Bear Grylls and His Great Faith Adventure
Like me, maybe you are a fan of Bear Grylls and his MAN VS. WILD show. I saw this article on the “Movieguide” email that I receive daily. Put the word “faith” in a headline and I am the curiosity seeker to find out if the source is true blue!
BEAR GRYLLS has become known worldwide as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Grylls went on to spend three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces. It was there that he perfected many of the survival skills that his fans all over the world enjoy, as he pits himself against the worst of Mother Nature.
Bear Grylls has survived many of Earth’s most desolate and dangerous places, but he recently shared that his “greatest adventure” has been his faith.
“It is a sign of great strength to need Jesus,” Grylls shared. As a young boy, faith came naturally to Grylls “It was a simple comfort, unquestioning and personal.” But as he grew up, he found faith “tedious, judgmental, boring and irrelevant.”
It wasn’t until the death of his godfather that Grylls rediscovered his relationship with God. “God, if You’re like You were when I used to know You, will You be that again? Comfort me,” he prayed at the time.
“My faith is about being held, comforted, forgiven, strengthened, and loved. Faith in Christ has been the great empowering presence in my life, helping me walk strong when so often I feel weak,” he shared. “If I had to sum up the secret of my survival in four words,” he wrote, “it would be a combination of heart, hope, doggedness and faith.”
Those traits culminated after Grylls broke three vertebrae while parachuting in the Special Air Services. Eighteen months after his injury, Grylls began the greatest quest of his life. On May 16, 1998, he reached the top of Mount Everest. With tears rolling down his face, he recalled a Bible verse.
“Even the youths shall faint and be weary,” Grylls quoted, “and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30)
Grylls scooped some of the snow from the top of Everest, taking it home with him. Later he would christen his three children with that snow water.
“I’ve never stopped dreaming and pursuing my dreams. If you see me on TV, mud on my face, knee-deep in a swamp or snow, the weather ungodly cold or insufferably hot, don’t let that fool you,” Grylls concluded. “The greatest adventure of all is faith.”
Back to Donna’s take on Bear Gryll’s story. Our faith is the most valuable asset we can have in a world of doubt, fear and unbelief. Why not get on board with Bear Grylls, me and other believers that proclaim “The greatest faith adventures EVER are found hanging out with other believers! Join us. The water is just the right temperature there!”