Showing results by narrator "Jim Daly" in All Categories

Thomas Keneally has been observing, reflecting on and writing about Australia and the human condition for well over 50 years. In this deeply personal, passionately drawn and richly tuned collection, he now turns inwards to reflect on what has been important to him, drawing on a lifetime of engagement with the great issues of our recent history and his own moments of discovery and understanding.

On Wednesdays, Robert J. Hawke - Australia's 23rd and oldest living prime minister - has welcomed Derek Rielly into his home to share fine cigars and irreverent conversation. On a sun-soaked balcony, the maverick young writer and the charismatic old master talk life, death, love, sex, religion, politics, sport...and everything in between.

From the annals of the RSL come these riveting true stories, written by a host of ordinary Australians - Diggers, POWs, nurses, entertainers, sailors, airman and many more - that capture the impact of war on those who took part. With eyewitness accounts ranging from the Fall of Singapore to the Kokoda Track and from Europe to the Middle East, these stories bring the Australian experience of the Second World War to life with humour, pathos and vivid detail. 

An eerie clue to the Inca Prophecy lies hidden in a tomb near the ancient city of Machu Picchu. The prophecy itself is concealed deep in the Amazon jungle, amongst the ruins of Paititi, the Lost City of the Inca. Disaffected CIA agent Curtis O'Connor and Guatemalan archaeologist Dr Aleta Weizman are convinced a mysterious crystal skull, discovered near the Inca Trail, will lead them to it. Thousands of kilometres away, the Pope lies gravely ill in the Vatican and Cardinal Felici, a key contender for the Papacy, is anxious to return to Rome.

Australian swimmer Petria Thomas won the hearts of millions around the world with her triple gold-medal-winning triumph at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Having overcome the pain and anguish of three shoulder reconstructions and two ankle reconstructions over the length of her glittering 12-year career, Petria is admired and respected for her grit, determination, and steely will to win.

Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, is an expert in fatherhood - in part because his own 'fathers' failed him so badly. His biological dad was an alcoholic. His stepfather deserted him. His foster father accused Jim of trying to kill him. All were out of Jim's life by the time he turned 13. Isn't it odd - and reminiscent of the hand of God - that the director of the leading organization on family turned out to be a guy whose own background as a kid and son were pretty messed up?

.Deep in the Guatemalan jungle lies the Maya Codex, an ancient document containing a terrible warning for civilisation. Archaeologist Dr. Aleta Weizman is desperately searching for the codex, but powerful forces in Washington and Rome will do anything to stop her. When CIA agent Curtis O'Connor joins Aleta in her dangerous quest, he also becomes a target. Both Weizman and O'Connor know that the earth will align with a massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy on the winter solstice, December 2012 - just as the Mayans predicted.

The Pope's health is failing and the Cardinal Secretary of State, the ruthless Lorenzo Petroni, has the Keys to St. Peter within his grasp. Three things threaten to destroy him: Cardinal Giovanni Donelli has started an investigation into the Vatican Bank; journalist Tom Schweiker is looking into Petroni's past; and, even more dangerously, the brilliant Dr. Allegra Bassetti, one of the world's foremost authorities on archaeological DNA, is piecing together fragments of the Omega Scroll in war-torn Jerusalem.

The countdown has begun... The message on the Al-Jazeera television network is chilling. Dr Muhammad Bashir, the mastermind behind some of al-Qaeda's most deadly bombings against the West and a close confidant of Osama Bin Laden, has warned of a single horrific biological attack on civilization. There is no cure for what al-Qaeda threatens to unleash, and there are no vaccines.

Instead, Jim Daly, President and CEO of Focus on the Family managed to rise above his harrowing childhood that began in the Compton suburb of Los Angeles. In this deeply personal memoir, he relives horrors no child should endure. A bloodcurdling neighborhood murder merely serves as the backdrop to the abuse and alcoholism within the four walls of his own home, a cycle broken only by the cancer that leaves him motherless.

Operation Cordelia is an espionage-comedy told through “found audio” (news reports, tapped phone calls, bugged offices, and people secretly wearing wires) about one neurotic CIA agent’s attempt to stop a mass terror attack in 1970s Berlin.

Big John Spada is a self-made millionaire. From his headquarters in New York, he directs enterprises around the world with military precision. Privately, Spada also funds Proteus, a clandestine movement that works to free political prisoners and combat tyrants wherever they may be. Then news arrives from Argentina that the Buenos Aires secret police have arrested Spada’s daughter, Teresa, a Doctor, after she performed emergency surgery on a man with gunshot wounds. They then take her husband, Rodolfo, whose outspoken editorials have angered the country’s fascist government. 

Written by Jim Daly, the compassionate leader of Focus on the Family, ReFocus inspires and motivates Christians to transcend political agendas and partisan battles and instead interact with others in a way that will consistently reveal the heart of God to a desperately hurting world. Our culture has become painfully polarized, often hindering relationships with neighbors, colleagues, and the very people who need to discover the love of Jesus Christ.

In Stronger, Jim weaves together compelling stories and life principles with his trademark warmth and familiarity. Devoid of formulas but filled with biblical insights, Jim treats us to a feast of self-effacing, yet uplifting stories both about himself and about many others he has worked with through Focus on the Family. Jim talks about the most formidable and powerful strength - the kind that endures and hopes even when all seems hopeless.

Everyone has those difficult blank moments sometimes. Whether in your personal life, career or relationship or in a public situation, writer's block, social anxiety, imposter syndrome, being off-form or having an identity crisis can affect anyone at any time. It's part of the human condition, and yet it can throw us off course and make us feel helpless. Giles Paley-Phillips and Jim Daly host an informal, insightful podcast in which they chat to well-known people from comedy, acting, writing, broadcasting, politics and sports about their careers and how they get through these moments.