Kirjahaku

Having recently received a Ph. D. in New Testament studies, Lewis asked me if I would read his early manuscript, The Lure of God: A Biblical Background for Process Theism.We spent many hours discussing that book, and I was won to process philosophy.Lewis showed me new and exciting ways to see God and the world.Lewis Ford's friendship and writings enrichedthe next 35 years of my ministry and writings.I will always be grateful for his vision.

This book is a poetic memoir of the Robert Lewis and Jessie Pearl Cole family. Saint Augustine said that God loves each one of us as though each is the only one to love. My parents never read Augustine's Confessions, but they lived the truth of this faith statement. They daily loved each of their thirteen children as though each was the only one to love. This book is dedicated to them.

Faith Poetry is more about how to live in this world than it is about how to live in an afterlife.All we have is this moment The here and now. The present gift The world is the poem.Nature poetry is the spiritual expression of who we are. Nature sings the song of our faith, our being The language of our soul.Dwayne Cole and his wife, Beth met while they were both in seminary studying for the Master of Divinity degree. Dwayne has also earned a Master of Theology and a Ph.D. in New Testament with a major in Greek. They have an adult son and daughter and two teenage grandchildren.They came to Alaska in 2011 to be with family. Their daughter and son in law came to start their medical practice and needed help with their two children.

Kindness Is Every Step seeks to make a contribution to world transformation. This transformation must start with the individual, if it is to become the basis of world peace. kindness is reciprocal and moves from the individual, to the family, and to the world family. When this innate psychological need of relatedness is met, we are productive and happy. In this relational and all-inclusive sense- Kindness Is EverythingThere is an organic affinity between kindness and happiness. If you want to be happy.Be kind to yourself. If you want others to be happy. Be kind to them. If you want nature to be happy.Be kind to birds, flowers, bees, and trees.If you want the world to be happy Be kind.These poems are a journey in this direction. By mindfully practicing kindness transformation occurs at all levels of society. Kindness is in every step and leads to peace, a harmony of harmonies.

This book is dedicated to my good friend, George Wilbur Reid. For the past decade he has sent me inspiring photos taken on his daily walks through beautiful Florida. These dragonfly photos magically flew to Alaska on angel wings, bringing Florida sunshine to Alaska, often on dark snowy days with total darkness. Darkness blooms and sings. Life is more luminous and filled with meaning when dragonfly gems are glimmering. I returned the favor by sending him ekphrastic wonder poems inspired by his art. All the photos are Wilbur's creative work.

Clouds can stir the imagination. These puffs of air laced with water crystals take on mysterious colors and shapes. it's no wonder clouds have been given mythological and folkloric qualities by many cultures.In the Bible clouds are symbols of God's presence and guidance. The people were inspired to lift their eyes to heaven and walk in faith.In ancient Greek myth, clouds were seen as a group of young nymphs called Nephelai. These cloud spirits, depicted as beautiful and transparent, spent their days collecting water from the rivers in cloudy pitchers, then floating up to the heavens to pour water down from the sky, nourishing the earth and feeding the streams. Nephelai sailed through the sky in billowing white robes, looking like swans. Hindu tradition reflects the belief that elephants brought the rain, and that clouds themselves were the celestial relatives of the white elephants that roamed the earth. An elephant's body was thought to be representative of a cloud, and they would use their trunks to shower the earth with rain.Native Americans also created myths and folklore around clouds. Some saw clouds as the clothing of the gods of heaven. A god spreading arms would cause the clouds to move across the sky.Even today, cloud myths endure, often associated with honoring the dead. The Pueblo, an agricultural people, believe that the dead become the Cloud People and send them rain, thereby nourishing their land.There's no doubt about it- There's just something about clouds that is utterly magical. And it's not just you and I that have that feeling. It's a universal phenomenon throughout history.

