User:Richard Kent Matthews

"Become your best. Share your best with the world. Miracles follow!"

"I believe in miracles. Not the supernatural kind. The everyday kind, the kind we often miss. It's one thing to walk on water. It's another to walk on the earth in peace and compassion. (I borrowed that phrase from spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.)"

After a lifetime of achievement, joy, relationship, and adventure, Richard has relaxed into a new direction: Writing ebooks and blogging. "It's my way of reaching out to the world with an open heart."

Originally from Southern California, Richard has lived in Los Angeles, Vancouver BC, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and currently, Portland, Oregon for nearly 30 years.

He spent some time in the US Army, stationed near Stuttgart, Germany after Basic Training in Louisiana. (During the Viet Nam era.)

Richard also has a list of volunteer projects including church, food banks, art museums, kids' programs, career classes for Easter Seals, and Alzheimer's Association speaker's bureau. Currently, he volunteers with Portland's Ride Connection, a public transportation advocacy organization for seniors and people with disabilities (13 years). He also volunteers as a wig consultant to cancer patients through the American Cancer Society at Kaiser Permanente, Portland, Oregon campus.

Richard loves Powell's Books in Portland where he does coffee and writing almost every morning. (Richard has written nearly 600 articles for blogs and online sites since 2002. If you Google his name, he has more than three pages of listings!)

His brother, sister in law, and niece moved to Portland recently. After all that heat, Oregon is proving to be a bit unnerving, they say. ("They'll get used to it.")

Richard is also a semi-retired progressive New Thought minister, Certified Pastoral Counselor, and wedding officiant. ("In reality, no one ever truly retires from ministry. It's a lifelong calling.")

"It's been a wonderful journey, and it's not over yet, by a long shot!"

Weaknesses: Cats, babies, rain (Love the rain!), grilled cheese sandwiches. Also, I can tear up when moved. Bragging rights: Survived a potentially deadly dunk off a friend's boat into the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon, on a cold rainy night in 1996!