Bear Grylls may be known for his wild ways and impressive survival skills, but there\u2019s a side of Bear Grylls many haven\u2019t seen. Bear Grylls believes in God. And if you meet him in person, you\u2019ll quickly learn that he\u2019s unashamed to tell you so.<\/p>\n
But Grylls doesn\u2019t claim to be a perfect Christian. In fact, he admits that many of his life\u2019s deepest struggles are what caused him to turn to Christ.<\/p>\n
Edward Michael \u201cBear\u201d Grylls was born on June 7th, 1974, in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland. At one-week-old, Grylls\u2019 elder sister and only sibling, Lara Fawcett, gave him the famous nickname that\u2019s stuck to this day: \u201cBear\u201d.<\/p>\n
Born to conservative politician, Sir Michael Grylls and his wife, Lady Sarah Grylls \u2014 daughter of politician, Patricia Ford; it\u2019s safe to say that Grylls had a fairly prestigious childhood.<\/p>\n
When he was 4-years-old, Grylls\u2019 family shifted to Bembridge village on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight \u2014 it was there that young Bear\u2019s wild ways would begin. From an early age, the adventurous little tyke learned to climb and sail with his father, who was a member of the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron. But Bear\u2019s curious ways and tendency to run towards danger made him a difficult child to raise.<\/p>\n
Grylls admitted, \u201cI behaved badly at school, perhaps in part because Dad was working very hard, and often late. My mum, as his assistant, worked beside him. I remember once biting a boy so hard that I drew blood, and then watching as the teachers rang my father to say they didn\u2019t know what to do with me. My father said he knew what to do, and came to the school at once. With a chair placed in the middle of the gym, and all the other children sitting cross-legged on the floor around him, he whacked me until my backside was black and blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bear became a Cub Scout at the age of eight, earning a “dan” black belt in Shotokan Karate when he was eleven, and learned to skydive as a young teen, and also was one of the youngest in the world to scale Mt. Everest at 23. Grylls\u2019 formative years were quite impressive, but all the while, he clung to his faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a very natural faith as a kid,\u201d Grylls told Relevant Magazine. \u201cAs a really young kid, I never questioned God. I just knew God existed and it felt like He was my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young Grylls\u2019 adventurous spirit and wild heart didn\u2019t make it easy on his parents \u2014 and he has an endless amount of escape stories to prove it.<\/p>\n
Grylls shared, \u201cMy mother was forever having to lock me in my bedroom for trouble-making, but she would then get concerned that I might run out of oxygen, so she had a carpenter make some air-holes in the door. I worked out that, with a bent-over coat-hanger, I could undo the latch through the air-holes and escape. It was my first foray into the world of adapting and improvising, skills that have served me well over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
In high school, Grylls came across several \u2018believers\u2019 that distorted his view of Christianity, and over time, Bear abandoned his faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to school it [Christianity] became a lot more religious and I thought, \u2018I don\u2019t like this,\u2019\u201d he told CBN. \u201cIt was all about church-going and people telling you not to smoke behind the bike shed. I thought, \u2018If this is God, maybe I\u2019ve got the whole deal wrong.\u2019 So I kind of ditched my faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
With stories like miraculously surviving a sinking mud-pit, and getting dismissed from prep school for kissing the headmaster\u2019s daughter; Grylls\u2019 teenage years make even the wildest teenagers appear to be saints.<\/p>\n
Bear reflected back on his rebellious ways, \u201cI would explore all the forbidden areas of the school and grounds, and I knew I was faster and more agile than any of the security guards. One night, I attempted an ascent of the 120-foot-high school library dome. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a pupil before me, had conquered it by improvising a stepladder. I used the lightning conductor.\u201d<\/p>\n
But everything changed at age 16, when Grylls lost his godfather \u2014 who had been like a second father. Crushed with grief and not knowing where else to turn, Bear looked to God.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember wanting to pray, but not knowing how to,\u201d he recalled to CBN. Grylls climbed up in a tree and poured his heart out to God. \u201cWill you be that friend to me that you were at five or six when it felt natural?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
