One of the greatest surprises of my life was to be chosen of our Lord to proclaim the good news of Jesus to a world that dearly needed to hear such a message. While growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, such a life's career was the furthest thing from my mind. But after over seventy years as a Methodist minister, I have never doubted the reality of that calling.

It was early in my ministry that God also indicated that sometime during time that He wanted me to not only to preach but also to do some writing for Him. He even supplied for me the title of a book that I was to write, As for Me and My House. And so that title has been resounding in my mind for most of the seventy-plus years that I have been a Methodist minister.

However, even though our Lord supplied the title, until now He did not supply the time. And yet the further I have progressed in ministry, the more I have become convinced that the basic unit of our society is the American family. Further, the longer that I have lived, the more I have come to realize that the strength of our society is measured by the strength of that family unit.

This book, therefore, is an attempt to draw upon several areas of experience, faith, family, and friends to call our nation back to the roots upon which, I believe, it was founded-the Christian faith of our forefathers. It is what, I believe, will enable our nation to survive during the years that lie ahead