“The truth is natural like the wind that blows,
follow its direction – no matter where it goes”

“Wake for Young Souls” –Third Eye Blind




Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What really is reality?
Is it the routine we fall into every day? Or is it what we hold as visible?
Maybe it’s what we perceive as logical…
Might i dare to say that reality is whatever you want it to be…

Yea, that sounds right…Reality is whatever you make it.

It definitely could be staying in the present system we have in the states and getting a great job.
…It could also definitely be scrapping that completely and doing something off the map.


“I want out of the labels. I don’t want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that’s not on the map. A real adventure. A sphinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined.”
- Chuck Palahniuk



i was really into staying in that system for a while. i loved (and still love) college, and hanging out with my friends, and getting ready to look for a job that would hopefully set me up to be successful. i guess it just seemed like that’s what growing up was about. Everyone i knew went to school, got into the best college they could, then looked for the best job offer they could find. It just seemed like that’s how life went. It was what seemed realistic.


Africa has shown me something though…
Work is work – nothing more, nothing less.
It is a means to support. And anything beyond support will be a waste of time...ha, well at least to me

It’s shown me that no matter my occupation, employer, or title i’m just as human – just as small – as the man in slums pushing a wheelbarrow – the crippled, ex-rebel soldier that helps watch our pickup - the guy flipping burgers at Mc-y D’s – the man sleeping on the sidewalk.

“Commit yourselves wholly to God, come what may.”
- Saint Teresa of Avila

We live in Him, we walk in Him, we are in Him.

Acts 17:28

“Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society.”
- Jacques Ellul

It’s shown me that you can provide for a family and take care of them anywhere in the world; its taught me that providing is not excess but merely teaching, loving, and caring for those we love. It doesn’t have to be in the suburbs, or the city, or even in the country you’re familiar with.

“Joy is the immediate consequence of a certain fullness of life. For the individual this fullness consists above all in knowledge and Love.”
- St. Thomas

It’s shown me to remember how small we all are – to remember how big the world is, and how big the issues of her people are…to me, something worth fighting for – to me, something that seems to be of real worth.

Life is what you make of it. You are the characteristics, values, and actions you represent. Reality is merely the caution tape we put around the endless possibilities of our existence.

i pray that we might all realize that reality is only a word to describe the world we want to see as logical; the only person who can set that reality is ourselves. i pray that we might find the courage to be all that we can be – that we might realize the only boundaries in this world are our own self-imposed limitations. i pray we might find the strength to run, the courage to jump, and the grace to fly.

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Fan into Flame the gifts God has given you…For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of Power, of Love, and of Strength.

2 Timothy 1:7

Life, Love, and Peace

uncle matthew