About the Book
We were coming to the end of our teaching series that I had called The Art Of Worship, and I was seeking the Lord’s guidance on what to teach next. I assembled several topical outlines, and picked a couple of New Testament books that seemed appropriate for the single adults that I was working with. Major back surgery had given me the time to consider the options. The more I prayed about it, the less comfortable I became. There was something else, but I wasn’t sure what it all meant.
Our Australian Terrier had given birth to a litter of puppies and I spent a lot of my recovery time watching Jazzy interact with her puppies. I considered how many of the singles in our ministry had a loving, trusting, relationship with their dogs. No matter how difficult their lives were, their dogs loved them unconditionally, and they gained comfort from that relationship. I wondered if I could use their experiences, along with what I knew about training dogs, and couple it with sound Biblical principles to help people understand what an obedient relationship to Jesus was like. Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd because sheep were the common animal of his day. Could the same principles be true for a pack leader and his pack?
The outline came together quickly, so I decided to write the lessons in manuscript form. As I wrote, it occurred to me that we could print the manuscript, have the group read it through the week, and I could teach a different lesson to tie it all together on the weekends. The result was a blessing to all who participated in the series. We sold two hundred photocopied manuscripts in just a couple of weeks, and there was a demand for more. When the series concluded the group urged me to do something more with the book. “This is a God thing,” I was told. “People need to read this material.” So, with a little research I located Tate Publishing Company, who also believed that the project should be published. The God Whisperer did not begin as a book to be sold in the marketplace, but God’s plan is so much bigger than our limited vision. It is an honor to present this book, because it is not about me, but about the Lord that I serve.