It was that simple prayer of surrender that finally led young Grylls to \u201cfinding his faith\u201d in Jesus Christ once again. Grylls says he soon learned that religion has nothing to do with entrusting your life to Christ, and in fact, Jesus Himself was \u201cthe least religious person you\u2019ll meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bear told Relevant Magazine, \u201cIt was no more complicated than that. And actually the amazing thing is that all God asks is that we sort of open the door and He\u2019ll do the rest. So often we kinda hide behind our yearning for love and acceptance with loads of complicated theological questions, and actually once that\u2019s stripped away, what we really are is just somebody who wants to have that relationship with your Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a restored faith in Christ, Grylls joined the \u2018Territorial Army\u2019 (Army Reserve UK) after high school and worked at the Special Air Service unit of the army for three years. While there, Grylls was a combat survival instructor and learnt demolitions, parachuting, unarmed combat, evasive driving and trauma medic.<\/p>\n
During a SAS skydive in 1996, Grylls survived a horrifying parachuting accident in Zambia. His parachute ripped at 16,000 feet, partially opening, causing him to free-fall and land on his back. The accident partially crushed three vertebrae \u2014 and almost took his life, but by the grace of God, Bear survived.<\/p>\n
According to his surgeon, Grylls came \u201cwithin a whisker\u201d of being paralyzed for life and it was questionable whether he would ever be able to walk again. Grylls spent the next 12 months in and out of military rehabilitation at Headley Court.<\/p>\n
On 16 May 1998 \u2014 just 18 months after his horrific accident, Grylls achieved his childhood dream of climbing to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four-year-old Grylls registered his name in the \u2018Guinness Book of Records\u2019 as the youngest Briton to climb Ama Dablam, a peak described by Sir Edmund Hillary as \u201cunclimbable\u201d.<\/p>\n
But a world record wasn\u2019t the only gift Everest brought him. Grylls met his future-wife while training to climb the world-famous mountain \u2014 and it took a special kind of woman to capture the adventurous heart of Grylls.<\/p>\n
Bear met his wife, Shara, at a very inconvenient time. He had finally recovered from his parachute accident and was focused on preparing and training for the climb of his life \u2013 the summit of Mount Everest \u2013 which was only months away.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he noticed her. Grylls was attempting a \u201ctraining hike\u201d for Everest, and with every step, the danger grew. All of the girls began to get frightened, some even to the point of tears, at the difficult terrain. All but one \u2014 a beautiful young lady by the name of Shara Cannings Knight persevered and kept her composure. It was indeed, love at first sight. And from that moment forward, the two wild-hearted adventurers were inseparable and have been together ever since.<\/p>\n
The match-made-in-heaven tied the knot in 2000. Soon after, the couple went for relationship counseling \u2014 despite many of his friends thinking they were \u2018nuts\u2019 for doing so. Grylls explained, \u201cWe figured that if [marriage] was the most important thing we were ever going to do, we should do everything we could to stop it breaking in the first place. At our wedding, we asked our guests for their best marriage advice. We got some gems of replies but the best came from a couple who had been married for 50 years. It was also the simplest: \u2018Never stop holding hands.\u2019 That\u2019s what Shara and I have always tried to do, both physically and metaphorically.\u201d<\/p>\n
But within a year of their wedding, Grylls\u2019 father \u2013 the most inspirational figure in his life \u2013 passed away at the age of 66. And a few months later, Shara also tragically lost her father. The newlywed couple was crushed and devastated beyond belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing my dad when we had just got married was a really tough one,\u201d he admitted in an interview with The Telegraph. \u201cSuddenly it was like, \u2018Bang! OK. How are we going to pay the electricity bill? How are we going to look after our mothers?\u2019 I felt totally thrown in the deep end. It always felt too early. We had to lean on each other, and that was when our marriage really started.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an emotional interview, Grylls could barely talk through the grief and struggled to describe just how much his father meant to him.<\/p>\n
It was at this low point that the couple decided to attend the \u201cAlpha Course\u201d in Christianity; a 10-week course on the basics of Christianity launched by the Rev. Charles Marnham in London. God sovereignly used this Christian course to cement the couple\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n
