I believe with all my heart that a key role grandparents are given in the family is that of storyteller. The power of story is undisputed when it comes to impressing upon hearts and minds the truths of God’s world and work in our lives. Stories stick in our mind. They flesh out truth so that it becomes more than information. It is something we can visualize and vicariously experience…and thus, it comes alive in us.

Jesus taught with parables (stories) constantly, and while some seemed more like riddles to the hearers, the impact of these stories are still transforming lives today. The Bible is God’s story… and ours. As grandparents, we need to tell our stories so that the next generations can see how these stories are woven into the bigger reality of God’s redemptive story.

That’s exactly what Mark Adcock has done in his book, A Call to Grandparenting: Lessons Learned on Papa’s Pond. As a grandfather himself, Mark shares his stories of his own grandfather and the impact in his own life. They serve as an example for us, whatever our situation, to be faithful in telling our story so that another generation will grasp the story of which they are a part and understand who they are, who God is, and why they are here.

Writing about the purpose of his book, Mark says, “You may be the one person God will use to change [your grandchild’s] spiritual destiny. But in order for that to happen, you must intentionally set out to teach your grandchildren about God… We must not shirk our responsibility. We must rebuild the spiritual structures that provide a framework upon which we can reclaim the Christian faith of our families.”

Mark calls these structures sacred structures in which we intentionally “set aside some sacred things for the purpose of teaching our grandchildren about the majesty and glory of God.” He identifies four sacred structures we can build for our grandchildren: Sacred Space, Sacred Time, Sacred Story, and Sacred Simplicity. He learned these from his grandfather (Papa) memorialized in very special place called Papa’s Sanctuary. Constructed by an old cedar tree on his grandfather’s property in Neshoba County, Mississippi, this was a place of prayer and worship. It became a sacred place for a young boy as well.

The stories you will read in A Call to Grandparenting are not merely another’s stories that you might be tempted to view as nice, but irrelevant to you. Along with his own stories, Mark has provided tools to help you recognize the open doors you have in your own life experiences, and how to impart core biblical truths in simple ways to disciple the grandchildren you love so much.

I urge you to get a copy of Mark Adcock’s book and let it unleash the creative juices God has been storing up in you to practice your role as storyteller. It is not an optional role. God speaks very clearly in His Word: “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

May God grant you the courage and resolve to be His storyteller so that another generation will know Him and walk in His truth all their days. That is the legacy I want to outlive me!

CLICK HERE to order your copy of A Call to Grandparenting. Also, check out his companion work:  Lessons Learned Storybook.

Mark Adcock is husband, father, grandfather and pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship in Forville, Indiana. Mark has also written Be Strong and Show Yourself a Man, and along with his wife, Angela, have written Developing Spiritual Oneness… Through Prayer: A 42-Day Spiritual Adventure for Couples.