My 5-Year-Old Grandson Asked Me Who Jesus Was. On FaceTime. Here Is What I Sent Him.

The Sunday Night Call That Made Me Turn My Phone Face Down

My 5-year-old grandson asked me who Jesus was.

On FaceTime. On a Sunday night. While his mother cooked dinner behind him.

I had to set the phone face down on my kitchen table so he wouldn't see me cry.

I'm 68. I raised three children in church. I taught Sunday school for 22 years.

And my own grandson, three states away, did not know the name.

Here's how it happened, and what I did about it.

Two Visits a Year. The Tablet Gets Him Every Single Day.

My daughter moved to Arizona six years ago for her husband's job. I'm in Ohio.

I see Caleb and his little sister Ava twice a year. Thanksgiving if the flights are cheap. One week in July.

Every Sunday at 7 pm we FaceTime.

I always ask the same thing. "Did you go to church today, sweetheart?"

And every Sunday he changes the subject. Shows me a Lego. Shows me the dog.

I told myself that was just a 5-year-old being a 5-year-old.

Then one Sunday in September I said, "Do you know Jesus loves you?"

He scrunched up his face and said, "Who's Jesus? Is he in your church?"

I said something. I don't remember what.

I just remember turning the phone over and staring at the wood grain on my table.

My daughter is a good mom. She works 50 hours a week. Her husband was not raised in church and they just... stopped going.

I have never once said a word to her about it.

Not once. Because I know exactly how that call goes. "Mom, you're judging me." And then she stops answering on Sundays.

So I keep my mouth shut. And somebody else teaches my grandkids what to believe.

YouTube does. The cartoons do. The tablet in the back seat does.

Every single day.

And I get two weeks a year.

The $34 Bible I Mailed Him Was Still in the Plastic

I tried. Lord knows I tried.

I mailed a big children's Bible for Caleb's 4th birthday. 380 pages. Gold edges. $34.

My daughter sent me a photo of him holding it.

The next time I visited, it was on the top shelf of his closet. Still in the plastic.

I signed him up for one of those monthly Christian book clubs. It renewed itself three times before I noticed.

My daughter said the boxes were "going in a pile."

I bought single picture books off the table at church. One here. One there. They got lost in the toy bin.

I even tried telling Bible stories on our July visit. He listened for about four minutes and asked if he could go swimming.

I felt like I was losing them. Slowly. From 1,900 miles away.

Carol Didn't Say a Word. She Just Took Out Her Phone.

Two weeks later I was at Bible study, and I told the ladies about the FaceTime call.

I hadn't told anyone. I cried in front of eight women I've known for 30 years.

Carol, who sits by the coffee pot, didn't say anything. She just took out her phone.

She showed me a video her granddaughter in Tennessee had sent. A little girl in pajamas, holding a thin bright book, reading out loud to her baby brother.

"With Jesus, I am calm."

Carol said, "Those are the books I sent. She asks for one every night. Her mother reads them to her because the kids won't let her skip it."

I said, "Carol, I sent a Bible. It's in a closet."

She said, "That's the thing. A Bible is a big book for grown-ups. These are short."

"One problem in each one. Being scared of the dark. Telling the truth. Being kind when somebody's mean to you."

"And Jesus is right there in it with the child."

I was skeptical. I'll be honest.

I've bought plenty of Christian things that sounded wonderful and ended up in a drawer.

And I did not want to send my daughter one more thing that felt like a sermon in a box.

But Carol said the part that got me.

"Your daughter won't feel preached at. It's a picture book. It's a present from Grandma. That's all she sees."

11 Short Books for $59. I Ordered at 11:40 at Night.

That night I looked them up. The With Jesus Series by G.L. Charles.

11 books in one set. Ages 3 to 8.

Each one is short enough for a bedtime. Each one is about a real thing a little kid goes through.

And each one ends with a verse and a little talk about Jesus.

It was $59 for all 11. The regular price was $165.

That's $5.36 a book. Less than a drive-thru kids' meal, per book.

I ordered it at 11:40 at night and had it shipped straight to Arizona. Free shipping.

I didn't tell my daughter what it was. I just said, "Grandma sent something for the kids."

Day 19, Sunday, 7 PM: He Held the Book Up to the Camera

Day 6. My daughter texted me a picture.

Caleb in bed. Holding I Am Brave. His thumb in the middle of it, like he didn't want anyone to close it.

She wrote: "He made me read this one 3 times."

Day 11. Another text. "Ava wants the Calm one every night now. What did you SEND us??"

Day 19. Sunday. 7 pm. FaceTime.

Caleb didn't show me a Lego.

He held up the book to the camera. Way too close, the way kids do.