Grylls told CBN, \u201cIt helped us in a very low-key, un-pressured way to explore some big questions. Faith has been the wildest ride. And Jesus \u2014 the heart of the Christian faith is the wildest, most radical guy you\u2019d ever come across. He was always hanging around with the prostitutes and the tax collectors and having parties and banquets, and I found myself drawn to that character, not the kind of fluff that we like to box as religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
And despite all of his accomplishments, Bear Grylls considers his faith and family his greatest joys. Bear shared that he\u2019s committed to honoring his bride, and plans weekly date nights.<\/p>\n
He explained that activities don\u2019t have to be \u201cexpensive or fancy\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s more about spending quality time together. \u201cTogetherness is what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Bear and Shara have three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry \u2014 the last of whom was born on their Thames River houseboat \u2014 the same \u201cfixer-upper\u201d they purchased just before their wedding. As a family man, Grylls points to his and Shara\u2019s shared faith as the foundation of their marriage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been married almost 10 years, and that\u2019s been a great glue to our family, actually. I look back now and I think it\u2019d be really hard without that faith together \u2014 that sustained us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, Grylls shared that he believes that husbands and wives should love their spouse \u201cabove everything else\u201d \u2013 even the children.<\/p>\n
Grylls explained, \u201cCouples often think that the kids should always come first, but smart couples know that the best foundation for the family is their relationship. In protecting that, they can then best love their children.\u201d Grylls added, \u201cIf you ever think the grass is greener on the other side of the hill … it\u2019s time to start watering your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s hosted eleven successful television shows, authored several books, and accomplished dozens of personal goals such as hiking Mount Everest, becoming the youngest Chief Scout ever (at the age of 34-years-old), wrestling an alligator, and holding the world record for the \u201cHighest Open-Air Formal Dinner Party\u201d \u2014 held in a hot-air balloon at 7,600m.<\/p>\n
But despite his many achievements, Bear Grylls remains a humble family man who honors his wife and trusts in his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Bear Grylls told Relevant Magazine, \u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard for us to believe, really believe, that God cares and wants good things for us and doesn\u2019t just want us to go off and give everything up and become missionaries in Burundi. And some people are just scared, and they go, \u2018Oh, God just wants me to be religious,\u2019 but actually He just loves us. He just wants us to be with Him, and that\u2019s been a journey to discover that. That\u2019s one of the big questions I asked, was that, you know: \u2018If You do exist, are You cozy? Are You what my heart really aches for?\u2019 Christianity is not about religion, it\u2019s about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It\u2019s about finding joy and finding home … I\u2019ve yet to meet anyone who doesn\u2019t want to be forgiven or held or find peace or joy in their life. We try loads of other stuff \u2014 we think booze or foxy women or whatever will fill it \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t fill the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe simple things is what I try to keep my faith like: Jesus is unchanging and we are forgiven … I for one, do not want to reach the end of my life in a perfectly preserved body. I want to come flying in sideways, covered in scars, beaten up and screaming: \u2018Yahoo! What a ride!\u2019\u201d \u2013 Bear Grylls<\/p>\n
Praise God for His redeeming love and grace! While listening to Bear Grylls\u2019 inspiring story, I just couldn\u2019t help but think of Colossians 1:13-14 which reads,
\n \u201cGod rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He\u2019s set us up in the kingdom of the Son He loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.\u201d
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Bear Grylls may be known for his wild ways and impressive survival skills, but there\u2019s a side of Bear Grylls many haven\u2019t seen. Bear Grylls believes in God. And if you meet him in person, you\u2019ll quickly learn that he\u2019s unashamed to tell you so. But Grylls doesn\u2019t claim to be a perfect Christian. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1738,663,392,312,1736,316,940,1737,35,638,1740,1739],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}