The
view from my corner |
Hi Friends,
Well, here I am today with my leg up on the table next to
my computer, recovering from surgery to my knee. This is the
second knee I've had operated on, and I've only got the two,
so I'm hoping that this will be the last operation for some time.
Yes, it is a kickboxing injury. This particular one came courtesy
of my friend Zac Taumafi, whom I sparred with on our June 14
show earlier this year. It was just a single kick to the inside
of my left knee, and I've probably been hit there a thousand
times, but then one hits you in just the wrong spot at just the
wrong angle ...
Anyway, I'm certainly not holding it against Zac. Not only
is he a mate, but he's looking to help us out with building the
gym down at Binacrombi, and a bung leg is a small price to pay
if it cements the relationship.
In other news, we had our last Fight Night on October
10th and, despite the fact that it turned out to be on the same
night as the opening match of the Rugby World Cup, it still turned
out well. We had a decent number of people, raised a decent amount
of money for our Youth Centre (a couple of thousand) and the
venue was terrific (thank you Petersham RSL).
And as an extra bonus, two out of three of the boys fighting
for our club won this time! In fact, our boy Jay Johnson scored
a knockout 10 seconds into the second round. It was a big morale
boost for our club.
This new month begins with a big concert from our community
choir (the 'Jubilate Singers') who perform Faure's Requiem
this Saturday night (November 1st) in the church building. It
should be a big night and all proceeds go to the church. If you're
free and you're in the area, do yourself a favour and come along.
This month too our new Binacrombi on-site managers move in!
Please pray for Chris and Roz and for their two young ones, Tamara
and Baden, as they make this enormous adjustment.
Thanks for all your prayers. Please continue to uphold before
God our church, our campsite, my fight club and my family.
We're still in need of a few miracles.
Yours in the Good Fight,

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What's
new on the site |
Thanks be to God. I believe that the publicity that has been
given to all the material about 'Strategic Management Works'
on the site has had a good effect.
During September www.fatherdave.org
recorded 296,220 hits, and most of them were reading up on SMW.
As a result, I'm told that about a dozen people have now had
their money refunded! This is good news, as some of these people
seem to have been truly financially ruined through their dealings
with SMW.
Even more importantly, it seems that our government is now
moving to investigate the operations of 'get-rich-quick'
schemes across the country. There was, at any rate, a motion
to that effect recently carried in NSW Parliament. This web site
even received a mention in the Parliamentary debate! Most encouraging.
I've added more SMW 'testimonials' to the site as they have
come in, but I'm conscious of the fact that external pressure
is growing to have much of this material removed. I'll keep it
all up for as long as I can. I've also uploaded both a graphical
and a text version of the Sydney Morning Herald article
from September 13, in case you missed it. I've also uploaded
copies of the Parliamentary Hansard transcript of the
above-mentioned motion. Links to all this material can be found
on the SMW 'rave page'. Click here.
The other recent event of great personal significance for
me is that Morde Vanunu just celebrated the 17th anniversary
of his kidnapping and imprisonment. In case you've forgotten,
Morde Vanunu was the Israeli nuclear technician who told the
world about the Israeli nuclear armaments stockpile. For proclaiming
the truth he was hit over the head and drugged by the Israeli
secret police, secretly shipped from Italy back to Israel in
the bottom of a cargo ship, and then put on trial for treason
and espionage. In 1987 Morde was sentenced to 18 years for his
'crimes'. He spent the first eleven and a half of these
years in solitary confinement - the longest prisoner in solitary
confinement on record.
On the anniversary of Morde's kidnapping, I wrote a bit of
a 'rave' about my friend Morde. Click here to go there now. I've also put the 'Letters from Solitary' book on sale in the
shop, with half the proceeds going to the 'Free Vanunu Fund'.
Click here if you'd like to purchase a copy.
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Computer
Tip #12 - A last plug for Corners |
If you're on my mailing list, you're probably getting sick to
death of my rabbitting on about this program, but please excuse
me while I give it one last plug here.
Corners is your PC's Cornerman, and if you haven't
heard me explain it in detail let, please click this link to go to the sales page.
