STRAINING EXPECTATION — and the word is a picture: apo + kara ('head') + dokeuein ('to watch'), the posture of someone with the head thrust forward, CRANING, watching the road for something that has not appeared yet. Possibly Paul's own coinage; it occurs twice in the New Testament and both are his — Philippians 1:20 of his own hope in prison, and Romans 8:19 of creation itself craning its neck for the revealing of God's children. No English word does it, and 'eager expectation' — the standard retreat — loses the neck entirely. → first discussed at Philippians 1:20