Small Steps from Death to Life - Part I: The life and times of a lower-level street guy. It has truly been a spiritual journey.

Born into a childhood marked by mental, physical, and emotional abuse, Matthew Small learned early that pain was unavoidable. Denied food for days at a time, forced to sleep outside in harsh weather, and subjected to relentless punishment, he grew up believing that suffering was simply part of life.

By fourteen, he entered the streets. By fifteen, he was fully immersed in them.

Matthew lived as a "street guy," embracing a code that demanded toughness, detachment, and readiness for jail, prison, or death at any moment. He understood the risks. He accepted them. Prison sentences, homelessness, violence, and countless fights became chapters in his reality.

Small Steps from Death to Life: Part I is a raw and deeply personal true account of survival and endurance.

Matthew Small was born on May 4, 1982, in Thomasville, North Carolina. He survived a childhood marked by severe abuse and became a street figure for twenty-eight years. He has been in prison twice, jailed numerous times, experienced homelessness, and endured violence, including being shot by police. Throughout his life, he studied religion, spirituality, eastern and western philosophy, history, and crime. He describes himself as disciplined, extreme, and benevolent, committed to helping others through his story.