Special to the Reporter

The Reverend Greg Asimakoupoulos of Mercer Island has authored a new book of inspirational poetry, titled “When God Speaks: Listening for Aslan in Everyday Life.” The new book, published by On the Tracks Publishers, is Asimakoupoulos’ 14th book.

The various poems in “When God Speaks” invite the reader to look for subtle ways in which the Creator is involved in people’s personal lives through serendipities that appear at first to be coincidences.

“I call these apparent coincidences Godwinks,” said Asimakoupoulos, chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores on Mercer Island. “When we purposely dust for divine fingerprints in our daily lives, we can often see evidences of God’s unmistakable involvements.”

Asimakoupoulos credits the concept of Godwinks to SQuire Rushnell, a former television executive and Hallmark movie producer who coined the term two decades ago. The local author also is indebted to David and Karen Mains, a clergy couple in Chicago with whom he once worked, who talked a lot about “going on a God hunt” in search of divine alignments.

The subtitle and the cover art refer to Aslan, a Christ-like figure created by British novelist C. S. Lewis. The ever-present lion was first introduced 71 years ago this month with the publication of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (the first of the eight chronicles of Narnia).

“This book is different from others I have written,” Asimakoupoulos admits. “It is an interactive workbook in which each poem includes a prompt or a question in which the reader can respond personally on blank pages.”

Copies of the book can be ordered through Lulu.com. Asimakoupoulos, an Island resident since 2005, has served as full-time chaplain at the Shores since 2013.