Every one wants to be loved and to belong. God has made us that way. We like to feel that we belong to each other, to our families and to our friends.
It is wonderful to love someone, but it is more wonderful to be loved. “Love is of God” and “God is love,” John tells us in his epistle, and He has so constituted us that we are capable of loving others and of enjoying their love to us.
Love is a most important element in happy living. Any person, from babyhood right on up to maturity and even old age, needs to feel that he is valued and loved. And yet how sad it is in these days of broken homes, separated parents, and scattered families, there are untold thousands of lonely and unloved people. In spite of the boasted progress of our so-called enlightened age and affluent society, a look of utter loneliness appears on the faces of multitudes. People the world over are looking for love and recognition.
When a home breaks up it is the children who suffer most, and many are starved from lack of love. Not having been loved, many young people feel they have missed out on something they deserve, and they retaliate against parents and society. What they crave they seek for elsewhere.
A boy, starved for love and affection, and feeling he does not belong, often may join a gang, hoping he may gain what he wants-friendship and recognition. This usually leads to undesirable behavior and trouble with the authorities.
This little book, Six Boys and a Minivan, is published with the hope that it will: encourage husbands and wives to love and cleave to each other; encourage parents to love, understand and encourage their children; encourage children to love and honor their parents.
Furthermore, this book shows how children, who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, can overcome insurmountable obstacles if they have the Lord Jesus as Savior and Friend. Their lives can become meaningful and happy. “God setteth the solitary in families” (Psalm 68:66God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. (Psalm 68:6)), and many, deprived of their parents, have found a home and love among the family of His dear children.
Young Christians can be much used of the Lord in working with young people and helping them find that good way which leads to life, peace, and happiness.