{"id":2705,"date":"2016-10-20T10:51:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T15:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=2705"},"modified":"2016-10-20T10:51:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T15:51:16","slug":"what-bear-grylls-thinks-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2016\/10\/what-bear-grylls-thinks-of-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"What Bear Grylls Thinks of Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I was about sixteen when I remember praying one of my first real prayers. I didn\u2019t grow up going to church, but I\u2019d always had faith. Then my godfather, who was like a second dad to me, died and I was devastated. I remember climbing a tree and saying a very simple prayer: \u201cIf you\u2019re there, will you please be beside me.\u00a0Be my friend.\u201d That was the start of something that has grown to become the backbone of my life.<\/p>\n

Six years later, when my parachute ripped and I fell thousands of feet to earth<\/strong>, you\u2019d better believe I was crying out to God\u2014you don\u2019t get many atheists in a situation like that! And maybe my prayers were answered, because the surgeon later said I came \u201cwithin a whisker\u201d of total paralysis.<\/p>\n

Eighteen months later, as I stood on top of Everest mesmerized by the incredible curvature of the earth from the top of the world\u2019s highest mountain, it was just natural to feel, \u201cWow, God, you made all this?\u201d I guess that is worship. And what a privilege to climb mountains with the One who made them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"dirtyglory\"<\/a>
Read the First Chapter for Free<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My Christian faith has so often been a quiet backbone to our life as a family and through my work. When I took President Obama into the Alaskan wilderness for an episode of Running Wild<\/span>, it was a special moment to finish the adventure by praying together. Out in the wild you discover pretty quickly that even the most famous, extraordinary people are asking the same questions and looking for the same things in life as all the rest of us. It was another president\u2014Abraham Lincoln\u2014who once confessed, \u201cI have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.\u201d Smart and humble man.<\/p>\n

I probably don\u2019t go to church as much as I should, but I do start every day on my knees, praying by my bed, asking God for strength and wisdom for the day ahead. That is the grounding for my day. Christianity isn\u2019t about religion. It\u2019s about a real relationship with God\u2014being held, being forgiven, finding joy, finding home.<\/strong> And at the heart of that kind of relationship is the conversation we call prayer: asking God for help when life is tough, thanking him for the good things, trying to listen out for that still, small voice of his guidance.<\/p>\n

Although I know that prayer is important, I don\u2019t find it particularly easy. I am pretty impatient and struggle to sit still for long. That\u2019s one of the reasons I love this book. My friend Pete Greig has written it to inspire and help ordinary, \u201cdirty\u201d people like me find a bit more of God\u2019s glory. Dirty\u00a0Glory<\/span><\/a> is a powerful, personal and honest story about life\u2019s most important adventure. It comes from the heart and from the hand of\u00a0a prayer warrior whom I love and admire.<\/p>\n

\n

Edward Michael “Bear” Grylls is a British adventurer, writer, and television presenter. He is widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild (2006\u20132011).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was about sixteen when I remember praying one of my first real prayers. I didn\u2019t grow up going to church, but I\u2019d always had faith. Then my godfather, who was like a second dad to me, died and I … <\/p>\n

Read moreWhat Bear Grylls Thinks of Prayer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Bear Grylls Thinks of Prayer - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2016\/10\/what-bear-grylls-thinks-of-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Bear Grylls Thinks of Prayer - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was about sixteen when I remember praying one of my first real prayers. 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