Help show kids the importance of marriage, family, and faith in Christ. Support focus on the family as we launch the animated film Adventures in Odyssey journey into the impossible. Over 9,000 children each year make decisions for Christ after listening to Adventures in Odyssey, and you can help by donating to the film's launch. There's a dollar for dollar match until May 1st, so your gift will be doubled when you give today. Simply go to focus on the family dot com slash impossible. My heart says, share the light. The world is desperate for love, light, connection, and peace. It's never been more needed. And like I say, it's 365 times in the Bible, be courageous. Stand up. So it's like, I'm a soldier. I do as I'm told, and I do my best, and I won't always get it right, and I failed. But my identity is found here. It's well known outdoor adventure and television icon, really Bear Grills. And he's going to be sharing today about his personal journey of faith and why he is so passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Welcome to Focus on the Family with Jim Dele. I'm John Follett. John, I recently had a great visit with Bear Grills. My podcast, ReFocus with Jim Dele. And he was a delight to speak with. His story is so interesting about how he came to faith in Christ and then his work on a great new book called The Greatest Story Ever Told. He's done some amazing things with the Lord's help. But this book is what he's most proud of. My boys enjoyed watching Bear Grills and Man vs. Wild for so many years. And he's had many other successful shows reaching get this 1.2 billion people. Wow, that's amazing. He survived parachute accidents, diving with sharks, chasing snakes, shooting rapids, jumping off cliffs and the list goes on and on. So he is certainly one of a kind. Yeah, and I've enjoyed watching him do that knowing I didn't have to. Bear is one multiple Emmy awards. He has hosted a number of shows, including Running Wild with Bear Grills. And we've got that book that you mentioned, Jim. The greatest story ever told at our website. Just follow the links in the show notes to find out more. Now here's part of that conversation that Jim had with Bear Grills on his show ReFocus with Jim Dewey. Bear thanks for joining me on ReFocus. It's great to have you. Nice to be with you. Yeah. Your dad was really important to you. And I love that because here at Focus on the Family particularly, I mean, we're talking to people every day. And it usually is heartache and they're looking for help to fill that dad problem that was created where their fathers let them down significantly, divorce their moms, etc. Speak to the importance of fatherhood and then parlay that into the relationship you had with your dad and what he did to build into you as a son. Well, first of all, it's so I think you're right. Father, there's such a critical relationship in all of our lives. And, you know, none of us are perfect. I think is the thing also to say. It's what's so beautiful about our faith. It's ultimately we find true connection with the ultimate father who will never let us down. You know, so I'm always mindful of like many people have, as you say, such tough experiences of parenting. I've been really lucky. You know, I had a really beautiful dad who was gentle and kind. And, you know, he'd been a former Ron Reese Commando. So he loved adventure as well. But he was good fun always messing around. Very cozy, always encouraging me to go for things, not be scared to fail and to follow the dreams. You know, and that was his thing. And, you know, the sadness in my life in terms of fatherhood is that he died too young. And I felt like woefully ill-equipped for life when he died, you know, and so much was unsaid. And I wish he'd lived to see Shara and me get married and our boys. We've now got three boys and they look just like him. The really important stuff. He taught me when I was young, which was those things to go for things in life, not be scared to fail, be kind along the way, be a never give up and follow those dreams. And even though I felt ill-equipped, it's kind of those messages that got into my heart. It's been a privilege to be able to repeat those every day to our boys. And you know what, our hope and our faith says that it's not the end. That is the thing, you know, it is not the end. And I feel like she, my dad's spirit through our boys all the time as well. And I know he's cheering them on. Yeah. So, as you say, fatherhood is difficult for many people, but our grey hope is that it's everything's connected, you know, us to the Almighty when we ask, us to each other when we need it and us to those that we love and we lose that connection is always there to. How as a boy did your dad, particularly, but your mom and dad? What was your relationship like growing up spiritually and then pointing you to a God in heaven? So I didn't grow up in a church culture at all. And also, hasten to say in this conversation, I've been really lucky to have a wonderful mum who's still alive, you know, and as you say, that's kind of, they're often the unsung heroes in our lives. It's been, she's been wonderful and I look at Shara as well. It's been so key to our happiness in life as, as been, she's been such a sort of bedrock to our family. So I would say