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O, Give Me a Home
Preface
This book is entitled, “0, Give Me A Home,” taken from
a phrase in one of my Dad’s favorite songs, “Home on the Range.” The home I
have in mind is not the one of which cowboys sang, “where the buffalo roam and
the deer and antelope play,” but a home here on earth; the kind and quality
that God has revealed the home should be. My parents told me that when I was under six I sang
“Home on the Range” in a program from the stage. I described it as the place
where the “deer and the cantaloupe play.” God has revealed to us the home as a divinely appointed institution just as is the church, originating in the mind of God. This home is to be of certain quality and God has graciously informed us what He expects. It is quite obvious that the home was given to mankind for happiness and an opportunity to be what God wants us to be. The lessons included, with few exceptions, were first
published in my publication, A Burning Fire, a
periodical of over two hundred issues which contained nearly a thousand full
manuscripts of the sermons I have preached over nearly forty-seven years of
preaching. Nearly all of the lessons in this book have been preached by me many
times over. I have now gathered them into one volume. Because of the subject material there can be expected some repetition inasmuch as the subjects touch inseparably one to the other. These subjects include studies about the home, marriage, parents, children, sources and solutions to problems, authority in the home, divorce, remarriage, the relationship of the home and the church, and a wide range of related subjects. I do not claim or pretend any expertise in these
matters, but I am confident that the convictions expressed are founded on
truth, and while they are not necessarily original with me they are my own
convictions regardless of the source from which I learned them. I owe so much to so many. I have learned and been
shown what the home should be by my own parents, from the influence of my
wife’s parents, in my own home, and from observation of many homes. The truth
that “by their fruits” surely has proven to be a source of confirmation for me
of what is contained in this book. In addition to experience, the ultimate
foundation of it all is the Word of God, the precepts and principles of
Scripture I have produced this book as a tribute to my Mother
and Dad, both now departed from this life. Dad died suddenly at the age of
almost sixty-eight. I was but thirty-three at the time. A more severe blow had
never befallen me up to that time. Mother died at the age of ninety-five.
Together they reared my older brother and younger sister and me, providing for
us physically as best they could during difficult times. But the spiritual
provision they gave us is that which I have come to appreciate the most. I was
not as fully aware of what a great blessing they were to me during my younger
years as I am now able to understand, having children and grandchildren of my
own. I know our home was not perfect because we were not perfect and are not
yet perfect. But only God knows the depth of my love for them and how I honor
them yet. This composition is presented as a small measure of my gratitude for
the home of my upbringing, the home of my marriage, with a view to the ultimate
home of the soul. May it be that some sentiment expressed herein will
contribute in some way to assisting others to know the joy of home. |