Today’s message is about the edges of hope. Not the hope we have when all is well, but the hope we cling to with white knuckles when life is not going how we think it should. Paul certainly shows us the way when he describes his own life as a frail, clay jar. He says that he is afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, but in all of this, the imperishable life of Christ shines forth all the more. Christ’s presence and life sustains Paul in his dark hours. Let us cling together to the hope we have in Christ our Lord.