The Foundation Of The Home

The Foundation of the Home

Matthew 7:24-29

One of the greatest masterpieces of human engineering is the Golden Gate Bridge. That is not my own assessment because I have never been privileged to see it. It is the opinion of those more knowledgeable than myself... architects, engineers, mathematician, physicists, etc. In fact, one knowledgeable scientist, Earl Palmer wrote a book, "The Enormous Exception", in which he wrote, "It is built to sway (up and down 10 feet and from side to side 22 feet} at the center of its one-mile suspension span. The secret to its durability is its flexibility that enables this sway, but that is not all. By design, every part of the bridge- its concrete roadway, its steel railings, its cross beams, -is inevitably related from one welded joint to the other up through the vast cable system to two great towers and two great land anchors. The towers bear most of the weight, and they are deeply imbedded into the rock foundation beneath the sea. In other words, the bridge is totally preoccupied with its foundation. This is the secret! Flexibility and foundation."

I believe that if any two words define the secret to the duration of the family it is these... FLEXIBILITY AND FOUNDATION.

FLEXIBILITY

We live in a changing world... things are not like they were when our parents grew up.

We can not hold onto the way of the 50’s… when women stayed home to raise kids, kids said "yes maam" and "no maam", divorce was seldom heard of, children respected teachers, fathers were respected and admired, drugs and shootings only happened somewhere else, the church was the center of the community and the place for social gatherings.

As much as I believe that was a better environment for raising kids and building homes.... we can never go back to it.

The future, in many ways, looks very bleak.... the average child loses his/her virginity at 13, 6 of 10 marriages ends in divorce, 6 of 10 families is headed by single female, blended families is becoming the norm, the average person will be married multiple times, 3 or 4 out of 10 attends church, youth suicides are skyrocketing, fewer and fewer women can stay home to raise kids even if they desire to, kids are being raised by third parties.{strangers}, drugs on the increase, youth crime, even violent crime, is skyrocketing; 2 or 3 marriages in 10 is "HAPPY", Christianity is belittled and berated by the media, kids learn about sex, love, masculinity, femininity, morality, form television, movies and music.

Oh, that we could return to the 40’s and 5o’s... BUT WE CAN’T.

The family situation, the society situation, the moral fabric of our nation are all changing.

If the family is to avoid extinction, to continue to exist it must be FLEXIBLE.

It must find ways to adapt to the changes without compromising what is important.

It must find new ways to respond to the new temptations, fads, and other outside influences.

And I believe it can... the family is, perhaps, the most resilient and adaptable of all institutions. It has outlasted them all.

FOUNDATIONS

The other thing that the family will need to adapt and endure is... FOUNDATION...

those bedrock principles that endure despite the societal and governmental changes.

The tenants that regardless or race, religion, economics, or ethnicity... are the same and must be what the home is built on.

The house can be built in many shapes... FLEXIBILITY... but the foundation is the same...

Dr. Nick Stinnett, in his book, Six Qualities That Make a Family Strong, gave, I believe, 4 of those bedrock principles, foundation stones for building a home.

1. COMMITMENT

When the explorer, Cortez , landed in Mexico with his 500 men, he did a wise thing., he burned the ships. His men realized that they must be committed to staying and to succeeding here because there was no turning back.

Families have to have that type of commitment… no holding back, no turning back. Marriage has become a sort of temporary thing, if it doesn’t work out we’ll just walk away. Marriages like that don’t work things out.

One day Donna and I were discussing a couple who was getting a divorce. Bethany was in the room but I didn’t know she was listening. Later she asked me, "You won’t ever divorce Mama, will you?" I had to stop what I was doing, bend down to her level, hold her hands, look her in the eye and say a definite, reassuring "NO!"

Kids fear divorce. They want and need family, the whole family... mom and dad.

Kids do better in school better at sports, better in life when they have that anchor… the security of FAMILY.

Look back to the sixties, when family life seemed to start coming apart at the seams. Yes there were drugs and rebellion, and many other bad things; but the one that most affected the family and society was DIVORCE.