You are just like your grandma.
I can’t tell you how many times he has chuckled that phrase to me in person and over the phone for the last 21 years and I never get tired of hearing it.
If I’m just like grandma? That means he knows just how to handle me and my fiery temper and he understands me in a way that few people do.
He is my grandpa and my hero, and I’ve had the privilege of listening to his wisdom all my life.
He and dad taught me how to fish and hunt and cook over an open fire. He passed on a love of baseball that made me ask to go to spring training for my 16th birthday—instead of a sweet-sixteen party.
I remember being a little four-year-old girl and curling up next to him and grandma every morning so as not to wake mom and dad up while we watched the news.
I like to think I’m his favorite, but maybe it’s just because he tells me that I remind him of grandma.
The Hero a Girl Needs
Every time we hang up the phone these days a little part of me wonders if it will be the last time I get to hear his voice in real time.
I always save his voicemails now… just in case. So I can hear him say “I love ya, call me back.” as many times as I need to when he is gone, and I can’t call him back.
I’m entering my senior year of college in the Fall, and our conversations have gotten a bit more sporadic as my world continues to move faster at a dizzying pace and his slows down.
But every time I talk to him, he just talks about Jesus and the last person he has witnessed to about the love of Christ.
He always tells me there is a young man out there somewhere praying for a girl like me—and for some reason when he says it I believe more than when anyone else does.
I have never met anyone who radiates the love of Jesus more than my grandpa. He can’t contain himself, and it doesn’t matter who he is talking to.
A Testimony to Me
When I was a little girl, I looked up to the man who wore his flannel and chopped wood. The man who was a bush pilot in Canada and served in the Navy before that.
Now, I still love all those things about my grandpa, and I always brag about him… but the man I look to is the one who sits in his swivel chair by his laptop and talks to me on the phone about Jesus and what God is doing in his life.
Because that man testifies to me of a powerful God.
A God who sustains life and takes it away.
A God who works in a 21-year-old college senior’s life and in the life of an 80-year-old grandfather.
A God who moves mountains and quiets roaring seas. A good and gracious God. A mysterious God whose ways I may never understand.
Someday, I know there isn’t going to be grandpa to call. And I’ll miss him like crazy, the same way I miss grandma, in the throbbing close to heartbreak kind of way.
But it will be okay because I know that one day I’ll get to worship our Christ in Heaven with him and what a glorious day that will be.
Until that day, I hope I’m just like my grandpa when I grow up.
Blessings,
Vienna
Vienna Jacobson is an aspiring writer living just outside Washington D.C. She is finishing her degree at Patrick Henry College in VA and works as a designer and administrative assistant in the development office, an event assistant, and security officer for the college. When she isn’t turning in assignments, she likes to do graphic design, wedding design, and event coordination. On her off days she day-dreams of being a writer in D.C. She has worked for business start-ups in Oregon, interned for web design companies, and currently is working for LiveAction a pro-life company based in California.
A mom :) says
December 14, 2018 at 9:38 pmConfession: I almost didn’t click on this post because I thought it would be, by its title, about the frustration of a single young woman wishing she were married. I’m a 40 year old mom of three elementary-aged kids, married to the love of my life, so I figured there was nothing in it I needed to read.
I was so wrong!
Halfway through I got so choked up I almost couldn’t breathe. This is the MOST beautiful tribute. It’s not only a tribute to your grandpa, but to your grandma and your parents as well. It also reveals your own maturity, and most of all, glorifies the Saviour that binds you all so tightly together in love and hope.
So I just wanted you to know it really moved me. It gives me, a devoted but often-discouraged mom trying to raise children who won’t walk away from the Lord as adults, hope. Hope that my children COULD actually become mature followers of Christ like you. Not perfect people, I know, but adults thriving in His love. It also gives me hope that growing old doesn’t HAVE to mean growing irrelevant in a younger person’s life. Wow! Your grandparents are/were honoring the Lord and MAKING AN IMPACT right to the very end of life. Nothing wasted. How inspiring.
Thank you for writing this well. It let me glimpse a family that is shaped by Christ’s love, and the legacy it can leave. Thank you for being who you are and for staying close to Jesus. He encouraged me through your writing. God bless you!
Lisa says
December 15, 2018 at 2:06 pmOh, so blessed that you’d be encouraged by what Vienna had to share here! I’ve passed it on to her, as well as her grandfather, and I know it will mean so much to them too. Your words are truly a gift to hear!! Warmly, Lisa Jacobson
Erica says
July 29, 2018 at 3:36 amThis brought me to tears. He sounds just wonderful.
Lisa says
May 23, 2018 at 9:41 pmBeautiful!
Amanda says
May 17, 2018 at 8:37 amThis is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Kristie says
May 16, 2018 at 9:02 amWhat a touching writing and reflection from a poised young woman. I believe your grandfather, and I believe in him too. We don’t often cherish our family as much as we should; life is fast and busy, we don’t realize what’s in front of us until it’s gone. Your sharing brought me to tears hoping that I have been teaching my sons in a manner that has created a lasting and ongoing story in their lives and a relationship that will keep us close through our years here.
Love to all, thank you for sharing,
Kristie
Tara Holmes says
May 16, 2018 at 8:39 amOh sweetheart! I know you have no clue who I am but to hear that someone else leaves the voicemails on her phone to listen to later is exactly what I have been doing as well! It is a blessing to have a grandpa who prays diligently for you each and every day and gives words of wisdom. I pray that I will do the same for my grandchildren someday as well. It means so much.
Blessings to you,
Tara from Oregon
Yulia says
May 16, 2018 at 8:26 amWhat a wonderful testimony and a great story! There might not be a man just like Grandpa for you because young men did these days might not know how to chop wood or cook over a fire, especially if they were brought up in the city. And they might not be able to radiate Jesus as much as he does because he is at the end of life and has so many years to learn about Christ and see all that he has been doing in his life. Usually it’s our grandparents that are such good examples of Christ likeness. Don’t get discouraged if you find a young man who doesn’t fit the criteria quite well. I think for sure there is one who would love you as much as your grandpa does and that’s what counts the most. Don’t settle for something less than that. I know I didn’t, it took me almost 30 years to wait for the man who truly loves me, turning down the ones who were Half interested or not going on dates for years. Sometimes I wondered if the man I’m looking for even exist. Finally, I met him and I totally could tell right away that he was very different from everyone else. Once I met him, my life completely changed. There was no more imagining continuing as a single woman, I couldn’t be away from him more than a few days. He was a piece of me that God created for me. we quickly got engaged and had to wait out a year-long separation for him to go serve in the war in Iraq, and once we reunited, I’m on for later we were married. This kind of man exists for every girl who’s waiting and patient. Wait upon the Lord, he will provide the special man for you. I’m proud of you! We need girls who are educated, Brave, kind, and creative and who love Jesus.
Vicki says
May 16, 2018 at 7:19 amBeautiful.
Susanna Berry says
May 16, 2018 at 5:20 amOh Vienna. That was beautiful. I did not know my mother’s dad, and my father’s dad died when i was 7. For my own children, one Grandad is very ill, and the other lives 200 miles away. How precious your relationship is. And what an encouragement to us all to keep the reality of Christ in our lives present in our interactions with each other. I will be praying for a girl like you for my boys ( they are a bit young right now!) and i pray my girls grow to know the Lord like you do.
siphokaz says
May 17, 2018 at 6:21 amMay God give me that courage to wait on him to trust him that at the right time he will provide as he always do. He is not a man that he should lie. May he give that praying spirit