Joy in the Journeys

           I love Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore, ever since I was very young.   Winnie is the eternal optimist.   Tigger just likes to bounce and have fun.   For Eeyore, it seems he just can’t get past the negative.                 There are so many hardship stories in the Bible. Take Joseph, for instance.  He was favored by his father, hated by his brothers.  In fact, his brothers sold him into slavery.  Then there is Job – a man of great wealth, who had everything (and I mean everything) taken from him; his home, his livestock, his children, his wife, even his friends came against him.  And, how about Ruth, who lost everything, took a chance and moved to a strange land with her mother-in-law. Esther took a chance and went before the King without being summoned.  Then there was Daniel, who would not eat what the King told him to and refused to pray an...