Joe was a great sheepdog. He had spent several seasons now, rounding up the flock from the grazing fields, showing the sheep where the best grass was, and chasing off predators. He'd been a great sheep too - one who looked to the shepherd for direction and who didn't stray out of the pasture, as some of the sheep did.

You see, Joe wasn't always a sheepdog. Joe had been a sheep first, and he'd had to learn how to follow the shepherd. It could be hard to follow the shepherd, because he didn't always see the shepherd - but at least he had the other sheepdogs to help him see where the shepherd was leading.

And he followed faithfully, because in his estimation, it was much better to follow the shepherd's leading, even through the sheepdogs. Those sheepdogs had followed after the shepherd for some time - they seemed to know something that many of the sheep just didn't.

Joe didn't have the wool pulled over his eyes. Every once in a while, he noticed that one of the sheepdogs got too rough with the sheep. Mistakes could be made, of course, but sometimes the dogs got outright aggressive and turned into something more sinister. He'd seen that kind of animal before - but it was usually one that the sheepdogs chased away. A wolf.

He always wondered what would make a sheepdog, who followed closely after the shepherd, become a wolf - one of the enemy's minions who sought to destroy the sheep. And he always thought that if a sheepdog became a wolf, the shepherd would need to do something about it.

One day, one of the dogs, Gabe, came over to Joe in the pasture. Gabe said, "Joe, I was talking with the shepherd the other day, and we were thinking it's a good time to make you a sheepdog." Now Joe figured, if the shepherd wants him to be a sheepdog, that's what he ought to be. So he agreed and began training.

Two rules reigned supreme in sheepdog training, from which all other rules and guidelines followed. First: follow the shepherd. The other: protect the sheep. The shepherd knew best what the sheep needed - and also what dangers and terrors lurked, waiting to befall the sheep. As the shepherd lay down his life for the sheep, so must the sheepdogs be willing to lay down their lives to protect the flock. Sheepdog training was a daily reminder and practice of those two principles.

And so it went. Joe became a sheepdog and spent several seasons helping the sheep find good pasture. He fought off the evil predators who wanted to drag the sheep off into the darkness. More than anything, he wanted the sheep to know how to hear and follow the shepherd's voice.

Over time, Joe found several sheep that seemed to hear the shepherd's call just a little more clearly. He asked the shepherd, and he seemed to hear that voice of direction and peace tell him these sheep needed to become sheepdogs. As best he could, and with the diligence he brought to each part of his life, he took each of these sheep through the beginning of their training.

Then Drake came along. Drake had been a sheep, and then progressed through almost all his training to become a sheepdog. He showed promise - a charisma that led many sheep to follow his leading, even though he was a bit younger than many of the sheepdogs who were fully trained. So Joe was shocked and saddened to learn that Drake had strayed from the training - even more, he had started to act in wolfish ways.

All the sheepdogs who had guarded and brought up Drake were saddened as well. Really, they were depressed - for a while, they questioned their own calling and the sense in continuing to train other sheep. How could a sheepdog-in-training with such potential end up wolfing out and harming the sheep? This was so far outside the bounds of sheepdog principles! And yet, a few sheep lay bloodied and broken from Drake's activities in the darkness.

Joe figured the shepherd should do something about this. Such a waste, for Drake's talents to go without use. Surely Drake had been called for something - maybe his training had just been deficient. Surely, he thought, the shepherd would forgive Drake.

But to fix him? Yes, Joe thought - a sheepdog with a better background in training, one with more discipline, would be able to pull Drake back from being a wolf. Drake's true essence was not a wolf, after all - he could be reformed. Then, with completed training, his full talents could be brought to bear as a suitable sheepdog.

So Joe set about to design a program to put restraints around Drake - if he had enough accountability, enough training, he would not act in wolfish ways anymore! Drake agreed to this, and reentered training under Joe. For some months, this continued, and Joe chose to focus on the positive developments he saw.

That winter, Gabe came back to Joe's pasture for a visit. As usual, he wanted to see the trainees preparing to take care of the sheep. Most he saw with approving eyes. And then he saw Drake. Gabe's lips curled into a snarl, and he began crouching as though he would pounce on prey.

