Chuck Norris talks importance of faith

Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris "facts" circle the globe these days. After all, when he does push-ups, Norris doesn't push himself up; he pushes the earth down.

Norris sleeps with a night-light because the dark is afraid of him, and America's favorite tough guy can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.

His favorite fact supports his "tough-guy" image – that carvers wanted to put his image on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard.

But there is one authority to whom Chuck Norris listens.

It came out when the longtime WND commentator recently was interviewed at the National Religious Broadcasters meetings in Nashville, where he was given the Chairman's Award.

He recalled how he was named after a pastor his mother knew while living in Oklahoma, how he was baptized when he was 12 years old and how he went to Korea after enlisting in the U.S. military. He came back with a black belt and began to teach the art.

Then he landed roles in Hollywood action pictures and pursued other ventures.

"Unfortunately, in the entertainment field, sometimes you starting believing your celebrity," he said. "You have a strong tendency to drift from the Lord, which I did. I did drift for a number of years."

He divorced, then met his wife, Gena, and got married, but there remained a "huge hole in my heart."

"I didn't know why," he said.

Action star Chuck Norris

He recalled thinking just one more movie, one more project, would make him happy.

As he worked, he noticed Gena reading her Bible every morning, and eventually she started reading aloud to him. Then he started reading it himself.

During that time, he said God spoke to him.

"'Chuck, it's time to come home,'" he recalled God telling him. "'You've been gone long enough.'"

He did, and now Norris says, "My heart, it's filled up again."

See the interview:

Norris described his visit with the NRB in a recent column.

The longtime martial arts champion, actor and commentator has made 24 movies and was the title character in the most successful Saturday night series on CBS since "Gunsmoke." His program, "Walker, Texas Ranger," is now a worldwide phenomenon, being watched by a billion viewers globally, every day.

He's a six-time undefeated world professional middleweight karate champion and has devoted much of his time in recent years to his Kickstart program for children, using the martial arts to give children at risk a purpose and goal.

Some 80,000 have graduated the program, he said.

He's also a New York Times bestselling author of "Black Belt Patriotism."

Conference interviewer Bob Lepine of FamilyLife noted Norris never used a stunt double "except for crying scenes," and on Twitter he is followed by 92,000. "He follows no one."

Before the recent election, he released a video asking people to register to vote.

Among the reasons:

"You can always ignore my advice. The dinosaurs did."
"You have time right now. I know, because I'm standing right behind you."
"Because I said so"
"With one hand, I can crush coal into a diamond. With yours, you can protect your rights."

In 2008, when Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the GOP nomination for president, Norris endorsed him in an exclusive WND column. It was then that even the Internet bent to Norris' will.

At the time, Zeta Interactive reported the Norris endorsement of Huckabee caused a spike of 66 percent in Internet posts on Huckabee.

According to a report in DM News, a Haymarket Media Inc. project, the endorsement by Norris in his WND column caused a huge increase in conversations around the Huckabee campaign.

In the NRB interview, Norris again said Huckabee is the candidate for the GOP.

Norris has been writing his weekly column exclusively for WND since Oct. 23, 2006.

His career began, not in movies, television or in the world of Internet trivia. As part of his work with the martial arts, he taught celebrity students, including Steve McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, and Donnie and Marie Osmond.

He said he now is looking at working on a movie with an opening that "will blow your socks off."

WND also has reported Norris' image as a tough simply hasn't reached its zenith.

At Christmas a couple of years ago, a new video was released, topping the epic stunt of muscle man Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Belgian-born actor who was filmed doing the splits between two moving trucks.

Norris, whose list of movies continues to expand with his appearance in "Expendables 2," took the stunt to a whole new level.

In a video posted online by Delov Digital, a Hungarian animation company, Chuck Norris does the splits between the wings of two jets.

Flying jets.

Holding a human Christmas tree of nearly a dozen airborne comrades on his cowboy hat.

See Van Damme's stunt:

And how Delov, in an effort to wish "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," offered his own rendition:

Norris often has played down the idea that he's some sort of superhero, however.

"I've got a bulletin for you, folks. I am no superman," he said. "I realize that now, but I didn't always. As six-time world karate champion and then a movie star, I put too much trust in who I was, what I could do and what I acquired. I forgot how much I needed others and especially God. Whether we are famous or not, we all need God. We also need other people."