And he said, "Grandma! With Jesus I can be brave!"

I didn't put the phone down that time.

I just sat there and let him see me cry. He asked why I was crying. I told him it was happy crying.

Then he asked if Jesus was really with him when it's dark.

And I got to tell him. Me. From Ohio.

I Can't Be in That House Every Night. The Books Can.

Here's what I didn't understand before.

I can't be in that house every night. But the books can.

My daughter reads them at bedtime because the kids ask for them. Not because I nagged her. Because a 5-year-old asked.

So my faith is in that house every single night now. Not two weeks a year.

And my daughter thanked me. She said it was the first gift I'd sent that didn't end up in a closet.

Now I'm buying for Christmas.

I have 7 grandchildren in 3 houses. Arizona, Michigan and here in Ohio.

They have a deal right now. Buy 2 sets, get the 3rd free. 3 sets for $118.

So every house gets the same set. Nobody's kids get more than anybody else's.

And every one of my grandkids hears about Jesus from Grandma this Christmas, even the ones I won't see until summer.

Over 75,000 copies sold. G.L. Charles is a best-selling author and I can see why.

If you're a grandma who lives too far away, I know that FaceTime feeling.

You can't be there at bedtime. But you can send something that is.

P.S. My daughter started reading them at nap time too. She says it's the only 10 minutes of her day where nobody is fighting.

Last week Caleb told his dad that Jesus is with him at the dentist. His dad didn't change the subject.

Dramatization based on customer experiences. Individual results vary.

Why the Big Children's Bible Ends Up in the Closet

"Most children's books end up collecting dust after one read, but this collection has completely transformed our daily routine."

Lacey, parent, Amazon review

Almost every family in these stories tried the same thing first. A big children's Bible. Gold edges. Hundreds of pages. A good gift, given with love.

And almost every time, it ended up on a shelf.

It isn't the Bible's fault. It's a grown-up-sized book handed to a 5-year-old at bedtime. A long chapter, a tired child, a parent with ten minutes left in the day. The bookmark stops on page 11.

Think of it like dinner. You don't hand a 4-year-old the whole cookbook. You hand them one plate.

Little kids take in faith the way they take in everything else: one short story, one problem they actually have, one answer they can hold on to. Scared of the dark tonight. Mean to a sister this morning. A fib at school.

Grandparents who buy these books say the same thing in their own words:

"The short stories are good and allow for further conversation on the values in each book."

Lynn F., grandmother, on Trustpilot

"I'm always looking for quality easy, quick read books with Christ centered truths."

Janis N., grandmother of 16, on Trustpilot

What Families Try First, and Where Each One Stops

• The big children's Bible: loved, gifted, and too long to finish at bedtime. It waits on a shelf.
• Bible apps: the tablet is one tap away from YouTube.
• Bible cartoons and DVDs: fine in the car, and "for babies" by age 6.
• Monthly Christian book clubs: a box a month, a renewal you forgot, and a pile nobody chose.
• Single picture books from the church table: one here, one there, lost in the toy bin.
• More toys: the loudest thing on the shelf, and the gift the grandmas in these stories worry about most by New Year's.

What changed things in every story was the same: a complete set of short books, each one about a real thing a little kid goes through, with Jesus right there in the story.

A set means there is always a next one. Short means it gets finished. A real problem means the child asks for it.

How One Five-Minute Book Works at Bedtime

1. Pick the problem. Scared, angry, tempted to fib, not wanting to share. Each book is about one everyday struggle.
2. Read the story. Jesus is with the child in the story, on every page, not in a lecture at the end.
3. Read the verse. A short Bible verse ties the story to Scripture.
4. Ask one question. Point at a picture. Ask what they would do. Let them answer.

One story. One verse. One calm talk. That is the whole routine, and it fits in about five minutes.

The 11 books in Series 1: I Give, I Am Brave, I Love, I Am Calm, I Am Kind, I Am Smart, I Tell the Truth, I Am Thankful, I Don't Give Up, I Am Talented, I Share. Ages 3 to 8. Suited for most Christian denominations.

Written by a Mom Who Couldn't Find These Books for Her Own Daughters

The With Jesus Series is written by G.L. Charles, a best-selling Christian children's author who also publishes as Good News Meditations Kids. In her own words:

"I'm a mother of 2 beautiful daughters and a Christian author who publishes books under the name Good News Meditations Kids and G.L. Charles. What pushed me to write my 1st book is that I had difficulty finding Christian books for my 2 daughters that put forward beautiful Christian values and were centered on Jesus. So, I decided to write one."

That first book became a series. Today the With Jesus books have sold over 75,000 copies.