Alan J. Cutting

Alan Joseph Cutting; (born May 18, 1954 in Van Nuys, California). Teacher, Pastor and Poet.

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A graduate of [Liberty University] , School of Religion, and Golden State University, Alan obtained three Master of Arts degrees in the areas of Biblical Literature, Religion, and Counseling. Alan worked as a pastor and a Bible instructor from 1973 to 2001.

Alan is listed in the [International Society of Poets] , ["Who's Who in Poetry"] , and received awards many times for his poetry, and named best poet of the year, in 2007. Alan started writing poetry at the age of twelve, and is regarded by some as an outstanding poet of the 20th & 21st century. A collected volume of Alan's poetry was published in 2007, titled ["Whispers of the Heart"] .

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Alan was born at the Van Nuys Maternity Hospital to Clarence Joseph Matthew Cutting, a carpenter from Toronto, Canada, and Muriel Elizabeth Long from North Hollywood, California. He grew up in Granada Hills, CA until 1972 when he left for Pasadena College, (Now Pt. Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA). When Alan was nine years old, his parents divorced. He was the oldest of five and immediately became the caretaker for his three brothers and sister, as his mother went to work and began attending nursing school full-time. He began attending a Nazarene Church when he was fourteen and was baptised into the Faith when he turned sixteen. At the age of seventeen, Alan moved from his family and into the care of his pastor, Lon Eckdahl. Pastor Eckdahl became a surrogate father and mentor for several years to come.

Alan attended Patrick Henry Junior High school and Granada Hills Senoir High school in Southern California. He was on the track team, football team, and founded a Christian club during his junior year at Granada Hills Senoir High school. After school activities included little league baseball and boxing. During his senior year in high school, Alan suffered a grand mal seizure due to a blow to the head from a baseball bat when he was eight years old. The scar tissue that developed in his brain was severe enough to be a life long endeavor, as he struggled to control the seizures through medication. After his second year in college, Alan married and then transferred to [Nazarene Bible College] in Colorado Springs, CO. He served as a Youth director during his undergraduate years and became a licensed minister in the [Church of the Nazarene] . Alan's career as a Bible instructor took off in 1977. His first marriage ended in divorce October 1978. He remarried to Gigi Benton in 1984. They moved to Maui, Hawaii in 1986. Gigi passed away while living in Hawaii August 1989. After Gigi died, Alan left Hawaii for the first time, and moved to San Antonio, TX, where he continued to teach Bible in a Christian secondary schhol. He remarried in 1994, then he moved back to Oahu, Hawaii with his wife as a Bible teacher at Lanakila Baptist Jr. & Sr. High School, and served as an Associate Pastor at a nearby Nazarene Church. While teaching in Hawaii, Alan was awarded the "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" for two years, 1998 and 2000. In 1998, Alan left Hawaii and the Nazarene Church for an Associate Pastor position in a Non-Denominational Christian church in Illinois. His wife left him at the end of 1999, and he resigned his position to free the church from any negative fall-out. Alan moved back to San Antonio and began teaching for a Christian University until June 2001. He served a total of ten years as an Associate Pastor and fourteen years as a Bible Instructor. In January of 2001 he married Susan Elizabeth Douglass, born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Alan never had children of his own, though he helped raise Susan's two children Brian and Lauren. He and his wife, Susan, took over a small fifteen year old San Antonio local promotional product advertising business, "HI-TEX Advertising Specialties". Due to the advancement of the internet and search engines, the sales industry was given an easier method of reaching customers on a worldwide level. Alan built a few websites, and he and Susan launched their corporation with a revised name, ["HI-TEX Flags & Advertising Specialties, Inc."] , into the international business community, and has become a highly successful Flag and promotional product business. To this day "HI-TEX" manages over four different websites, servicing the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Two award winng poems:

A FLOWER

A flower is but a reflection
That mirrors' the countenance of the beholder.
Elegance and beauty are the images
That grace the scent of this blossom.

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ONCE DECEIVED

Once I loved with all my heart,
took my vows to play my part.
For in my soul the stars shone bright,
And lost in love as though were night.

I left behind my rainbows and leis,
For the taste of country, bonnets and haze.
The time appeared to blaze the trail,
And ride the train that could not fail.

Never before did I die for one,
To give my life and render the sun.
To expose one's soul implies love is,
When both can love, there's power and bliss.

If only I saw you held untrue,
From the time we kissed, I gave to you.
The love you promised to give so free,
It never came, you lied to me.