So it’s official, the news that we were expecting. The England and Wales Cricket team have lost the Ashes. At least it wasn’t a complete whitewash. We did manage to draw one test!

Being English and a sports fan I’ve discovered that life is full of hope which is often dashed with disappointment. The recent ashes series has been a case in point. On several mornings that I’ve checked up on the state of play in the ashes to hear that England have the upper hand or at least are holding their own. Yet, the next report gives news of a batting collapse or a century or double century from an Australian batsman. The semblance of hope was smashed and I was left with disappointment.

This June we have the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia. Will it bring more disappointment? Who knows? History though doesn’t give much encouragement.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were told we had the golden generation of English footballers. Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owen and others formed the back bone of a football team that so much was expected of. Yet, over and over again performances at the major tournaments were disappointing and we were left only with a sense of what could have been.

Actually, disappointment is not something exclusive to supporters of England teams. It is something that all fans experience at times whether they are supporting their national or local teams. In rugby I support the Saracens (they used to play 50 yards from the hospital wing in which I was born). Recently they’ve gone through a slump of not being able to win games. At least two they were winning only to be denied by a last minute try from the opposition. Hope dashed, disappointment reigned.

Why am I writing about this? It’s not because I’m sitting here frustrated and needing to vent, whether over the sporting disappointment or one of the deeper disappointments of life. The reason is that I’ve been spending some time thinking recently about what the Bible says about heaven. As I’ve done this the thing that’s struck me is that heaven will be a place without disappointment. One verse in the Bible puts it like this:

            an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. 1 Peter 1:4

Can you imagine that? A place where the joy never stops and the despair never enters. A place where we will never have to wonder when it’s all going to go wrong or what will be the next difficulty on the horizon. The Bible teaches that heaven is a wonderful place where the beauty of life will remain and never disappear.

I find it can often be difficult to think about future things. There is so much vying for our attention today that we don’t have time or desire to look ahead. Similarly, when we talk of heaven we are speaking about life after death which has a taste of the morbid to it. Yet, is it not important to be prepared and to consider these things? If there is a heaven should we not be asking how it is we get there?