An early retirement from a demanding job led Matthew Shaw to a completely different career building and renting tiny houses. It also gave Shaw, a convert to the Catholic faith, the time to study for the diaconate.

Shaw, who holds a master’s degree in national security strategy from the Industrial College of Armed Forces, spent 27 years in engineering at Battelle, working 60-80 hours a week. His position required some travel and at one point he worked in Washington, D.C. for a year while his wife, Christine, and their five children (Isaac, now 27, Clare, 25, Maximillian, 23, Benjamin 21, and Sophie, 18) remained in Ohio.

It was watching TV with Isaac that created a bridge to his new career. They were watching Tiny House Nation when Isaac, who had helped with construction projects at home, suggested they build a tiny house.

Deacon Matthew Shaw receives the Book of the Gospels from Bishop Earl Fernandes. CT photo by Ken Snow

It took a year to complete their tiny house that they began to rent out. Five years ago, when Shaw retired, they decided that they had a new business venture on their hands. Shaw’s Hocking Hills Tiny Houses now has the most tiny houses for rent in Hocking County, with six houses on two locations around Lake Logan.

“Little did I know God had sort of planned all of this. By the time I was retired out and we needed a new thing to do we had our first tiny house on Airbnb and it seemed to work,” he said. “Now we’re almost always building the next one.”

The Shaws built the first house on wheels, not having a location for it, and figured God would provide a location. 

“It’s interesting how that worked,” he said. “There are so many of God’s little divine interventions in here that I should make a list. We’ve learned a lot about how to build tiny houses specifically, a lot about how to move them around, and each one gets a little bit smarter.

“For example, we will not build another one with a loft bed and it’s not because people don’t like loft beds. It’s because we don’t like to clean loft beds, little did we know when we built the first three.”

Deacon Matthew Shaw makes the promise of obedience to Bishop Earl Fernandes. CT photo by Ken Snow

Shaw said the tiny houses are always booked on weekends, even in the winter, and credits Christine’s meticulous cleaning for their five-star reviews. One of the things he enjoys most is talking to the visitors.

“I think it’s so good to let people know one way or another that you’re a Christian, that you love God,” he said. “The way that I do it, and I don’t know these people, but I always just I say, ‘God bless.’ Some will latch on to that and say, ‘Well, God bless you, too.’ I love talking to people, especially if the conversation is about God. That is really fulfilling for me.”

Shaw grew up Lutheran with a “love for the Lord” and always had a desire to serve and help people. His wife was a cradle Catholic, but it wasn’t until the birth of their first child that Shaw recognized a desire to convert to Catholicism. The call to the diaconate was there but couldn’t float to the surface until Shaw retired.

“God was calling and saying you’ve always had this excuse of work and you ain’t got that no more but I’m going to take care of you,” he said. “This tiny house business just sort of blossomed out of little ideas that my son had, my wife had, and I had, and we did it. It gave me the time and the faith to say God’s going to take care of this.”