Every winter we give thanks to God for the extra refrigerator space. As the outside temperature drops to near or below freezing, remaining consistently cold for weeks on end, the little deck outside our home becomes our extra cold storage space. Leftovers from the family feast, sodas, prepared foods for large upcoming events, it is amazing what we find to put outside.
Sometimes it gets too cold, however, and we have to move items back into the warmer clime of the Frigidaire. Often we are tardy in this task. This is why I lost a couple of Coke Zeros a little more than a week ago. The liquid inside the aluminum canisters froze and literally blew apart the cans, except for the one pictured here. 
I am sure some physicist could explain the properties of this particular container and mathematically provide the reasons why this can survived even when its nestling neighbors were obliterated. I am not able to provide such an explanation, so I am left to marvel at the “Zero that made it through.”
As I mourned the loss of this Zero’s friends and cleaned up the frozen mess of their demise, I couldn’t help but begin to think about how this situation is a microcosm. I witness over and again people put in the same harsh environmental situation, sometimes side-by-side; some survive, some do not. What is the difference? In the case of the Zeros it was the ability to endure pressure. The mystery of this can’s refusal to succumb made it stand out from its cola brethren and caused its ordinary contents to be precious.
How much more for those who are pressed upon by the extremes of this life we live. Pressure within, pressure without, from where does the ability to survive and be precious come?
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:7–10, ESV)
TheNarrowRoadPursued 
With riots spreading across the Middle East, sovereign debt troubles brewing again in the EU, and a very shaky economic picture here in the US, this blog post was exactly the right way to end the work day.
I am sending this to my email list as a breath of fresh air from the Spirit. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Jeff, I am glad it was of some encouragement. I finished tomorrow’s post…something I wrote many years ago and try to rework from time to time to see if I can get it to be better. I hope it at least garners one of your trademark grins!
The thought of how we handle pressure like your “Zero” can can also be likened to the fragile egg. Strike it, drop it, tap it or bang it and it will easily break, allowing it’s fragile life-providing contents to spill out and become destroyed. But fully envelope it inside your hand, squeeze as hard as you can and no damage will be caused. The structure of the otherwise fragile egg keeps it from being damaged when fully surrounded by your hand. It actually becomes stronger the more pressure you apply. We are like an egg… on our own we can not survive the blows from the world, but fully enveloped and surrounded by God’s love we can endure any pressure from the outside. This can only happen with his presence. In fact, like the egg, our structure becomes stronger when we are fully enveloped in God’s loving hand.
True, true Greg, and an appropriate reworking of the Paul’s encouragement! Thanks, my friend.
Excellent image. Thanks for adding that, Greg.