Inspiration Press, Inc.

Dog helped to bring people together

By Christina Veiga
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Andrea MacVicar wants to make millions of dollars for the Lord. The pastor, family counselor and children's book writer thinks she can do it with her new book, Tales of Zoftic.

"It's just a story about a family, and Zoftic the dog, and how Zoftic really brings people together," said MacVicar, who is donating the book profits to the Humane Society, Friends of Greyhounds, Wycliffe Bible Translators and Christian Aid Mission.

Zoftic was a black Labrador MacVicar found abandoned behind her house in Michigan.

"At that time, I was taking a lot of creative writing courses," said MacVicar, who now lives in Coral Springs. "I wrote the first two poems in rhyme because I wanted to write for children."

That was more than 25 years ago. MacVicar's work on the book was set aside when she fell into depression and was later called to become a pastor at age 35, she said.

MacVicar credits traumatic childhood experiences while growing up in Beruit, Lebanon, for her depression. She was born there in 1941 while her father was involved in World War II efforts. Later, an inability to have children added to her depression.

When she retired from being a full-time pastor in 2003, MacVicar was drawn back into creative writing when she came across her first two Zoftic poems.

"I looked at them and I thought, 'Well, I just feel impressed to complete the story of Zoftic,'" MacVicar said. "So I sat down and worked very hard for two years, and I decided to do it in rhyme, because that's how I started."

With the story complete, MacVicar felt she "just wanted to give the story away."

To turn the story into a book MacVicar needed an illustrator, and she approached Fort Lauderdale resident Pattie Morse, a congregation member and friend. She agreed to illustrate the book for free, in order for it to be sold as a nonprofit endeavor.

"I thought her message was beautiful," said Morse, who began painting when she says she was miraculously cured of malignant brain tumors at age 25.

Tales of Zoftic is available at http://inspirationpress.org for $21.45, including shipping.

Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Reprinted with permission from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.