Wild Awakening

March 25, 2019
Matthews, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Anti-terrorism Officer and founder of Chase What Matters ministry, recounts his early life in this fine debut, building up to the harrowing experience of barely surviving an attack by a grizzly bear in the Alaskan wilderness. Matthews grew up in southern California and begins by describing joyful times with his brothers and father on hunting and camping trips. However, his parents’ divorce when he was in middle school leaves him with a deep sense of failure that builds up over the years and leads to him getting a DUI, which gets him kicked out of high school. Feeling the sting of failure and slowly becoming estranged from his father, Matthews enlists in the Air Force, often takes extreme personal risks (such as joining a fire and rescue company), and spends large amounts of time away from his family. When his brother Matt suggests going on a moose hunting expedition in the wilderness of Alaska, Matthews readily accepts. During the hunt, Matthews is attacked by a grizzly bear and almost dies. He describes his fight to survive and being visited by Jesus, when suddenly he realized that he is loved by God as well as his father. With candid explorations of how his fears of failure led to a calm hopefulness after his attack and rehabilitation, Matthews’s affecting story of emotional and physical recovery will touch any Christian reader.