Football uncertainties: will your anchor hold?

For the past three seasons I have been privileged to be the chaplain to Doncaster Rovers FC, my local club. Having been a lifelong football fan, it has been great to be able to see something of what goes on behind the scenes at a football club. On the whole, it has been a great three years for the Rovers. In my first season (2007/8), they reached the League 1 Play-off final at Wembley Stadium. As a double bonus for me personally, in the same season my home-town club, Hull City, also reached the Championship Play-off final at Wembley. So, having never been to Wembley in my life, I was blessed to be able to visit the famous stadium twice in the same weekend, and on both occasions saw my team achieve a famous victory!

I guess that many people imagine that the life of a footballer is very glamorous. When we hear of some of the top players being paid over £100,000 every week we can't help but feel that they have a cushy number! Yet, in my experience, the life of a footballer involves a great deal of uncertainty. However popular and successful a footballer is, he can never take that success and popularity for granted. A serious injury can overnight bring a footballer's career to an end. A loss of form can mean that the player is no longer wanted by his club. It is public knowledge that a number of the current Rovers players are out of contract at the end of this season (only two games away, now). For those players there is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their footballing future.

Of course, footballers are not the only ones who face uncertainty in life. With the current credit crunch etc., many people face uncertainty about their jobs, their finances and a whole host of matters. It is interesting that in the last two funerals which I have taken, one of the hymns has been the hymn which begins with a pertinent question: "Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?" Most of us, at some stage in our lives, will face storms, difficult times. The big question is, do we have an anchor which will prevent us being dashed against the rocks and destroyed? The chorus of the hymn goes as follows:

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.

The only unshakable foundation to life is Jesus Christ. If our trust is in him, we fill find that even the fiercest storms cannot shake us. And that's great news in a very uncertain world!

PS To listen to a version of the hymn try here.