CULTURE WARS
A FORCE MORE POWERFUL THAN 'MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS'
Exclusive: Chuck Norris on 'substance that can change human heart, heal the soul'
On April 12, my wife, Gena, our daughter, Danilee, and I joined our University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) family for a very special live Easter performance. It is an annual event in which the cast are the students of UMHB, and it is staged outside on the campus lawn.
It was a beautiful re-enactment leading up to Jesus’ death, his crucifixion and resurrection. We were deeply touched, as were all the other thousands of people who attended. We thank you students for letting your lights shine for your faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope those watching it were as touched and blessed as we were.
Speaking of being blessed, this past year has been another hallmark year for the Norris family in many respects. Like you, we have experience some triumphs but often through many trials.
One particular blessing we feel God has blessed us with is also a force of nature on our Lone Wolf Texas ranch – an “accidental” discovery that we feel we’re supposed to bless and share with the world: CFORCE artisan water. (A portion of CFORCE sales also benefits environmental initiatives and Kickstart Kids – our nonprofit foundation and charity that empowers at-risk youth.)
In short, we discovered the pristine water source while looking for a new well site. Dating back more than 23,000 years, the water emerges naturally through ancient volcanic rock and is then deposited into a deep, sustainable aquifer, making it pure, smooth and naturally high in pH. Through an engineered delivery system, the water flows directly to the bottling facility, so it is bottled right at its source and remains untouched by man until opened, as a PRNewswire explained in January.
CFORCE water is truly a force of nature, but so is another water that I’m reminded of on Easter weekend.
It says in the Bible:
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them'” (John 7:37-38).
I can already hear some readers, joking around by playing on those so-called Chuck Norris facts or jokes that exaggerate my strength and abilities: “But Chuck, I thought you were the force of nature greater than ‘the mother of all bombs’!”
Many boasted and others shook with fear when the U.S. dropped “the mother of all bombs” on ISIS in Afghanistan last week, during which 36 ISIS members and no civilians were killed. There’s no doubt that a 21,600-pound, 30-foot weapon, which released 11 tons of explosives, is very powerful.
But I believe there is a force more powerful than that: It is a substance that can change the human heart and heal the soul.
It reminds me of the last entry (No. 101) in “The Official Chuck Norris Fact [Joke] Book.” In it are my 101 favorite “Chuck Norris facts,” or jokes about my life and personhood, and my favorite 101 stories to accompany them.
Let me quote No. 101 verbatim, and you’ll see what I mean.
No. 101: “Chuck Norris’ tears can cure cancer. It’s too bad he’s never cried.”
Let’s be honest …
If my tears could cure cancer, I would cry a million of them. Of course, that is only wishful thinking. But I do know of a substance that can cure the soul.
Mom raised my brothers and me in the Christian faith. We didn’t just attend church and Sunday school (which she taught, by the way), she also read to us from the Bible, prayed with us and modeled a life of love. Nothing was forced down our throats. It was just lived out in front of us every day. I am who I am today because of my mom’s influence. (She’ll be 96 years young on May 4, 2017!)
I was 12 years old when I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and was baptized at Calvary Baptist Church, where our family attended. As a young man, I recommitted my life to Christ at a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles.
I’ve always maintained my faith throughout my martial arts, movie and television careers, but there was also a time when I lost my way. As resilient as I thought I was, I swallowed the hook of the Hollywood lifestyle.
Mom continued to pray for me throughout those years, and I’m convinced that’s how and why God brought Gena into my life. She is a beacon of God’s light and love, just as my mom is.
Gena brought me back to my childhood faith – in which compromise was unbecoming, transparency was a virtue, humility was required and belief was daily practiced. We’ve always respected all religions and those who hold differing beliefs, but we are unashamed Christians.
On Easter Sunday 2009, I experienced another highlight in my spiritual life. I recommitted my life to Christ yet again, but this time with my household. Gena, our 8-year-old twins at the time, and I all recommitted our lives to Christ and were baptized together by our chaplain. What an absolute joy it was to watch my loved ones go into those sacred waters and to hear them affirm their belief and re-commitment to follow Jesus.
Watching them, I thought about the place in the Bible where Paul and Silas were miraculously freed from a jail cell. The jailer was so moved by the event that he asked them, “What must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” Then the jailer and all his family were baptized.
As our chaplain leaned me back and fully immersed me in the water, I thought about all I had been through in my life and all I still wanted my life to be. I felt renewed, refreshed and cleansed with the waters that are a symbol of Christ’s forgiving blood. As I came up with water flowing off my head and body, I prayed as my mom has prayed every day of her life: “For your glory, Lord. For your glory!”
Every Easter, I reminisce about our baptisms. Every Easter is a powerful reminder of a day that changed history, and I’m not talking about the bunny.
The physical Resurrection of Jesus founded the Christian religion, reset the course of humanity and has indelibly changed the hearts of billions, including Gena and me.
Jesus said in John 11:25-26: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
If we answer in the affirmative, we are not only blessed in this life but the afterlife. It secures for us a time in the future that will even ultimately deliver us from the pains, toils and even tyrants of this life. It is a time that our friend and prolific Christian author, Randy Alcorn, explained in almost a poetic, perfect way:
“Hope is the light at the end of life’s tunnel. It not only makes the tunnel endurable, it fills the heart with anticipation of the world into which we will one day emerge. Not just a better world, but a new and perfect world. A world alive, fresh, beautiful, devoid of pain and suffering and war, a world without disease, without accident, without tragedy. A world without dictators and madmen. A world ruled by the only one worthy of ruling.”
Now, that’s good Easter news and chicken soup for the soul!
(If you want a FREE e-copy of the book, “God Questions: Exploring Life’s Greatest Questions about God,” please click HERE)
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/a-force-more-powerful-than-mother-of-all-bombs/#JvFjYokSGY2IPPDz.99
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