At the tender age of 18, I preached my first sermon on marriage and family. It was entitled “When Home is Heaven.” A few months later I got married and reality struck. After a few courses in psychology and shortly before our first son was born, I preached a sermon on the “Twelve Essential Elements of Effective Parenting.” Our children were normal preacher’s kids so I stopped giving advice on raising children. Now that my sons are grown and my wife is out of town, I thought I would end this series of sermons on “It Takes a Family” with some practical and pragmatic thoughts on survival in the close quarters of relationships.

Before there were governments or churches, before there were schools or social services, before there were counselors or community centers, God formed the family as the…