that, but in terms of culture growing up, no, my, it wasn't a churchy environment. But how many said that? I had a really natural faith as a kid, you know, I just kind of knew there was something out there and it was good. And I couldn't articulate it more than that. But I felt, felt free and loved and I look back now and I realized, you know, God connects with the kids in just such a beautiful way. And then life makes us cynical and tougher and we, we want to go at a loan. And I wasn't alone on that route either. I went to school and suddenly we had to go to church every day and it was very formal, half of it was in Latin, white robes and I just saw, wow, you know, if this is God, I've really got it wrong and I threw all of my, that natural faith out with the baby and the bathwater. I let it all go. And for me, it's been a lifetime of unlearning to realize actually as that little kid, I had it right, you know, it's why Jesus just loved the little children. It's a one thing, you know, don't stop them, you know, the disciples are running around trying to stop them crowding and you're going, let them be. This is, you know, the kingdom belongs to these. So I realized I was right as a kid and we shouldn't overcomplicate it and he's our father in heaven, that perfect father without the flaws that we all have even in our own journey as fatherhood. I'm super aware of my flaws as well, you know, but we do our best and we try and connect to something bigger and greater than us. And that's for me where faith comes in. You know that, the child component that I had the privilege of interviewing, you know, your former prime minister, Tony Blair and he talked about being in primary school and the headmaster came to his class and pulled him out and while in the hallway, he told him that his dad had suffered a terrible stroke and the headmaster said, we need to pray for your father. And Tony Blair responded, well, you don't know my father, he wouldn't want us to pray for him. And the headmaster in a, I feel like just this incredible moment of wisdom said, well, your dad may not know God, but God knows your father and he would want us to pray for him. And Tony Blair said that was kind of one of the core hinges for him in his spiritual journey coming to Christ. And you know, we're not going to agree on all the social. But the power of power. Yeah. I mean, it's such a powerful story that children tend to get it right. Let's, let's move on with the story. I want to quickly give us the background there with the SAS. I mean, again, I think we're all kind of intrigued by special forces. So I need just to tease out that bit of that story that you joined the special forces. What was that training like? What was your hope? What was your dream going into the special forces? Well, I think as a kid, I wanted to outdo my dad. My dad had been a commander and I thought I'm going to go one better. And I don't know. I always wanted to be a soldier from a young age. I got to try selection for the British special forces for 21 SAS when I was 19. I actually failed first time. You know, I remember lining up day one of what's a 11 month process, looking to the left to me, looking to the right 120 soldiers, everyone stacked and muscle band. I'm just thinking, I'm dead. You know, I'm never going to make it. You know, and I got about that halfway through and then I just wasn't, I wasn't fast enough, strong enough, smart enough, good enough and failed. And then they said to some of us come back and try again and started again, lined up at another 11 months, long line, 120 people. This time I didn't look left and right though, I knew what I needed to do. She was just like, key looking forward, give more, when it's grim and it's difficult and everyone's complaining and everyone's throwing in the towel, give more, be the most resilient. Go fast, give all, be all in total commitment. And as you know, in life, there is a power to that and eventually four of us from that 120 of us pass at the end, still best friends to this day. In that training, you had a really good friend, Meck, who I think was a Christian, is a Christian, described that relationship and how did he help you in that moment, even to be stronger because of faith? Well, I did, I joined out with my best buddy and they always said to us, don't come with a buddy, you don't want a buddy here because the likelihood of you both passing is small. And actually he failed first time as well and we both passed second time. That man is like a rock in my life, still to stay. He's nicknamed trucker. He's been an example of beautiful faith, resilience, humble friendship. You know, I remember so many nights just across the mountains and driving, wind and rain carrying huge weights through these bogs and marshes alongside that man with him just quietly whispering verses to himself, you know, like when I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from you, Lord, maker of heaven and earth. I mean, that verse, I'll never leave me. I've heard it a zillion times out of his mouth at difficult times. And I don't know, you look at examples like that and all of our lives is very powerful and as I say, still best friends to this day. Now, you know, boy, the scripture has so many stories about a good friend and what a good friend does for