The Shepherd's Cup: The Place Where I Belong

By Antonio Dover

If the road you have taken has twists and turns that have somehow thrown you off course, you can still finish well.

“The Shepherd’s Cup” is the perfect book for you! Whenever the journey before you seems too great to travel, there is an encouraging word to compel you to continue. Even if you’ve run out of places to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640880887

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 Antonio Dover

All rights reserved

First Edition

TRILOGY PUBLISHING

Tuslin, CA

First originally published by Trilogy Publising 2018

ISBN 978-1-64088-087-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64088-088-7 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

You are special! Everyone is unique in their own way. We all want to be loved. In fact, we all need love. No one wants to be left alone. It is not good that anyone should be alone. Providentially speaking, there is a place where we all fit perfectly by God’s divine design.

On the other hand, our uniqueness is overlooked whenever life is not seen through the lens of love. Therefore, the notion of rejection is conceived, and the game of let’s make friends soon comes into play. The individual who is dealt what seems to be a bad hand is tempted to gamble away their identity. That person’s character and integrity are altered because of compromise. Under the given circumstances, the fear of being left alone forces one to find an unlikely place to fit in.

Rejection is not always the result of ill-doings. Some people are rejected for what some may consider being over-qualified. In essence, this type of uniqueness involves those who are extremely gifted. Consequently, these individuals sometimes find themselves living life before large audiences but with very few friends. Whenever one is left in a quandary over what to do, it is like being all alone in a crowd. Therein lies the temptation to try and fit in wherever possible.

Perhaps this is descriptive of your life or someone you know, someone who has been rejected for whatever reason. Maybe you’ve gambled with your true identity and lost sight of your purpose in life. Lastly, you may not know who you are at all. If so, this book was written just for you!

—Antonio Dover

Chapter 1

The Stranger

Far out, in the grassy meadows, under an open heaven, Sheep stood all alone. As Sheep stood quietly on the hillside, it grazed amongst the briers and thorns. The cry of its heart was utterly forsaken by the distance between Sheep and the flock grazing nearby. The sheep’s wool was black, and it suffered in silence. No wonder no one would dare to question why. The sheep was denied the chance to fit in with the flock, because it was different. No one could tell that it was broken from within, while forced to follow from a distance.

The danger in facing the same challenge in life is becoming a friend to it.

Meanwhile, tucked away, underneath the thickness of Sheep’s wool, was the hope of discovering something worthwhile. The grazing flock would succumb to believe something otherwise. The sheep’s strength was nestled within its ability to wait, as it stood boldly apart from the others. While mindless of the thought of being left out, it defied the strength from following the number. The sheep became somewhat untouchable, and for the most part, it would remain. It looked to the hand of the Shepherd and never swayed at any delay. The sheep relied on the fact that, whenever it came down to having freedom, there was a definite way!

Life for Sheep was fairly decent and not always unpleasant. No, not until the day that came as the falling rain, far removed from the bliss of an unexpected guest. On this day, Sheep attempted to fit in with the flock. Unbeknownst to Sheep, it had stumbled upon a season of rejection, otherwise known as a stumbling block. It was the ultimate price Sheep would pay for being different from all the rest. Nevertheless, every single day was just another day in the life of a sheep, whose true identity would be put to the test. The sheep would somehow remain sheltered by its strength, enough to walk and stand alone. Thereafter, the pains of the past would begin gnawing away at the confidence it had sustained for the future.

Sometimes being left out causes you to stand out enough for those who really care to notice you.

All the while, grazing there on the grassy hillside, Sheep found solace down a narrow pathway. The timing could not have been better for Sheep to slip off into the distant haze. It was hard to find a secret place amidst a crowd of sheep in a stall. Therefore, whenever the heat of the day finally lifted, the pathway became a way of escape from it all. As the Shepherd of the flock watched from afar, he never seemed to be alarmed. He rested in the fact that Sheep would come running whenever he made the evening call.

On this particular evening, the flock found a good place to settle in the fields. Albeit, Sheep took to walking faster until it reached the top of a little hill. As it traveled along the way, it noticed how the flock began to fade. There was too much at stake for Sheep to stop and rest in the shade. With the sun against its back, Sheep turned to see how far it had come. The little hill was only a milestone. The journey had just begun. The sheep was able to keep pace with an unquenchable thirst to be free. Strength was renewed with a simple reminder to the soul that it had somewhere to be.

Not everyone will agree with you as you own up to your true identity in life.

The sheep chose to walk alone, all for the sake of finding the perfect comfort zone. Life had somehow become mundane and somewhat unbearable. Thus, Sheep left the flock and decided to lie down in the green pastures. As the heat that falls at the height of the noonday sun and as a cloud that brings forth shade, danger would have surely prevailed had it not been for this