Some people are content living small lives, pursuing small goals. Not Daniel Dibley. He's living large and aiming high. The 17-year old Australian High School student needed a date for the school dance so he invited Miss Universe of 2004, Miss Jennifer Hawkins.

When the publicity surrounding their date got out of hand, Miss Hawkins had a change of mind and begged off from going to the dance, opting for a private lunch instead.

—http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1421982006 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

1 Chronicles 4:10 (HCSB) "Jabez called out to the God of Israel: 'If only You would bless me, extend my border, let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not cause any pain.' And God granted his request."

Do you ever feel like you are just going in circles? Turns out you may be normal. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics studied people trying to walk a straight line in the desert and the forest. They discovered that people walk in circles. The study was published in the August 20, 2009 issue of Current Biology.

According to the study using Global Positioning Software, the myth that people who try to walk a straight line find themselves going in circles is actually true. Jan Souman, the lead researcher said “studies of nine people walking in the desert and in a forest found that all tended to go in circles and/or veer from a straight line if there was nothing to guide their way.”

In the desert, Souman said two people were told to walk a straight line during the day. While neither managed to go in a complete circle, they both veered off from walking a straight line. The third walked at night, by the light of the full moon, but when it was obscured by clouds he made several turns, ending up in the direction he came.

In another test, six students were taken to a large but flat forest and told to walk a straight line. Four of them walked under a cloudy sky with the sun hidden from view by the trees and clouds. They all ended up walking in circles despite thinking they were going straight.

All nine walkers were tracked with GPS and their routes—straight, circuitous or otherwise—were digitally mapped.

Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The key to walking a straight line is to have a definitive goal. If you are not heading in a particular direction toward a specific goal, you will likely walk in circles.

Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB) “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

A Ninety-five-year old man recently discovered that despite living in the United States nearly all of his life, and serving in the U.S. Navy, he is not considered a citizen. Leeland Davidson was born in British Columbia in 1916, and though his parents were U.S. citizens, they did not register his birth with the United States government to ensure they knew he was a citizen. Davidson discovered the mistake when he was turned down for an enhanced driver’s license he needed to travel to Canada to see friends and family.

Davidson checked on his citizenship before the joining the Navy, and was told he had nothing to worry about. Now he is being told he should not pursue that matter because it could result in the loss of his Social Security benefits, and maybe even deportation. To complicate matters, Davidson’s parents were born before 1880 before many local governments started keeping records of birth certificates. Davidson has enlisted the help of one of his Senators to help with the paperwork. He says the matter is bigger than seeing relatives in Canada. He adds, “I want it squared away before I die.”

WWII vet discovers he’s not a U.S. citizen, March 24, 2011, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Hebrews 11:15-16 (CEV) (15) If they had been talking about the land where they had once lived, they could have gone back at any time. (16) But they were looking forward to a better home in heaven. That's why God wasn't ashamed for them to call him their God. He even built a city for them.

“A South Carolina man has fulfilled his long-held ambition of catching a fish while sitting on his couch. Jason Schall, 38, ran a fishing line from his living room to the lake outside while watching a college football game. Fishing buddy Jason Bennett said Schall ‘wasn’t on the couch three minutes’ before the line went taut. Schall then reeled in a large redfish. ‘My life’s work is done,’ said Schall.”

Hopefully Schall was joking when he said that was his life’s ambition, but how many of the things we pursue wholeheartedly are just as empty?--Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (HCSB) “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia said, “It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."—Jim L. Wilson and Rondall Leggett

“Benjamin E. Mays National Memorial: Word of Wisdom,” https://www.morehouse.edu/about/chapel/mays_wisdom.html

Philippians 3:14 (NASB77) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In their book, No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer write, “In white-water kayaking they teach you to look at the clear, safe water next to the dangerous hole you want to avoid. Experts have found that if you stare at what you are desperate to avoid, you are actually more likely to paddle into it.”

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.