you. And that's another thing that unfortunately in the culture today, so many people are isolated and separated and were made for relationship and it just doesn't seem to be happening the way it should happen for healthiness, mental, emotional, well-being. All right, getting into the story of the book. So I think we've laid a bit of background. The only other thing, and you mentioned it so quickly about those things that scared you at one point and that is the parachute accident that you had where the canopy didn't deploy or was cut while deployed and you spiraled in special forces, what was the outcome of that jump and how did you recover? Well, that was, yeah, that was a different parachute incident to the one I described earlier. You may not want to jump out of planes. I know the irony is, like I still do it all the time. To be honest, it's really hard for me. I mean, it's still a real kind of... But I've just learnt, you know, don't run from the scary things in life, walk towards them. But that original accident was just a canopy rips and I came spiraling down and it was in Africa. I broke my back in three different places. And I spent many months in rehabilitation in military rehab in the UK and just being told I was a millimeter from severing my spinal cord, you know, struggling just to reach a bathroom across this hall without excruciating pain and time. And just thinking, what am I going to do with my life, you know? And I really just clung in that hospital to two things. One was this dream of Everest that I'd had with my dad since I was a kid. And I had a big poster on my wall and it was like that. I bought that to the hospital and that was my... That was going to be the focus of my recovery. Like, you might think I'm... Everyone might think I'm crazy and I can't even get to the bathroom at the moment. But like, we're designed like this. We're designed as power when we set... As men especially, I think, when we set up, I kind of like laser targets on girls. I mean, it's not a... Of course, it's not a male thing. It's all of us. But there's power to that, isn't there? There's humans like when you zero in on something. So that became a real focus. And then the other thing was my faith. It's like, you know what? It's like everyone's strong when the sun shining. Everyone's strong when it's all going well. You know, when you feel... When you feel great, you're uncomfortable until you're not. Right. And, you know, I think when we're at the low points in our life and the dark jungles of our life, you learn what our foundations are. And in that hospital, like, I just came to my knees and I said, I want to build my life on solid foundations. I want a foundation that will never wash away. You know, and it's... That quote, man, is never as tall as when he kneels down. And I said at prayer, just saying, God, please be with me. I'd said that prayer before my life. I said, it's first said it as a young teenager, you know, when I lost somebody very close to me. And I've said it repeatedly ever since of my life. You know, sometimes in church when they say, if you want to... If you want to say this prayer in your heart, please say the prayer, I'm the guy every time. I must have done it a thousand times. I'm renewed every day in my life because it's like... It's checking sure my foundations are strong. And, you know what, nothing dramatic happened in that hospital beyond pain and a slow recovery of movement and confidence. But when I first said that prayer as a teenager, a fire was lit. A fire was lit that's never gone out. And sometimes it's a flames. You know, it's pilot light. Sometimes it's just low. But that flames never left me. And it's the greatest thing in my life. Yeah, I mean, it's so beautiful. You know, you've mentioned this a couple of times, but I would imagine one of your life versus could be, you know, that he's close to the broken hearted and saves those crushed in spirit out of Psalms. But a good Scottish pastor, actually an acquaintance friend of mine, Alistair Begg, somehow went from Scotland to Cleveland, Ohio. I'm still not sure how that happened. But I was listening to him in a sermon and he said, you know what, if this is the prerequisite for becoming deeper relationally with God, being broken, hearted and being crushed in spirit, why do we choose not to go there? Why do we try to stay on the mountain top? Because if that is where God will meet us, shouldn't we be running to that low place in order to feel and hear God there? And that's what you've been describing so much. But it's very scary. It's super scary for people and like, you know, most of us spend our lives fighting to avoid that place. And but the irony is it is a place that coming home. You know, it's that beautiful Beatitudes verse and the message version that just says that I've always liked because it's my languages says you're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you, there's more of God. And so, you know, the point of that place is not a place of like, you know, it's actually not a place of darkness, a place of light. You know, what is darkness? It's just the absence of light, you know, so it's actually finding light. So, you know, I think so many of us look back in our lives at those moments where you feel like very alone. And it's our