In my younger days I learned the value and importance of setting goals. For a goal to be valid it must be specific and not general, and it must have a time limit, as this creates a sense of urgency. However, there is another element that I did not learn until later in life, and that is to ask God for His help and to bless it. I would often set goals that I did not reach, and I came to realize that His timetable was better than mine. Granted, over the past 50 years no one has given me a weekly paycheck, other than the ones I wrote to myself. As I have stated before, during this time I have worked with our schools as a business consultant, began a daily radio program, started a weekly newspaper column, founded a bookcase literacy project, and have now set the largest goal in my entire life.

Thanks to my good friend Judge Jim Baker, I have set a goal to use my new book “Your Future Begins Today” to change the culture in our country. I want to see our nation safe again with very little crime, to improve our schools to where our nation again leads the world in test scores, to have parents read to their children, and to restore discipline in the home. As I have said in another column, there are more than 100 million Americans who feel the same way and are willing to get involved.

I believe my book, which has now been made into a character education course, should be taught in all American schools. Every home where children are being reared should have a copy, all jails and prisons across the nation should teach the concepts in my book, and each inmate should be given a copy as an expression of well wishes when they are released. After setting these goals, it is so exciting to see God at work. One teacher in our local schools is using it in the classroom, and Guy-Perkins school in Arkansas is “Carrying Our Flag” and using this book in their curriculum. Profits from the sale of this book will be used by Kiwanis Clubs to begin Bookcase for Every Child literacy projects.

And here is one goal that only God could bring about. In 25 years, no one else has ever written a column for me, but that changed when my wife Janis wanted to write one. She included my e-mail address and asked my readers to drop me a note and share which of my columns was special to them. Well, I got an e-mail from Jim Teeter, who retired from the Arkansas Hospital Association and is a friend I had not seen in years. He had terrific things to say about my book after I sent him a copy. He gave me the phone number for his brother Joe, who retired from the Arkansas State Department of Education and was one of my best friends. Joe now also has a book and will be very helpful in the days to come.

I also got an e-mail from Kay Gannon who lives in Bozeman, Mont., and reads my column in the Wibaux Pioneer Gazette. She was a teacher and school administrator for 43 years, mostly at the elementary level. I had just mailed a copy of the book to every Governor in our country. Kay is also writing the Governor of Montana on our behalf. Yes, God is really at work and it’s fun to watch Him.

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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states. For a personalized copy of “Your Future Begins Today” send $20, which includes postage and handling, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)