Chris Pratt continues to be one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. We have seen his celebrity status soar in the years since we were introduced to him on the small screen on the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”
The actor has since become a bankable leading man due to his breakout success in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. While many fans know that Pratt is a Christian, many don’t know that he came from humble beginnings or the remarkable story of how he was led to Christ. Pratt recently opened up to Vanity Fair about the moment he turned to Jesus and was saved.
It all began when a man named Henry came up to him and said, “Jesus told me to talk to you.’
During this period in his life, the actor was in his early 20’s, working at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Hawaii and living out of his van. At the time, he was homeless and in survival mode.
“I was sitting outside a grocery store. We’d convinced someone to go in and buy us beer,” Pratt said. “This is Maui, and a guy came up and recognized something in me that needed to be saved.”
He asked Pratt what he was doing that night. He replied, “My friend’s inside buying me alcohol.”
He then asked Pratt if he had plans on drinking, doing drugs and fornicating and Pratt admitted that he hoped so. Though this man was a complete stranger and asking him some pretty personal questions, the man didn’t make Pratt nervous. In fact, he felt a sense of calm around him.
Curious about the man’s intentions, Pratt said, “Why are you asking?”
The man replied, “Jesus told me to talk to you.”
At that very moment, Pratt knew he needed to go with this man. Henry took him to church. Pratt’s friends were completely caught off guard when he declared that he was going to change his life.
Not long after the encounter, he was cast in Cursed Part 3, the movie that got his foot in the door of acting, which eventually led to Hollywood success. The rest is history.
Since then, his faith has really shaped his life. He and his wife, actress Anna Faris, relied on their trust in the Lord when their son was in the intensive care unit for the first month of his life after being born nine weeks premature.
“We were scared for a long time. We prayed a lot,” Pratt said. “It restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really redefined it…”
Even though doctors said their son, Jack, would live with disabilities due to premature birth, God healed him in the NICU.
Pratt is also very vocal about his Christian faith on his social media accounts. He frequently quotes Bible verses and shares bits of his testimony. Last year, he posted a picture on Instagram of him and his friends building a giant steel cross and mounting it on a hill. He recently shared this powerful verse on social media:
“Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness blinded them.” -1 John 2:10-11.
It’s incredible to see that fame and the spotlight have not uprooted Pratt from his faith. In fact, it only seems to be growing stronger. In an industry scare in devout Christians, Pratt is refreshing.
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