My granddaughter is two years old, and she lives about five hours away.

Five hours isn’t the other side of the world, but it’s far enough that I can’t stop by after dinner. I can’t regularly sit beside her and read her a story or be there for all those ordinary little moments that help turn a grandfather into an important part of a child’s life.

My wife and I are blessed with a close family, and our Christian faith has always been important to us. When our daughters were young, some of the moments I remember most fondly were remarkably simple—sitting together, reading stories, talking about what they meant, and sharing God’s Word. Now I’m a grandfather, and I want those same kinds of moments with my granddaughter.

The problem is distance.

Seeing Each Other Isn’t Always Connecting

Like many long-distance grandparents, we use video calls. Technology has given grandparents something previous generations could only dream about. We can see our grandchildren from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

But I discovered something while trying to video chat with a two-year-old: seeing each other and meaningfully interacting with each other aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Anyone who has tried to keep a toddler interested in a video call probably understands. Ask, “How was your day?” and you may get silence. Ask another question and, before you know it, she’s off doing something else.

A two-year-old doesn’t particularly want to sit and have a conversation about her day. She wants to do something with you.

That realization changed how I thought about long-distance grandparenting. Instead of asking how I could have a better video call, I started asking: How can we create meaningful moments together even when we’re miles apart?

For me, an important part of the answer involved something my wife and I had done with our own daughters—reading together and sharing our faith through stories.

As Christian grandparents, we have something especially important to pass to the generations that follow us: our faith. Sharing it with a young grandchild doesn’t always require a formal Bible lesson. Sometimes it simply begins with a story.

We can read about Noah and talk about trusting God. We can share the story of David and Goliath and talk about courage and relying on God when we’re afraid. We can tell how Jesus welcomed children and remind our grandchildren how deeply He loves them.

A Bible story that lasts only a few minutes can open the door to a question, a conversation, a prayer, or simply a moment a grandchild remembers. Those are the moments I want to have with my granddaughter, and I don’t want five hours of highway between us to prevent them.

Finding a Way to Read Together

My professional background is in technology. After nearly 40 years working in corporate IT, I recently found myself with some unexpected time following a large corporate layoff. I decided to use some of that time to address this very personal challenge.

I created StoryTime Reader, an app designed to help adults read with young children remotely while seeing and talking with them through live video. But simply reading together wasn’t everything I wanted to accomplish. I also wanted a way to share the Christian stories and lessons that had been an important part of raising our own daughters.

That’s why Bedtime Bible Adventures is an important part of StoryTime Reader. It’s a collection of short, illustrated Bible stories created for young children. The stories are intended not only to entertain but also to give parents and grandparents opportunities to talk about faith in ways a young child can understand.

When I’m reading one of these stories with my granddaughter, she can see me and I can see her. As I move through the story, the pages on her device follow along automatically. We can stop and talk about an illustration. I can ask her a question. We can talk about what the story teaches us.

Most importantly, Grandpa isn’t simply an image on a screen asking her what she did today. We’re doing something together, and that activity gives us an opportunity to talk about God.

For me, that’s the heart of StoryTime Reader and Bedtime Bible Adventures. Technology provides the connection, the stories create the opportunity, and faith gives those moments meaning.

Being Present From Miles Away

I’ve spent most of my professional life around technology, and one thing I’ve learned is that technology itself is rarely the answer. What matters is what we use it to accomplish.

StoryTime Reader isn’t intended to replace sitting beside my granddaughter with a Bible story in my hands. If I could do that every evening, I would. It’s intended for all those evenings when I can’t.

And you don’t need an app to begin doing this with your own grandchildren. If you live far away, look for ways to make your time together intentional. Read a Bible story. Say bedtime prayers together. Tell your grandchildren about a time when your faith helped you through something difficult. Ask what they’re thankful to God for that day. Maybe establish a regular “Grandpa night” they can anticipate.

The particular activity may be less important than consistently showing up.

When I began creating StoryTime Reader and Bedtime Bible Adventures, I was trying to solve a problem in my own family. I wanted a better way to remain part of my granddaughter’s life and continue a tradition that had been important when my daughters were young—reading together, talking together, and sharing our faith.

The experience has caused me to think more deeply about what it means to be a Christian grandfather.

Our grandchildren will inherit many things from our generation. Some will have monetary value. Others will eventually be forgotten. But there is another inheritance we can give them: our presence, our wisdom, our stories, and most importantly, our faith.

Years from now, my granddaughter probably won’t remember every Bible story Grandpa read to her when she was two. But I hope those stories become small building blocks in something much larger. I hope she remembers that Grandpa was there. I hope she knows that sharing God’s Word with her mattered to me. And I pray that the faith that shaped her parents and grandparents will someday become a faith that she embraces as her own.

Five hours may separate my granddaughter and me, but I’m determined not to let those five hours keep me from being part of her life—or from sharing with her what matters most.

Media by Dale Russell: