The acrostic for JOY is Jesus, Others, You. As Christians our ability to experience joy often reflects our ability to remember this. In our flesh we schedule our days, we tend to write our scripts. But what happens when God reschedules our day and rewrites our script? If our focus is on ourselves, we get disappointed; but if our focus is on Jesus we respond with joy to His new direction.

Paul and Barnabas made a great team for their first missionary journey. We read in Acts 15:36-40, that a sharp disagreement erupted over whether or not Mark should be allowed to join them on their next journey. We read in 15:39, "Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, ...And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches." Though a dispute is never good, we know that they repaired this schism later from Scripture, but the result now was instead of one team, there were now two missionary teams to cover more area. As Paul is traveling, he is blocked by the Holy Spirit from going where he wants, and we read in 16:9-10. that he is directed to Macedonia, and with that into Europe for the first time. I'm sure that he went with much excitement. But an overview of these events was upon not finding a synagogue (required at least 10 Jewish men), he first preaches to a group of women. This might not sound bad in the 21st century, but things were much different in those days. From this experience he is followed by a demon possessed woman. After ridding her of this spirit, he gets unfairly accused, beaten then thrown in prison.

This results in his ability to share the gospel with a bunch of prisoners and eventually the jailer. This is how the church of Philippi is launched. I'm sure these were not Paul's plans, but they were God's. We should notice Paul's demeanor to this redirection. Was it disappointment and disillusion? No!. In jail, we read in 16:25, "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Tertullian (160-240 AD) wrote, "The leg feels not the stocks when the mind is in heaven."

Paul could sing because his eyes were now on Jesus. We next read in 16:27-28, "And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." Rather than fleeing to escape with eyes focused on himself, his eyes were now focused on others. This man and his household were then led to Christ as we read in 16:31, after the jailer asked how he could be saved, "So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house." As an aside, this was the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy in Genesis 9:27, "May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;". Japheth settled in Europe and became the geopolitical rulers of the world, but were considered uncouth and godless. But their tents or coverings would not come from their pagan deities, but from the True and Living God of Shem, brought to them through Paul.

How do we view our daily schedule and where are eyes focused? Does our day start with prayer and reading upon arising to immediately get our marching orders from Him, or do we stumble through the morning hours claiming we can't think without our coffee, then go on to complaining about our morning commute. Do we look at our daily schedule as fixed or as simply an outline in which God can rearrange it any way He desires for His service. Is our finish line the end of the workday so we can eat then go blank before a television, or does this represent our next opportunity as we approach our loved ones and are now able to show the love of Jesus with them. Do we then complain of our tiredness as we stumble into bed, or take this last opportunity to reflect on our day with God, both thanking Him for the opportunities and leaning on His mercy and grace for those sins and missed opportunities which occur daily. Obstacles or opportunities, the choice is ours.