As a mother of three sons, one of whom studied Tang Soo Do karate for awhile, I've heard bits and pieces about Chuck Norris through the years. Perhaps what I've heard most are the Chuck Norris one liner macho quips. For some reason my youngest son adores these jokes. You know, the ones that go something like
When the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks the closet for Chuck Norris or
Some people wear superman pajamas, but superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas. I'm sure that you've heard them too. I've also watched some of his movies with my sons or husband, it seems that something about him calls out to male psyche. Although my 86-year old mother still faithfully watches re-runs of Chuck Norris' TV series
Walker, Texas Ranger; in her estimation, one of the best shows ever made.
But I've never really known anything much about the man. Perhaps that's why, when I was browsing through books to check out from the library and I happened upon his book entitled
Against All odds, I decided to check out the CD version.
This weekend, while I've been cooking and cleaning, I've been listening to the book. I was so captivated that I even continued listening one evening after my work was completed. I sat and did my nails while listening, and then just sat and listened.
It's a wonderful book! Perhaps just a bit slow in the beginning with that predictable my life began this way kind of feel.
But the book gets better and better as you progress. I also can't say that the transitions in the book are always smooth, but this man's life has just been so incredible that I was mesmerized. He really does have one of those larger than life stories.
He's a hero in a time and place when we desperately need male heroes.
One of the aspects of the book that endeared it to my heart was Norris' honesty. He's an open born again Christian but he, like myself, has failed many times in life. I so appreciated when he was transparent about his failures and called them exactly what they were - sin. I can relate to a Christian who has sinned, because I'm a sinner too. I always have a hard time with the people who have it all together (perhaps that's why I enjoy reading the Old Testament Bible accounts so much, these folks were just like me and really blew it sometimes but God chose to use them anyway!) I also adored hearing about how God in His goodness and grace took even Norris failures and used them, ultimately, for good. Norris shared about what he'd learned in life and about God's goodness, grace, and mercy. I found this book extremely inspiring.
Definitely a worthwhile read.
My oldest son Devon facebooked me these two youtubes:
I respect the man he's become.
