone
This could be your big chance to make up…today will soon be gone

Gone.
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
The world keeps spinning on
Your going, going gone
Like summer break is gone
Like Saturday is gone
Just try and prove me wrong and pretend like your immortal

We are not infinite
we are not permanent
nothing is immediate
we’re so confident in our accomplishments
look at our decadence

gone.
Like frank Sinatra. Like elvis and his mom
Like al pacino’s cash, nothing lasts in this life
My high schools dreams are gone
My childhood streets are gone
Life is a day that doesn’t last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills

Life is more than fame and rock all roll and thrills

We got information in the information age
But do we know what life is outside of our convenient lexus cages?
She said he said live like tomorrow”

- “Gone”, Switchfoot

Life, Love, and Peace.

uncle matthew