Life is all about relationships with special people: mother, father, wife, husband, son, daughter, grandchild, relatives, and friends. Think about how these relationships give meaning and purpose to your life and make you feel all warm and loved. All of these relationships thrive on kindness. We remember people who are kind to us. This book, A Relational Trinity of Kindness, is about special relationships with God revealed in Jesus and present in our lives with spiritual transforming love energies. These relationships are spoken of in the Bible in many mysterious and awe inspiring ways. You might be feeling, "I understand relationships, but why use the word Trinity?" Soon after the Bible was written church leaders coined the non-biblical word, trinity, as a way of explaining special relationships with God. It is questionable, however, whether the word has served the church well or whether it has created confusion and misunderstanding. This book is a doctrine of the trinity that seeks fresh language to mark a new path through this maze. From my experience I have found that the word, kindness, is the best word to use for understanding these special relational ways of God. I learned that God is kind, first from the way my parents related to me and then from the gentle teachings and actions of Jesus found in the Gospels of the New Testament. In my seminary graduate studies I translated from Greek each of the Gospels, holding each word of the tender teachings of Jesus in my hands and heart. Many of those key words for kindness are treated in chapter two of this book. These Spirit inspired words have always spoken to me and encouraged me to be a better person. In making kindness my hermeneutic for interpreting the trinity and all the scriptures, some may feel that I am packing too much meaning in this one word, kindness. In my linguistic studies I have found that words do not have meaning, they have usage. Context determines how a word is used and what its meaning should be. For example, the word, bank, has many usages. If I say that I am taking a check to the bank, it has a clear meaning by the context in which I use it. If I say that he is fishing on the river bank, bank has a different meaning. If I say she made a perfect bank shot, bank has another usage and meaning. Please hold this idea that words have usage in your memory bank as you read this book

In his poetry, Dwayne Cole brings us along on a journey through the seasons where trees are our companions. His poems go deeper than mere appreciation for these trees. These poems are about friendships with trees and their healing power. Dwayne recognizes the interconnected web of life and that we are indeed in relationship with the world. The relationality of our world is beautiful. Yet, we often take it for granted. The trees share their secrets, and Dwayne helps us to hear. Trees offer us so much when they remain standing. Dwayne's poetry spotlights the eros of the world in his prose full of beauty, passion, and gratitude. His photography helps us see through his eyes and we in turn are inspired. Take this book to a wild place, sit under a tree, and fall in love -Kathleen Reeves (Kathleen Reeves is an accomplished poet and hospice chaplain who works to build an ecological civilization. You can find her poetry in The Huffington Post, Poetry Quarterly, Rivers Poets Journal, Lullwater Review, C.G. Jung Journal: Psychological Perspectives, and the Altadena Poetry Review Anthology 2017.) Dwayne Cole and his wife, Beth moved to Alaska in 2011 to be with family and help care for grandchildren as their daughter and son-in-law started their busy medical practices. Dwayne has earned degrees, including a Ph.D. in New Testament with a major in Greek. Dwayne's passion is poetry that is inspired by his daily walks in the beauty and wonder of Alaska.

The Bible: A Poetic Journey, weaves beauty and wonder into the ever widening circles of our lives. When the Bible is expressed in a poetic voice of kindness, it can save our lives and our world that is crumbling before us, bringing harmony and peace. We can't expect wellness to come from our political leaders, and not even from the religions of the world that are often pitted one against the other. A misuse of the Bible has brought us as much war as peace. If there is a future of peace for our world, It will come from a union of science and the humanities speaking in a clear voice that transforms. Poetry is one way of taking the broken pieces of our lives and reshaping them into songs that sing our heart awake. Poetry matches experience with reality, seeing the relationships between the visible and invisible. Dwayne Cole and his wife, Beth met while they were both in seminary studying for the Master of Divinity degree. Dwayne has also earned a Master of Theology and a Ph.D. in New Testament with a major in Greek. They have an adult son and daughter and four grandchildren. They came to Alaska in 2011 to be with family. Their daughter and son-in-law came to start their medical practice and needed help with their two children. This book is number twenty-four since coming to Alaska. Dwayne's passion is poetry that is inspired by his daily walks in the beauty and wonder of Alaska. You can reach Dwayne- [email protected].

