# Against all Odds (Chuck Norris)



## RamistThomist (Mar 18, 2019)

Norris, Chuck. _Against all Odds_. Broadman & Holman.

As John Piper said, “Read Christian biography!” He probably didn’t mean this, though. It’s a fun read. Chuck is very honest about his moral and spiritual failings, and when he talks of repentance, he speaks in concrete terms of sin and turning to Christ. He also speaks about his more mundane failures and while we will never have his level of success, we can have success by simply not giving up on reasonable goals.

He was born into a poor family whose father was a wino. He joined the Air Force and did time in Korea after the war. It is there he learned Tang Soo Do (he had earlier broken his collarbone from judo). He failed his first black belt test. He came home with his Martial Arts background and began a successful karate career as an instructor and competitor. Had he stayed there he would have been recognized as the second best martial artist in the world (Bruce Lee, of course, was the best).

Bruce Lee got him into a few movies (remember that final fight scene in Return of the Dragon) and urged him to take acting more seriously. Chuck then starred in minor roles while he kept hearing, especially after Lee’s untimely death, that “karate movies” were over.

And while Chuck didn’t mention it, he sort of created a new market of movies. He didn’t give the old “chop saki” movie. He created a “Lone Wolf” type of character who embodied “Merica” values while using martial arts. He ultimately perfected this character with _Walker, Texas Ranger_. This might explain why all of the “karate movies” in the 80s were flops, excepting perhaps Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. They didn’t bring anything new to the game. Chuck did.

He’s honest about his failures. His first marriage failed and he wasn’t a good father and husband. And while his second marriage was (is) successful, sin brings baggage. Yet the book points out the baggage and how godly counseling can work through it.

The other aspects of the book are probably well-known to most, including his KICK-START campaign: getting martial arts into public schools. My take on it: it can work if the school district wants it to work. My former instructor was involved in this. The problem is that you are retraining minds and breaking over a decade’s worth of bad habits. You are dealing with dysfunctional structures. You’re lucky if you can make progress in a year. School boards, though, want results yesterday. That’s not how reality works and so the program is dropped.

This is a truly encouraging book and easy to read. I read it in a few days.

Reactions: Like 4 | Informative 1


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## earl40 (Mar 18, 2019)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Bruce Lee got him into a few movies (remember that final fight scene in Return of the Dragon) and urged him to take acting more seriously.



At the risk of having my nose broke. I wish Mr. Norris took Lee's advice.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## ZackF (Mar 18, 2019)

earl40 said:


> At the risk of having my nose broke. I wish Mr. Norris took Lee's advice.


Lee’s English was much better than Norris’s and so I don’t think he could relate.


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## RamistThomist (Mar 18, 2019)

When Lee said "Acting more seriously," he meant "try out for more roles. Give it a chance."

Reactions: Informative 1


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## KMK (Mar 18, 2019)

Did he happen to say whether he killed Bruce Lee or not?


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## earl40 (Mar 18, 2019)

BayouHuguenot said:


> When Lee said "Acting more seriously," he meant "try out for more roles. Give it a chance."



Then I wish he didn't take his advice. LOL

Reactions: Funny 1


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## RamistThomist (Mar 18, 2019)

KMK said:


> Did he happen to say whether he killed Bruce Lee or not?



He thinks Lee worked himself to death. That's the official story.


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## Smeagol (Mar 18, 2019)

P.S. Just check out that chest hair!! Video evidence that Bruce Lee took the life of Chuck Norris. Case closed.

P.P.S. So the real question for @BayouHuguenot is: Who really wrote the book in the OP?

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 1


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## hammondjones (Mar 18, 2019)

When you are in Texas look behind you...


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## timfost (Mar 19, 2019)



Reactions: Funny 5


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## bookslover (Mar 20, 2019)

hammondjones said:


> When you are in Texas look behind you...



I like what they call the Texas Verdict: "Not guilty, but don't do it again."

Reactions: Funny 1


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## jwright82 (Apr 9, 2019)

Y'all are wrong about the Norris, it's said he died ten years ago but death hasn't worked up the courage to tell him. That he has a Kraken in the aquarium in his living room who is always well behaved, or else! I also heard that he kicked death so hard he brought him back to life, now death lives on the coast somewhere, making it but still defeated. Norris.

Reactions: Like 3 | Funny 1


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## Pilgrim (Apr 9, 2019)

earl40 said:


> Then I wish he didn't take his advice. LOL



Fight scenes aside, only a handful of his movies are watchable, In my humble opinion.


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## ZackF (Apr 9, 2019)

Pilgrim said:


> Fight scenes aside, only a handful of his movies are watchable, In my humble opinion.


We know. You’re a WTR boxed set kind of guy. Some folks are into the movies though. It’s more than the fights. Isn’t driving a sand covered truck out of a pit amazing also.

Reactions: Like 1


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## jwright82 (Apr 9, 2019)

ZackF said:


> We know. You’re a WTR boxed set kind of guy. Some folks are into the movies though. It’s more than the fights. Isn’t driving a sand covered truck out of a pit amazing also.


Amen


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## Pilgrim (Apr 10, 2019)

ZackF said:


> Isn’t driving a sand covered truck out of a pit amazing also.



That's one of the "watchable" ones I had in mind.


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## RamistThomist (Apr 10, 2019)

I disagree. If I were to teach a Business Ethics seminar, I would basically make people binge watch Walker.

Reactions: Amen 1


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