Survivalist Bear Grylls leans on God for strength

By Jongho Lee –

In 1996, Bear Grylls broke his back in three places in a parachuting accident while preparing to climb Mount Everest.

Just 18 months later, in 1998, he climbed Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at the age of 23, becoming one of the youngest people in the world to do it at that time.

Grylls (whose real name is Edward Michael) later became well-known for his adventures, climbing mountains and crossing seas. To survive in the wild he has eaten scorpions, snakes and the eyeball of yaks.

He’s a former SAS fighter who parlayed his survival skills into a UK TV program Man vs. Wild from 2006-’11 (Channel 4 in Britain titled it Born Survivor: Bear Grylls).

Known for his strength, Grylls depends on God’s strength.

“I’ve learned to lean on the beautiful presence of Christ within and not try and do it all on my own,” Grylls says. “On our own, we’re not very strong. The glove, on its own, has no power. The glove needs a hand.”

His best-selling autobiography was Mud, Sweat and Tears (2011). His latest book is The Greatest Story Ever Told (2025) hit the Sunday Times best-seller.

In 2003, Grylls crossed the North Atlantic in an inflatable boat. In 2005, he hosted a dinner party at 25,000 feet. In 2007, he flew over the Himalayas in a powered paraglider. In 2010, he navigated Canada’s Northwest Passage in a rigid inflatable boat.

Adventure runs in his blood. Jesus runs his heart.

As a young kid, Grylls had a really natural faith and just knew something was out there.

He began to question his childhood faith when he went to a religious school that turned him off to God. Half of the services were in Latin, and people were always wearing white cassocks.

“It was all about church-going and people telling you not to smoke behind the bike shed,” Grylls says. “I thought if this is God, maybe I’ve got the whole deal wrong, so I kind of ditched my faith.”And I just thought, ‘Wow, this is God, you know, and I’ve got this wrong.'”

But when his godfather died when he was 16, Grylls was devastated.

“I remember wanting to pray, but not knowing how to,” he recalls.

Grylls climbed up in a tree and poured his heart out to God.

“Will you be that friend to me that you were at five or six when it felt natural?” God asked him.

That’s how he “rediscovered” his faith.

“It was no more complicated than that,” he says. “Actually the amazing thing is that all God asks is that we open the door and He’ll do the rest. So often we hide behind our yearning for love and acceptance with loads of complicated theological questions. Once that’s stripped away, what we really are is just somebody who wants to have that relationship with your Father.”