Joe was alarmed at this reaction - he had thought Gabe would be proud of his dedication to reforming a sheepdog with this type and level of potential. Why would Gabe be angry at such a good training program? Why would Gabe be so negative when sheep were clearly growing under Drake's watch?

Two full days went by before Joe worked up the courage to ask Gabe why he was so angry. No matter how many sheep Joe had trained to be sheepdogs, he was always intimidated by Gabe. He always regarded Gabe as being a bit closer to the shepherd than he himself could ever be. Gabe's experience was undeniable and important to weigh - Joe knew he had so much to learn. So he swallowed his fear, and he asked Gabe why he balked when he saw Drake.

"Joe, Drake has been a wolf. One does not become a wolf and then just go back to being a sheepdog. Not even to being a sheepdog-in-training! When a sheep or sheepdog so harms sheep and becomes a wolf, they also harm themselves. The same wounds they inflict on the sheep, they tear into their own souls. There is no path from wolf to sheepdog. The wolf must start over and become a sheep once more."

"But Gabe," Joe protested, "Wouldn't the shepherd forgive Drake?"

"Of course," Gabe responded. "If Drake asks for forgiveness, he will have it. That is what the shepherd promised when he died for us: if we humble ourselves, he will bring us back into the flock as a sheep, and we'll experience all of the privileges and protection that are there."

"But Drake did not protect the sheep," Gabe continued, "and the sheepdogs ought to be willing to go so far as to lay down their lives to protect the flock. The sheepdog training is not anchored to forgiveness, but to trust. Wolves are never trusted. Their character has shown they will harm. Wolves must always come back to the training as trusted sheep - if they ever return to training at all."

Joe was ashamed. He thought with the right training - a program he designed - the wolf could be reformed. He had trusted his eyes seeing what he thought was promising talent. He had been more than a little puffed up by the thought that he would be the one to bring this wolf into line, and so be responsible (by proxy) for all the sheep that Drake would oversee.

But now he saw he had been blind. These were things that an experienced sheepdog should know. That some sheepdogs become wolves. They decide they like the power, or they just like the taste of sheep. Either way, they fall in love with their position of power over the more vulnerable creatures beneath them in the hierarchy. Joe saw now that it had been his job to protect sheep from that kind of creature - not to train one up over larger groups of sheep.

The only way for a wolf to be set free again is to become a sheep. Full stop. And only the shepherd can make them a sheep. Like Joe, some sheepdogs want to try to turn the wolves back into sheepdogs. But those wolves have to become humble sheep again first. And to the degree that their transgression violated the sheep's boundaries, that is how much they must submit to becoming a sheep again.

So Joe saw that Drake would need to drop out of training straight away, seek out the shepherd, and ask to be a sheep. Would he? Would Drake take that kind of demotion and patiently wait for the call to training to return? Would Drake approach the shepherd as a cunning wolf or as a humble sheep-to-be?

Some wolves do become sheep again but are never again called to train as sheepdogs. Other wolves know this, and in self-preservation they try to act like sheepdogs as best they can. They may try moving to another flock or reinventing their image. But they still harm some sheep, because they don't want to give up that path for their lives.

Joe realized that his error in judgment had risked the safety and lives of many sheep. As a "reformed" wolf, Drake would have continued leading the sheep on wolfish principles. He could have trained up other sheepdogs in his wolfish image, perpetuating a pattern among the vulnerable flock.

Was that kind of error a sign of wolfishness itself? Joe wasn't sure. But he had brought danger to the sheep, and violated that key principle of the protection of the sheep. The shepherd would not lead this way. There ought to be a cost. Surely, he must also seek out the shepherd and ask to be made a sheep again, as well.

Perhaps the shepherd would make him a faithful sheep. Or perhaps his transgression would be one of those lessons to make him much more circumspect in his dealings with the sheep, and eventually he would be trained as a sheepdog again. Either way, he would tell all his fellow sheepdogs that for now he deserved only to be a sheep.

And that would be ok, for he was in the hands of his shepherd. The shepherd who did not bring harm, but laid down his life for his sheep.

References:

"[Galerie Deschler]Deborah Sengle - Untitled ... from the series - Wolf-sheep-priest #1" by von_boot is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0