footprints of the sand analogy again. But, you know, we're never alone. That's the thing. It's like I spoke yesterday to a maximum of security prison in the UK and a lot of hurting souls in there. It's a privilege to say that you're not alone. You know, however dark that cell is, you are not alone. It's a great truth. It's not like it might, God might come to you. Or if you do this, he potentially could come beside you. It's like, it's the only guarantee in life. Is that you are asking to be there? You want to feel it, but it's true. It's a truth. Yeah. And what a great privilege in our life. Yeah. So good. Now, let's move to the greatest story I've ever told. This wonderful book that you've written. My wife has actually read it. She loved it. And of course, I did the prep. I haven't had a chance to read it completely, but it is solid. What inspired you to write about Jesus as the greatest story ever told? Because I get asked every day what's helped me in tough times at mountains and in jungles. And this is the answer. The answer is my faith. You know, I don't, I don't choose to, it's like a hand and glove. You know, the glove on its own is just limp, is weak. But with a hand inside it, we're strong. You know, so it's, you know, whether you're that prisoner in that prison yesterday or whatever. It's like, where do you draw from the well? Where do you go? Do you go somewhere where there's amazing living water? Or do you go somewhere that's going to leave you with shaky foundations? So, but I also kind of realize how few people know the story of Jesus. You know, and I was like that myself as well. We grew up with stories. You know, we know the story maybe of the good Samaritan or the Nativity or maybe the crucifixion. But the whole story is incredible. It's the ultimate story of friendship and risk and adventure and love and sacrifice and courage. And I realized just nobody's ever written the story of Jesus as a short punchy like thriller. 100% theologically accurate, but as a thriller. And I just had a real sense in my kind of spirit about a year and a half ago, just clear the decks. We were still filming. We were in the middle of the jungle for a month filming a Netflix show. And it was like just wrap this up, clear the decks and write this. And I worked with a brilliant team of theologians from the chosen who helped me and we kind of did it. And this pastor wrote to me when I first sent a first copy out. And he said, wow, this is like John Grishon's being tasked with writing the Jesus story. And I always feel that's the best description of it. Because it's like it's hard to tell or ask people or for ourselves sometimes to read the Bible. You know, it's kind of like pretty daunting. Where do you begin? But the story itself is like this is why I get so many letters now. I get, you know, I've done so many of these TV shows over the years, but I've never had a response to anything I've ever done that is even close to the response I'm getting from this. I get people from every country, every culture, every faith, write every age. You know, I have Muslims writing to me. I have Hindus, I have atheists, thousands of them. And they all basically say the same thing in different ways, which is I had no idea. I had no idea of the real unsanitized, unsur-a-kind of western sort of cozy, nice, and nativity version of sweet Jesus. I had no idea of the real story. And that's why I wanted to start from the beginning. I call him Yeshua, his Aramaic name. All the names of everyone is a local. It's written just from five eyewitness accounts of what he was really like. You know, why did everyday people just fight to be close to him, to try and touch his cloak? You know, why? Why? And why did the elite, the religious elite fear him so much? What is behind that? And as I say, it's been the hardest thing I've ever done, but the best thing I've ever done. Let me ask you this. The characters that you chose to write about. Who are they and why did you choose their description, their relationship with Christ to write about? So like I say, I wrote it from first eye account, eye witness accounts from those closest to him that knew him best, because that all of our stories wrapped up in here, whether you know, starts off from Mary as mother, aged 15, terrified, pregnant, out of marriage, outcast, becomes a refugee from a country, raising this boy in poverty, and you know, and yet her mother, like we said at the start of our conversation, the power of that motherhood encouragement. So it starts off from Mary, then it goes to different tone of Thomas, who's like observing him and just going, hold on, and he's not going to be easily persuaded. He's sceptical, he's cynical, he can't understand what's going on. He's unsure of himself in the whole situation. And then it goes to Peter, who's this fisherman, and this impulsive guy, and he's raw and disrespectful, and wild and brilliant. And then it goes to John, who takes through the final week of Jerusalem, and that torture, and eventually, execution, and then Mary magdalene, this broken young girl, who just life was healed by being close to Christ. And she takes us through the end. And you know, because I feel it's all of our stories, whether we are that innocent, or that broken, or the sceptical, or the hurting, or the