Against All Odds: My Story (33 page)

Just as we began to relax and breathe easier, we noticed that our fourteen-year-old, Tim, the youngest of Gena's children, was jealous of the attention we showered on our newborns. Tim wanted nothing to do with the twins. Kelley, on the other hand, was instantly affectionate with her new siblings. Often Kelley chided Tim, “How can you not love these babies?”

Tim grunted and walked away from her.

The turning point came when the twins were about six months old. Tim walked by their cribs one day and saw Dakota reaching up for him. Tim was unable to resist. He picked up Dakota and cradled him in his arms. Today Tim is enjoying his role as big brother.

Kelley and Danilee are inseparable. At the end of Kelley's high school basketball and baseball games, she carried Danilee in her arms as she high-fived the opposing team.

Unfortunately, Kelley didn't show the same affection toward me. For almost six years, when I would hug Kelley, she would not reciprocate. All I could do was hope and pray that one day she would love me as much as I love her.

After many of Kelley's games, I would stand back while Gena hugged her. I didn't want to presume upon a special mother-daughter moment, and I didn't want to overstep my bounds as Kelly's stepdad.

I had an important meeting the day of Kelley's basketball championship, so Gena planned to fly up to the game without me. But something inside of me said,
This is important.
At the last minute I canceled my appointment and flew to California with Gena. I knew it was Kelley's last game, and I didn't want to miss it.

Kelley's team lost by four points, and Kelley was crying from the disappointment, as well as the realization that her high school sports days were over. Gena was hugging her, and as usual, I stood back. Suddenly Kelley let go of Gena and put her arms around me, laying her head on my shoulder, crying. I consoled her by telling her what a great game she had played, but my heart was leaping with joy. This beautiful young lady had finally accepted me as her stepfather!

Thanks to God's grace, Danilee and Dakota have become the glue that binds our two families together. We now have a wonderfully blended family. In fact, my eldest son, Mike, often calls Gena whenever he needs advice. And my grandchildren affectionately refer to Gena as “G-ma,” which Gena thinks is wonderful.

CHAPTER 27

SPIRITUAL SURPRISES

F
unny, for years I simply went about my business, going through life, doing my own thing, almost unaware of God's presence in my life or his workings in the lives of my friends. Now that I've traveled a few more miles in my spiritual journey, I'm able to recognize the hand of God in ways I never have before. Amazingly, he has been there all the time, working all around me. I just didn't know it. Sometimes, I've simply had to step back and say, “Whew! I didn't know that God could do such awesome things nowadays, but apparently he can!”

For instance, Ken Gallacher, a close friend and a man of great faith, drove with his family from their home in Las Vegas to Disneyland in Anaheim. Toward evening, after spending a fun day at the park, the family piled into their van and headed for home. They had barely gotten under way when their vehicle malfunctioned on the highway, and they were forced to pull over to the freeway's inside emergency lane. Ken got out of the van, walked around to the front, and opened the hood to see if he could tell what was wrong.

Just then, a drunk driver hit the Gallacher vehicle from behind at a speed of more than seventy-five miles per hour! The van was knocked nearly sixty feet up the highway by the force of the impact, spinning around two and a half times. Fortunately, the family members all were wearing seatbelts. They were badly shaken up from the jolt but were basically OK.

Ken, however, was hit by his own vehicle, the impact catapulting him more than two hundred feet in the air. He literally flew across the freeway into oncoming traffic. A driver approaching from the opposite direction saw the accident happening, slammed on his brakes, swerving his car sideways in front of oncoming traffic. Ken slammed onto the road in front of the stopped car. As awful as that was, at least it kept Ken from being run over by the oncoming traffic in the dark.

Ken was rushed to the hospital, the family fearing the worst. He had suffered severe injuries to his face and head, had three broken ribs, a broken elbow, torn ligaments in both knees, and internal damage to his heart, lungs, stomach, and liver. By the time I arrived at the hospital to be with our friends, Ken's condition was even worse. But a lot of people were praying for Ken, and three days later he miraculously walked out of the hospital under his own power. He had a long road of recovery ahead, but he was alive!

Over the next several months, thousands of dollars of medical bills rolled in, but Ken noticed that he still had not received a bill from one particular doctor. He called the doctor's office to set up a payment agreement, and said, “Doc, I've never received a bill from you for your services the night of my accident.”

