In this time of mourning Moses’ death, I often saw Joshua, my friend, and our new leader, who Moses appointed as his successor, sitting on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. He was looking west, across the river into Canaan, to the Promised Land. The east side was harsh, rocky, and dry. It was a desert. But to the west, the Promised Land was beautiful, lush, and full of the land’s bounty, the Lord’s bounty.