I recently ordered the book Never: Jens Pulver and the Wednesday Group That Will Change the World off Amazon and for what two weeks to arrive to me, took me a lil over two hours to finish.
The book follows two stories that align and compliment each other. The first, being the subject matter and title of the book, Jens Pulver.
The book opens up giving horrible details of Jen's childhood. Jen's father was a horse jockey who constantly had to battle cutting weight and turned to alcohol, drugs, and abusing his family. When Jens was not getting hit, he had to witness the abuse to his mother and siblings. At a young age, Jens even thought his life would end as his father held a shotgun to him in a drunken rage.
The other story in the book that compliments Jens is about the author Timothy McKinnon who joined a small group in a gym every Wednesday that would first discuss Rick Warren's book, then evolved into bigger conversations. One of the founding members of that group was Pat Miletich, who runs the Miletich Camp in Iowa that has trained mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters like Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia, Jeremy Horn and Jens Pulver.
McKinnon jokes that he thought his group would change the world.... and part of him believed that.
Jens was told that many things would "Never" happen for him. Beginning with his father who told him he'd never amount to anything. Then critics in the MMA community who never thought he'd become a great fighter, not even the first Lightweight Champion in the UFC.
On the back of the book, Pat Miletich endorses it by saying he read it cover to cover. I would have to second that, as I did the same. I locked myself in my room and turned my phone on silent. The content of the mixed martial arts has my attention, but it is the way that McKinnon tells the story that keeps my attention.
It never ceases to amaze me that nothing is too hard for God. Jens lived thru an awful childhood, and became a better person out of it. God placed the right people in his life that believed in him and helped strengthen his own relationship with Christ.
http://www.neverthebook.com/
In my heart I found God
Through God I found strength
Through strength I conquered all
-Jens Pulver