What, you might ask, is my favourite aspect of Corners?
The answer is 'the ability to customise the Greatis Super Menu,
so that my most commonly used programs are always readily accessible'.
Like most of you, I suspect, I have about 100 programs installed
on my PC. I use about a dozen of them regularly. I have shortcuts
to my two most commonly used programs (Outlook and
Word) on the Windows 'quick launch' bar that lives
near the 'Start' button. But what about the other 10 programs?
The obvious answer is to set them up as shortcuts on my desktop,
but the truth is that I've always got the desktop cluttered up
with windows when I want to access one of these programs, and
when I do minimise all the windows, I regularly have to search
for a while to remember where I placed that shortcut.
Corners solves the problem every time for me. If I
want to open my 'Password Protector' database, as I do
about every five mintues when I'm web surfing, I just move my
cursor into the top-left corner of my screen, scroll down the
Greatis Super Menu to Internet and open the program.
Likewise if I want to capture a screen image, I move the cursor,
open the menu, and move to Accessories to open 'Dave's
Screen-shot Image maker'. Likewise, if I need to open a Windows
Control Panel applet (eg. 'sound and audio control'),
I move the cursor, scroll to Control Panel and scroll
down the list to open the applet - so much easier than the traditional
Windows method.
If you need help configuring your 'Super Menu', just ask me.
If you have't downloaded your free trial version of Corners,
click here to grab it now. To read more about Corners,
click here. |
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Sermon
of the month |
This month's sermon is a reflection on Chapter
28 of the book of Job.
One thing I've found in Christian ministry is
that while some people might have quite a cynical view of the
Bible as a whole (and of the teachings of St Paul in particular),
everyone seems to have respect for the Old Testament book of
Job.
Even those outside of the church altogether seem
to accept that there is wisdom to be found in this ancient book.
And I suspect that, despite it's length of 42 chapters, Job is
one of the most widely read Old Testament book amongst regular
church attenders!
What makes Job such a popular and respected book?
The fact that it
deals with the question of the suffering of the innocent - a
problem that has perplexed people of faith since time immemorial.
Why do the innocent suffer? If you'd like
to take some time to think through this question with me again
now, click here . |
Fight
Tip No.12
Choose the right cornerman |
If you've read my sermon entitled, "The
most import- ant things I learnt in life I learnt in the boxing
ring" then you might recognise this as the crowning
point of my homily. Yes, in the ring as in all of life, having
the right guy in the corner is all important.
I remember as a young kickboxer, reading the autobiography
of Jean-Yves Theriault (one of the greatest kick-fighters of
all time). He devoted a whole chapter to the subject. I thought
'why is this so important? Isn't it just like finding the
right mechanic for your car? There are lots of good mechanics
out there. Surely you just find one who is honest?'
I've probably still got a fair bit to learn about
mechanics and cars, but when it comes to ring mechanics, I learnt
my lesson early on.
Never underestimate the importance of the man
in your corner. He is a guy you have to build a relationship
with. He is someone who has to know the fight game and, more
importantly, has to know your fight game.
A good cornerman will read the fight far better
than the man in the middle. He'll see the other guys weaknesses
when you can't see them, and he'll see the misktakes you're making
when you're blind to them.
I had my friend Kon Pappy work my corner for all
of my fights. Even now, when I do an exhibition fight, I won't
enter the ring if Kon's not there in the corner.
As a fighter, he knows me better than I know myself.
And the most significant fight I lost was when I didn't listen
to him (vs. Michael
Dwyer, August 1996) .
Kon told me to kick for the inside-leg when in
the clinch. I thought I knew better and was determined to drop
the guy with my left hook. I got it wrong. OK, I might well have
lost anyway but that's not the point. The point is that I failed
to perform at my best because I failed to listen to the man in
my corner.
I won't labour the spiritual analogy but it should
be clear enough. As Kon is to the ring, so is the Lord Jesus
my cornerman in life. I can't include a picture of me with my
divine cornerman below, so you've got a picture of me with Kon
instead.

click
for an enlargement |
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