This week I had the chance to interview Tom Baker, author of the new book “One Dog’s Faith” who also happens to be the lead drummer in the Concord UMC band and an all around great guy. I hope you will be as blessed from Tom’s story as I have been.
You tell this story playfully from a dog’s perspective, but it seems the real story behind this book is quite serious.
That’s right. It’s directly from my life. It’s about how difficult circumstances and chronic worry threatened to take my life from me.
A few years back my business began to fail and that experience shook my identity to its core. In the process I found my life by almost losing it. When all the trappings of success were taking from me and my ability provide for my family was threatened, I found that faith provided an unshakable foundation that I could trust to see me through the toughest days.
Of course, my family and my church played a large role in helping me towards this realization, but so did my dog.
So that’s what made you choose to tell the story from a dog’s perspective?
I’ve found that God speaks to us in all kinds of ways. Sometimes God speaks through nature, sometimes through scripture and prayer, sometimes through worship, sometimes through friends, and sometimes through animals like dogs. In my case, it was by thinking about my problems from the perspective of my dog that I first became able to see past my momentary dilemmas and catch a glimpse of God’s perspective.
For this reason, my book, One Dog’s Faith, takes the premise that God is trying to help us see His glory and grace, as well as protection, power and principles through the examples of dogs. The good thing is that dogs won’t really be able to tell if this premise is not true.
I guess that’s right. You do not have to worry about the canine critics calling you out.
No. I’m just thankful for what canines have taught me about how to not worry about the very real problems we face in life.
What would you say to someone who is currently struggling with chronic worry?
Let’s look at how Mango lives her life… first; dogs love to ride in the car, with the window down. She takes in all the beauty and appreciates the blessings that are simply everywhere. Also, dogs live for today… even more than that, they live for the next 5 minutes. They don’t contemplate and worry about tomorrow or next week… they care about now. Thirdly, they dedicate there whole self to serving others. Sure, they want to eat, but they really want to make totally sure that their family is safe, loved and cared for. Caring for others is a wonderful way to take our focus off of ourselves. If we start by doing those three things, our worry factor is also certain to improve. And if you need a good read to help you do take on worry, pick up a copy of One Dog’s Faith.
Where can we find One Dog’s Faith?
Go to onedogsfaith.com. Or Amazon.
One last question: Is Mango a real dog?
Not only is she real. She’s awesome!
Wil Cantrell 