Grandparents, as this Christmas holiday approaches, let's get ready to mark our homes as followers of Christ (Exodus 11:4).
While our faith is under attack and any sign of the true meaning of our Christian holiday is being eradicated in our world, we do have the right to take a stand in our own homes and businesses. TAKE A STAND! GET TOUGH! KEEP YOUR HEAD UP AND DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN.

We have the freedom to put on our lawns, windows, cars, motorcycles, RV's and independent businesses signs that "mark our doorposts" and  let the world know we still honor the true meaning of Christmas in our families.

What can I do? The nativity is a symbol of why we celebrate Christmas. Put a nativity set where it can be seen on your front lawn, porch, or patio. Put a magnetic nativity set (www.kcnativity) on your car, RV, golf cart, scooter, wheelchair or motorcycle. Read the story of Christ's birth to your grandchildren, draw pictures of the story with them, read the story before Christmas dinner begins, invite your grandchildren and their friends over to celebrate Jesus' birthday, bake cookies to pass out in your neighborhood, be a example of Christ during this holiday season, because Jesus IS the reason for the season.

Share some ideas through our blog how you share Christ during Christmas time and how you "mark your doorposts" to let your community know you are a Christian. 

 

Grandparents. Remember our grandchildren who are in the military, those serving and those children of our adult children serving.Send them the Soldier's Psalm with your love and prayers and boxes of goodies.

Soldier's Psalm 91 Prayer - the story of the Psalm is that during WWI, the 91st Infantry Brigade was preparing to go into combat. Most of the soldiers were inexperienced and had never fought in a war. Their commander was a Christian and he gave each soldier a copy of the 91st Psalm and they agreed to recite that Psalm everyday. The 91st Brigade was engaged in the bloodiest battles of WWI and while other units in engaged in equally bloody battles suffered up to 90% casualties, the 91st brigade did not suffer a single combat related casualty.  

A free printer friendly copy of the Psalm can be found at LampPost Homeschool Store

Psalm 91 (expanded version) By Harriet Yoder

O Lord Most High, help me to dwell in your secret place and abide under Your shadow.

Help me to believe and say out loud for everyone to hear that You are my refuge and my fortress; that You are my God; and that in You I put my trust.

O Lord God Almighty, please deliver me from hidden traps and diseases.

Father God, cover me with Your camouflage; hide me under Your wings; and let Your truth be my shield and buckler against the fiery darts—the lies—of the enemy.

Lord Jesus, help me not to be afraid of terrorists' attacks in the night; or weapons that fly by day; or sicknesses that walk in darkness; or destruction that wastes at noonday.

O Holy God, though a thousand fall at my side, and ten thousand fall at my right hand; please let it not come close to me and my companions.

O Lord Most High, let me live to see the reward of the wicked, because You are my refuge and my home. Let no evil conquer me and let no plague come into my house or near my family.

O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer, please set angels over me to keep me in all Your ways, to bear me up in their hands and to keep my feet from stumbling.

Father God, help me to tread upon the lion and adder and trample the young lion and the dragon under my feet.

Lord Jesus, I love you with all my heart and I know Your name. Deliver me and lift me on high to soar with the eagles. I call upon you to be with me in times of trouble to deliver and honor me because I know Your name. Please show me Your salvation and satisfy me with a long life.

I ask this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ

Amen.

The Team Grandparents at Christ Community Church in Lemont, Illinois are preparing to send care packages of cookies to college students, our grandchildren in the military, in trade schools, those recent graduates who are starting their first jobs or looking for a job. Any grandparent who is interested should sign up at the church and we will send a package. All the packages are being prepared on October 25th so we need the information before that date. We want the young adult grandchildren to know how proud we are of them and that they are in our prayers.

Consider doing a care package project in your home church and make sure they know the grandparents of the church have them covered in prayers.

Grandparents,
October is a great month to organize a Team Grandparents cookie sending project in your home church.
So many of our older grandchildren are away at school and would love to get home made cookies with a note reminding them that grandparents are praying for them and that they are loved by us and the Lord. Don't forget to send a box of cookies to grandchildren who have recently graduated and are now starting a new job, or looking for a job, or grandchildren beginning Trade School programs. Send them your love!  

One of our pastors, Pastor Dave Parrish, wrote this lovely prayer that any grandparent may want to pray when they think about their grandchild starting university or college, trade schools, or beginning their first job:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:1-13)

We come to You in prayer, God of heaven and earth and all of the created order. We know that You have created us to live for the praise of Your glory. We pray that we will be seekers after Your heart, that we will know Your plans for us, and that we will always put Your ways before our own.

As we gather to pray as grandparents, we pray that our own grandchildren and our spiritual grandchildren in this church will know Your plans for them. This time of year is full of transitions. Some children are starting school for the first time, others are entering a new school building and are separated from friends. Others have made the transition from life at home with family to life in a college setting. Still other grandchildren have finished their formal education and are making a transition into the work world.