clinical, wild ones. And so I wanted to kind of take us back to the real story, and write something that's really easy for people to read. You know, that's the other thing. I can read about two pages a night, and then I'm done. You know, I really struggle reading. So I wanted to write it like that, every chapter's about two or three pages. And I want to not be ashamed of reading this story in a mosque, a hospital, a prison, a temple. You know, because the real story is unashamed would be beautiful. It's not religious. It's a story of love. So that's where I've taken it from, but because I want to be something people can share with anyone. You know, it's hard to say to a friend, you should read the Bible, which of course we know is sensible, but most people get what are you on about? Right, exactly. And you know, going through this process, it seems to me that you've become more emboldened, sharing that faith in the construct of what you've described. You know, yesterday being at the prison in the UK, and talking to people that have been, you know, tried and convicted of crime, but you're there telling them about eternal life, salvation, what Christ came to do for all of us as human beings, the whole strata. And you've seen again to become more emboldened. Speak to that energy that you have now. Not only it'd be a great persona on television, and it's good to work your craft well, and that's a good thing. But then the bigger thing, which is to share Christ with as many people as possible, what has given you that energy? Well, let you say, I think it's, I love my day job, you know, my day job's wonderful, and it's right to work hard and follow your heart and go for things. But the thing is, that's not my identity. You know, my identity is found elsewhere. And, you know, I think maybe in the early years, you'd always try and do anything to protect your work in that you're kind of, you wouldn't want to take any risks with that outside of the risk of the job, you know. You didn't want to kind of stand up maybe. But like, I just realized there's no power to that. You know, all I want to do is stay in the place of power, and the place of power in our faith is on the front line. And therefore, I've got nothing to kind of hide and try and protect, because it's not mine anyway. Everything's been a gift, you know, surely the journey of life is to learn to have the courage to try and follow your heart. And my heart said, write the book, my heart says, share the light. The world is desperate for love, light, connection, and peace. It's never been more needed. And like I say, it's 365 times in the Bible, be courageous. Stand up. So it's like, I'm a soldier, I'll do as I'm told, and I'll do my best, and I won't always get it right, and I'll fail. But like I'm just going to live for something beyond just like trying to get. I've like been super lucky at work. It's been a wonderful blessing. I still, still filming lots. We've just wrapped up season nine, a running wild. We're starting season 10 in the new year. But like I say, that's, that's my work. And I love it. But my identity is found here. Yeah, amen. Bear Girls, this has been awesome. My boys will be jealous that I had a chance to talk to you, and they weren't here to say hello, because they really... Say hello to the... Send them love and encouragement, yeah. Yeah, God bless you. God bless your family. Take care. Thank you. All the best, buddy. Take care. Well, what a fun conversation, Jim, that you and Bear Girls had on your podcast. And we heard only a portion of it today. You can hear the entire conversation that refocuswithjimdaily.com. We'll link over to it as well from our website. Do that, and then share that episode with others who might need the encouragement that Bear offered. Well, you can tell he genuinely loves the Lord, and I am eager for people to read his book or get it as a gift for someone. What a perfect gift for an unbeliever, a teen, a 20-something, or someone who needs to grow in their faith. The book's title is the greatest story ever told from Bear Girls. Make a donation to Focus on the Family. And with a gift of any amount, we'll send you a copy of the book as our way of saying thank you for being a part of the ministry. And if you don't know the Lord, we also have a free download for you. It's called Coming Home, and it explains how to become a Christian. Yeah, it's all about the Christian life, and that free Coming Home document is linked from our website. Now, you can call us if you would like to connect with us and find out more. Make a donation. Our number is 800, the letter A in the word family, or all these resources and more are linked in the show notes. Well, thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daley. I'm John Fuller inviting you back. Yes, we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. Live your truth. A lot of people say that, don't they? But truth isn't something we decide. God has decided it for us. And it's our job as believers to share his truth with a world in need. I'll encourage you to do that through my podcast, ReFocus with Jim Daley. I visit with fascinating guests about important topics like gender confusion, cancel culture, and more while helping you share God's love with others. Listen at ReFocus with JimDaley.com.