The doctor replied, “Ken, I cannot bill you for what God did. We literally saw you healed in front of our eyes.”

I believe in a God who can do extraordinary things such as that!

I'm still as amazed as anybody when God uses my life to impact someone else in a special way. I've made plenty of mistakes in my life, and I sure don't claim to know all the answers. That's why I was surprised when Pastor T. D. Jakes invited me to speak at The Potter's House, a large church in the Dallas area. The church was packed that night. I was extremely nervous but determined to do my best. Members of the Power Team, a group of Christian bodybuilders, did a tremendous demonstration prior to my presentation. The crowd was really pumped by the time I got up to speak.

Although I attend a lot of celebrity events, I'm not really known as a spontaneous, extemporaneous public speaker. If I have to give a talk, I like to prepare well in advance, thinking through everything and knowing exactly what I plan to say. That's what I did for my presentation that night at The Potter's House too.

The Potter's House congregation is predominantly African-American, and as I stepped up to the podium, the crowd gave me such an enthusiastic welcome, I was momentarily unnerved. Talk about an alive church!

I regained my composure and launched easily into my prepared remarks. Meanwhile, the Power Team sat behind me, praying for me and urging me on. Suddenly something came over me that I now understand to be the power of the Holy Spirit, but at the time I was as befuddled as anyone else. My meticulously planned speech suddenly changed; it just went out the window. I started saying all sorts of things I had never before said to any group, talking about the power of God to change a life. I felt an incredible freedom, and I simply flowed with it.

Behind me I could hear the guys from the Power Team shouting encouragement, “Tell it, Chuck! Tell 'em!”

When I came off the platform, Gena hugged me and said, “Honey, I'm so proud of you!”

“For what? What did I do? I can't remember a thing I said!”

In 1999, Gena and I attended a marriage seminar in Dallas, conducted by Dr. Ed Cole and his wife, Nancy. We had met the Coles briefly at the 1998 Epiphany Awards, at which
Walker, Texas Ranger
had been honored as the Best Christian Program on secular television. In his late seventies, Ed was still a well-known men's conference speaker and a prolific author, including the best-selling book,
Maximized Manhood.
Nancy's health had been failing for some time, yet she remained a stalwart part of Ed's ministry, radiating love and joy to the young couples who attended the seminar. Gena and I were on the older end of the age spectrum of those in attendance, and we had a good marriage, but like a fine automobile that needs an occasional tune-up, even the best marriages can benefit from a fresh look under the hood. Perhaps
because
of our age, we thoroughly enjoyed Ed Cole's seminar and down-to-earth, practical wisdom as much as the young couples.

Before the seminar's conclusion, Nancy's energy level had dropped severely, and she had to go into a back room to lie down. As we were leaving, Dr. Cole said to us, “Nancy would like to say good-bye to you if you have time before you go.”

We went into the room and found Nancy lying on a couch, covered with a sweater. I bent down to greet her, and she leaned up to kiss me on the cheek when Gena and I entered. When she did, she noticed that Gena was cold. “Honey, you're so cold,” Nancy said. “Here, take my sweater and put it on.” We were awed at Nancy's selfless love; there she was, exhausted and chilled, at the very ebb tide of life, and she was still thinking of others. What a woman! That was the last time we ever saw Nancy.

Not long after the seminar, she passed away. We were sad for Ed and shared in his grief, but we all knew that Nancy was in a better place, in the eternal care of our God.

Although we had conversed with Ed and Nancy at the seminar, we really didn't know them. Nor did they know anything about our personal lives. That's probably why we were surprised one rainy day, a few months after Nancy's funeral, when we received a telephone call from Ed Cole at our office, asking if he could come over to meet with us.

I was in the middle of a script meeting, so I wasn't too excited about having an unexpected visit just then. But Gena felt it was important that we see Dr. Cole. “If he wants to drive all the way across town in the rain, there must be a good reason,” she said.

Gena and I were accustomed to receiving many requests for our time, charitable contributions, or lending our name to someone's good cause. Wanting to remain open to opportunities as they arise, it's sometimes difficult to know which needs are legitimate and which are simply rip-offs trying to use us for selfish reasons. We've learned that the only two fail-safe methods for discerning the validity of these requests are time and prayer. Taking time to pray through a request is not easy, though, since it drains one of our most precious commodities—time. Maybe that's why we've also developed a healthy skepticism.