bear branches OUT INTO FAMILY TREE

BBC ancestry series unearths more secrets

TV preview by Emily Bright

TO date, the military seems to be the watchword linking the latest line-up of celebrities uncovering their roots in BBC1’s

ancestry series Who Do You Think You Are?

In the opening episode, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber charted the life of his four-times great-uncle Sir Peregrine Maitland, a general who played a pivotal role at the Battle of Waterloo. He also discovered musical and theatrical people among his ancestors, including his grandfather William Webber, who sang in a choir at King George VI’s coronation, and his six-times great-grandfather Johannes Magito, who was part of an extended family of travelling showmen and musicians.

veteran accused of participating in a riot to free leaders of the Fenian movement, which wanted to overthrow British rule in Ireland.

have always been good rocks for me’, and – after exploring his family tree –concludes that the same was true for his ancestors too.

Faith is a rock in their lives

In next week’s episode, adventurer Bear Grylls wants to find out more about his paternal grandfather Ted Grylls, who was a brigadier during the Second World War. After Ted’s death, Bear discovered that he had commanded T-Force – a military unit tasked with tracking down high-ranking Nazi scientists – and is keen to find out more. He also wants to track down information about the life of his maternal greatgrandfather, Lionel Ford, a vicar and schoolmaster at Harrow.

Many Christians, like Bear, have felt faith to be a rock in their lives. They have discovered a truth put into words thousands of years ago by a man who overcame the challenges he faced through faith and who wrote: ‘My God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety’ (Psalm 18:2 New Living Translation). This Bible writer knew that God would give him the strength and resilience to keep him going in his toughest times.

This week (Thursday 8 June) actress Claire Foy explored the life of her twotimes great-grandfather on her mother’s side, Henry Stimpson, who was a soldier at Carlisle Castle barracks and was once posted to India. She also investigated the history of her father’s two-times greatgrandfather, John Martin, a British Army

During the episode Bear learns that, in different ways, his ancestors showed extraordinary resilience during tough times – perhaps most notably Lionel, who turned to desperate prayer in his darkest moments.

At the start of the episode, Bear reflects that ‘faith has been a strong part of my heritage, and family and faith

While our lives may look quite different today, we can all have moments when our circumstances seem overwhelming.

The good news is that God can give us his divine help when we’ve reached the end of our own strength and abilities. God wants to be in a relationship with us. And, if we let him, he can become the rock on which we rely in the toughest storms of life.

Whatever our history, all we need to do is root ourselves in him.