At the heart of nature haiku is a deep feeling of beauty. The wish to live and experience this beauty and wonder is visible in all living entities. In sharing this beauty, we experience enlivenment-The deep meaning of life.Nature throbs with the desire to live. Haiku captures this beauty and sense of adventurous enlightenment, luring us toward more meaningful lives.I bring a flowerThe prettiest I could findGive kindness to allIn a world divided and plagued by violence, haiku can offer a refuge and hope of healing head and heart. Using insightful images from science, the humanities, and nature enables one to see with new eyes and hear heart songs from unknown realms that sing our soul awake. This is the real value of these simple three-line verses that use provocative, colorful nature images. They bring to the reader a surprising sense of enlightenment. It is in this aha moment that Divine revelation occurs from unknown realms. The haiku moves beyond time and space, beyond transitory and frail life, into peaceful Zen transcendence, filled with tenderness. We may not know where we are going, but we feel a new way has been opened, and God is in that Way, that Zen moment, revealing beauty, wonder, truth, goodness, kindness, and peace-What life is about.Dwayne Cole and his wife, Beth, met while they were both in seminary studying for the Master of Divinity degree. Dwayne has also earned a Master of Theology and a Ph.D. in New Testament with a major in Greek. They have an adult son and daughter and four grandchildren. They came to Alaska in 2011 to be with family. Their daughter and son-in-law came to start their medical practice and needed help with their two children. Dwayne's passion is poetry that is inspired by his daily walks in the beauty and wonder of Alaska. You can reach Dwayne at [email protected]

This book, Snowshoe Hare Beauty, using nature photos and poems, shows us the value of dancing with nature's beauty-Kicking up our heels. In times of pandemic we have to dance our fears away. We should count it a day lost if we do not dance at least once. Sharing this book with our children will weave Beauty, Wonder, and Kindness into the ever widening circles of their lives. The natural curiosity of children is contagious. There is a powerful force for change released when children and youth are nurtured in the values of goodness and kindness. These values are reciprocal and bless our lives as parents, grandparents, teachers, and all care givers, making us healthier, happier, and more creative-moving us toward a more beautiful world. ________________Dwayne Cole and his wife, Beth, met while they were both in seminary studying for the Master of Divinity degree. Dwayne has also earned a Master of Theology and a Ph.D. in New Testament with a major in Greek. They have an adult son and daughter and four grandchildren. They came to Alaska in 2011 to be with family. Their daughter and son- in- law came to start their medical practice and needed help with their two children. This book is number 30 since coming to Alaska. Dwayne's passion is poetry that is inspired by his daily walks in the beauty and wonder of Alaska. You can reach Dwayne at [email protected]

PrefaceWilliam Blake saw a world in a grain of sand.These sculptures and poems go inside the stones to see what centuries have hidden.Sit with this stone art.Feel God's tender love and care. Receive the gift of Peace.The stone poems, go inside the stone sculptures to explain the riddle of life- Hidden through the ages. Some stones were plucked from river beds where rainbow trout came and whispered secrets.When picked up and sawed sparks fly from them, so maybethey contain light of stars.Light to reveal the Mystery of wisdom written on walls of caves.Etched in stone commandments. Sun shining bright.Star of Bethlehem Bible stone art teaches the significance of life- Jesus is Life.Gentle Galilean Glories Healing words of love.The Glory of God The Word made flesh Heaven's Son ShineAs you meditate upon this art, may you come from scars of stones cast, to comfort of stone art, bowing in wonder. Let this be your prayer: It is by the Goodness of God that I was born into this world in the first place. It is by the Grace of God that I am held every step that I take in life. And it is by the Love of God revealed in the gentle life and tender teachings of Jesus that I am becoming a child of God. Ame