We pray that our grandchildren will seek Your way with every step they take. We pray that our grandchildren in elementary school, middle school, and  high school will know Your great love for them, that they will discover the wonder and order of Your creation, that they will seek You at every turn, and that they will be bold to live for You.  Starting college brings exciting opportunities along with stresses and temptations. In the time that we  have had with them, we tried to teach our grandchildren to live for You, yet we know that many college students "set their faith on the shelf" and distance themselves from You.

We pray that our college students will love Your ways, will be drawn to near to You, and will learn what it means to live for You. We also pray that they will find Christian mentors and friends who can help them navigate rocky currents. We pray for grandchildren who are starting new jobs. In their careers, help them to look for ways to honor You and to keep a proper balance on their priorities and interests. We also pray for graduates who are still seeking employment. In this time of high anxiety, let them know that You have plans to bless and prosper them and that You will make all things clear in Your time and according to Your plan.

Sovereign Lord, protect our grandchildren from all harm and allow them to live out the fullness of the days You have planned for them. Amen.      

 

“But I am retired, I have done it all,” Vacation Bible School, Wednesday Suppers, Deacon Boards, consistory, elder, visitations, ushering, nursery, cleaning the sanctuary, “I am tired. Let the young ones do it now.” Dearest Grandmother, Grandfather, Abuela, Abuelo, Grootmoeder, Grootvader, Babcia, Nana, Pappous, YiaYia, Halaboji, Obachan, and Grand-pere no one retires from being a Christian grandparent.

 

Grandparents today are too tough, smart, and active to become “ineffective and unproductive.” We have crossed oceans as teenagers to start new lives in foreign countries, we have fought and won wars, we have broken down racial barriers, we have started businesses, built churches, lived through depression, floods, births, deaths, job losses, poverty, successes, and life before computers. And through it all we have learned the real secret of living a successful life. We must now assemble together to tell this secret to our grandchildren.

 

We have learned as we have walked with Christ throughout the joys and difficulties of our life experiences that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV). And “for that reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive”

 (2 Peter 1:5-7 NIV).

 

 Throughout the Scriptures God has given us many examples of older men and women mentoring, nurturing, praying, teaching, and imparting their Biblical based wisdom to the younger generations. Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent six months with Elizabeth, her older cousin, Priscilla and Aquila opened their home to young believers teaching them the Scriptures, and Lois, the apostle Timothy’s grandmother nurtured and taught Timothy in the faith. We must do the same for our grandchildren.

Think about starting a Team Grandparents in your home church - join with other grandparents - protecting our grandchildren through prayer.

 

 

 

As our young people go off to college Team Grandparents is keeping them in prayer. Unfortunately regardless of whether our grandchildren are attending a Christian or secular university, sexual assault remains a real issue. Something you may want to send with your grandchild is Drink Safe Coasters or Date Rape Drug Spotters. These products are inexpensive and can be purchased on line or at 7-Elevens. While we trust our grandchildren, it is the people they may come in contact with that may present a serious problem. These products allow our granddaughters particularly to test their drinks for date rape drugs slipped into their drinks if they are out in a public restaurant, bar, or group gathering.     

Grandparents - Team Grandparents has prayer bracelets for you to send to your grandchildren in college. Everytime they look at the bracelet they will remember you are praying for their success.  

We are so proud of each of you! In the next few weeks so many of our grandchildren will be heading off to college and we are praying that they will feel Christ's presence as they take this next step in their lives. We are praying that our grandchildren will "pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another" (Romans 14:19). And we pray that each of our grandchildren will remember as they make decisions about classes and choosing friends and dating  that God has a plan for their lives, we are praying they will listen to that plan,   “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11
Enjoy college and don't forget - you have teams of grandparents praying for you!

Grandparents please gather this week to pray for our granddaughters and grandsons as they prepare to leave for college.
1 out of 4 of our granddaughters in college will be sexually assaulted on a college campus, 1 out of 8 of our granddaughters will be raped while in college. Our grandsons will be attacked by the pornography industry who maintain their multi-billion dollar industry by duping our grandsons. This industry portrays crazy as sane, preventing our grandsons from developing healthy loving relationships. This industry leads them into more and more destructive lifestyles. On the campus  "soft" porn (like Playboy) is promoted as "no big deal," and not as bad as "hard porn." That is like saying soft murder is better than hard murder. But if you kill someone "softly" with poison or kill someone in a "hard" way by stabbing the result is the same - they are dead. So whether our grandsons are attacked by soft or hard porn the result is the same - their self-respect and a hope for a healthy future in a loving Christian relationship is dead.

Pray for our grandchildren today. Pray for XXX Church.com who works to educate our college students about the duping of the porno industry. This industry purposely seeks out our grandsons. Pray for our granddaughters who are at risk because the porno industry teaches our grandsons that women are objects to be used and raped and disrespected and disgarded. Pray that our grandsons and granddaughters will be surrounded with Christ's love and protection against this soul and flesh eating industry.