The phone call comes. Or the text. Your son or daughter has taken a job in another state. They're moving. The grandkids are going with them.
Anyone who's received that call knows what follows. You congratulate them, hang up, and sit down in a house that suddenly feels very quiet. Nobody warns you that grandparenting can hurt like this.
More than half of grandparents today have at least one grandchild living more than 200 miles away. Whether it was their move, a military deployment, or yours, distance is now part of the deal. And the question that haunts you at night is simple: Can I still be a spiritual influence from here?
Wayne Rice has lived both sides of it. He grew up making summer pilgrimages to grandparents in Tennessee, then watched his own three children and five grandchildren scatter from San Diego to Seattle. Along the way, he discovered that every long-distance grandparent makes the same choice, one way or another:
Distance can be an excuse — I'm too far away, so I'm off the hook.
Distance can be an obstacle — I have good intentions, but I never quite follow through.
Or distance can be an opportunity — and Rice argues it genuinely can be. Long-distance grandparents can't coast the way nearby grandparents sometimes do. They have to be intentional. And intention, it turns out, is what passes faith on to the next generation in the first place.
This short, practical book shows you how to close the gap. It covers what Scripture says about your role (chapter 2 pairs naturally with Josh Mulvihill's Biblical Grandparenting), how to pray in ways that reach across any number of miles, how to make visits count, and what to do between them—a generous collection of ideas Rice gathered from grandparents all over the country who are actually doing this. It even includes a full chapter on staying connected with your young adult grandkids, from college students to grandchildren drifting from the faith.
Rice's counsel is marked by grace over guilt throughout: don't try all the ideas, don't beat yourself up over the ones you skip, and remember that something is always better than nothing.
One of his stories will feel familiar. His cousin Justin named each day of the week after one of his seven grandchildren—drank his morning coffee from that grandchild's mug, prayed for that grandchild on that day, and let them know. His grandchildren know exactly which day is "theirs." That kind of rhythm is exactly what the book is about: regular, expected, personal connection that doesn't depend on geography.
Want to build that prayer rhythm into your own week? The Weekly Prayer Desk Pad keeps Scripture-based prayer prompts in front of you, making it a natural companion to the rhythm described in this book.
Part of the GRANDPARENTING MATTERS series from Bethany House Publishers.
"As the grandparents to six grandkids . . . two of them at a distance, Steve and I found this book both inspiring and helpful." —Valerie Bell, CEO, Awana, and Steve Bell, Willow Creek Association
What's inside:
- Choosing your response to distance — excuse, obstacle, or opportunity
- The biblical role of a grandparent — why distance never cancels the calling, with Deuteronomy 4:9, Psalm 71, and Titus 2 as anchors
- A prayer framework from Colossians 1 — seven specific things to pray for each grandchild, by name and by need
- Making visits count — planning, budgets, one-on-one time, "Camp Grammy and PawPaw," and meeting halfway
- Ideas for the space between visits — letters, postcard traditions, care packages, video calls, shared projects, and holiday connection points for every season
- The young adult chapter — connecting with college students, military grandchildren, and grandkids who are questioning the faith
For a practical companion to chapter 3, "The Prayer Connection," explore Let's Pray Cards for Scripture-based prayers with and for your grandchildren. To put chapter 7's connection ideas into practice, Let's Talk: Grown-Up Grandchildren offers questions that invite deeper conversations with teens and young adults.