One of our young grandsons was showing me all the money he had saved up which amounted to a few dollars. “Wow, what are you going to buy with all that?” I asked him. “I’m not going to spend it, grandma. I’m going to help the poor. I’m going to be a missionary like you guys,” he answered seriously. I sat there stunned and speechless. It was a special bonding moment between my adorable grandson and me. That night I had a graphic dream about my grandchildren. My heart was beating hard with fright when I awoke. What was that all about, I wondered?
Barbara called me. I could hear alarm in her voice. She wanted to meet me and get training about Muslims. She had noticed a Muslim woman wearing a niqab in the mall. Barbara was terrified of the woman’s covered face. Her little girl must have picked up her fear and anxiously asked, “Mommy, should we call the police?” When Barbara and I got together she stated, “I need to know about Muslims because my girls and my grandchildren are going to be faced with sharing our country with them.” She was not wanting training how to reach Muslim women with the Gospel. She only wanted to know how to protect her daughters and her grandchildren from them.
I'm a mom and grandma of three lively boys and three sweet girls and can identify with how Barbara felt. It defies explanation how strongly a grandmother can feel towards her grandchildren. We don’t want any harm to come to them. We want them to live in a safe world. But our eyes are filled with horrible scenes on TV or with books we read. Every once in awhile danger gets too close to our liking and seems to be moving closer all the time. It can produce panic in a grandma. The world is different than when we grew up or even when our children were growing up. We’re like a mother hen who scurries to gather her little chicks under her wings. It suddenly hit me while having one of those special bonding times with my grandson that our grandchildren really need to be prepared for living with increasingly aggressive efforts of radical Muslims who are trying to bring the whole world under Islamic rule. As a grandma I can not afford to be in a protectionism-panic mode but rather must pray for my children and grandchildren to grow up strong in Jesus and to be able to vigorously and courageously stand their ground for Truth and become bright lights in a dark world. I get torn between, on one hand, wanting to protect and shelter my grandchildren and, on the other hand, to prepare them to go into the world equipped with love, truth, and righteousness. At least one thing I am certain of: I want to prepare my children and grandchildren by being an example and leave them a legacy of doing exploits for God.
Dear heavenly Father, I know that you love my children and grandchildren even more than I do. Please take care of them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
