Phil, good application.  I think I did ok, wrestling the deaf guys from
that school.  I know I pinned one of them in the first period.  Did you
ever eat in their dining room?  Wow, talk about noise!

earlier, Phil Scovell, wrote:
>I know I have told this before but I have never forgotten it.  When I was
>about 13 years old, I joined our wrestling team.  I was never very good but
>my last season I won 20 and lost 10 and won a second place trophy.  One day,
>we were in practice and the coach was near my end of the mat.  When we broke
>up and quit for the day, I walked over to the coach and asked him a
>question.  "Coach, I'm not all that strong and I've wrestled several guys I
>just couldn't physically beat because of their strength.  What can I do?"  I
>figured he would tell me to start lifting weights.  Instead, he reminded me
>of one of the guys on our team who always took first place in state each
>year.  He pointed out that this guy was far from the strongest guy on the
>team.  Furthermore, he said, wrestle him and watch how he moves.  He wins,
>because he out smarts the other guy.  Furthermore, he told me, if all else
>fails, get mad.  He said that many of his matches when he was in school he
>never could have won, but he either out smarted the guy or just got flat out
>mad.  I thought it was lame advice for me but I worked out one day not long
>after this talk with the guy he said wasn't strong.  He was right.  The guy
>had no more strength than I did but man did he know what was happening
>between us as we moved around the mat.  One day, we were wrestling the Iowa
>school for the deaf.  Super strong guys.  Oh, man, they were strong guys.  I
>hated wrestling them every year because I always lost.  They drag my
>roommate off the mat and he is crying from the pain inflicted during his
>match due to the powerful strength of his opponent.  I was up next.  As I
>walked out on the mat to meet the other guy, I could hear my roommate crying
>in the background.  He was not very strong yet do to the accident that
>nearly killed him and that kept him in the hospital for many months.  I said
>to myself, Scov, if you don't build up some mad steam right now, this strong
>guerilla is going to break every bone in your body.  I got mad.  I got mad
>that my room mate was hurt.  I got mad because I hate wrestling these tough
>guys and always losing.  The ref introduced me to the deaf student by
>placing our hands together.  He gave hand signals at the same time the
>whistle blew.  He grabbed me with strength I never remember seeing before.
>His arms were like still bands around me.  We went down and stayed down;
>rolling around the mat and he was moaning and groaning like he was going to
>break me in half.  I was the fastest reverse switch wrestler on our team so
>I waited for the right second when his grip wasn't quite as strong and
>snapped the reverse switch on him and drove him into the mat.  My mind
>searched rapidly through everything I heard the coach say and teach and I
>wrapped my best hold on to the struggling body beneath me.  I knew I could
>never pin someone this strong but I could stay ahead of him if I didn't let
>him grab me and put the squeeze on me.  One thing was for sure.  I could, at
>no price, allow myself to be on the bottom.  Suddenly, I was on the bottom
>but I instantly snapped a power switch and was back on top.  The nice thing
>I like about the power switch was that it could be used by weaker guys to
>successfully force the other stronger guy down.  If he didn't fall forward
>while on his knees to the mat, his arm would snap.  I rode that kid like a
>wild bucking horse all over the mat.  He fought and kicked and I let my
>anger boil over and held on.  When it was finally over, I won by one point
>but the partially sighted team members of mine had to come out on the mat to
>get me.  Sweat rolled off my slick skin like a river.  My arms literally
>ached so bad, I could not pull my jersey back on over my head.  I tried to
>protest them putting it on but the coach told them to so I would not get the
>chills as I dried off.  My arms were aching clubs of useless rubber hanging
>from my aching shoulders and I fought back the tears from the pain.  But the
>coach had been right.  It worked.  I out smarted the guy who was stronger
>and a better wrestler overall and the extra strength I needed just to hold
>on to the guy came from being mad.  Now, we are told to be as harmless as
>doves and wise as serpents.  Holiness burns with heat, or should, in the
>life of every Believer.  Out smart the Enemy and get mad.  You will
>discover, he has no fight left in him when you oppose his lies in the name
>of the True Lord Jesus.
>
>Phil.

John

   The slower you work, the less mistakes you make !