The word smart is used a lot today in technology.  Some new smartphones were just developed by Apple.  Competitors are claiming that their phones are smarter.

There are now smartshoes that will hit the market this month.  It might be the newest thing in technology.  An Indian company, Ducere Technologies, has developed this wireless-enabled shoe called the Lechal.

These new smartshoes will help get you to where you want to be.  It is based on Bluetooth technology that syncs with a smartphone app.  These smartshoes then use Google Maps to vibrate and “tell users when and where to turn to reach their destination.” The shoes not only vibrate to tell you how to get where you need to be, but also record distance traveled and calories burned.

These were originally developed as a useful tool for the blind.  The word lechal literally means “take me along” in Hindi.  Of course it didn’t take long for people to see a tremendous market for people who are sighted.

We all need direction.  The GPS system was developed to give directions, but it is not always accurate.  Sometimes a GPS can be wrong.  Elizabeth Dernbach was working at her coffee shop on the harbor in Alaska.  She looked out one day and saw a car in the water.  It was sinking.  She persuaded someone to dive in, smash the window, and help the driver escape.

The man in the sinking car was using his GPS to get to his destination.  He was driving his car off the ferry.  The GPS led him to make a right turn.  Unfortunately that turn led him into the water!

Where do you get your directions?  Do we listen to what other people say?  Do we try to read some book on an issue?  Do we listen to television?  Do we use our “common sense”?  Do we rely on our conscience?  We all need help when it comes to receiving directions.  We need to be sure that what we are following is correct.

There is a grave epitaph in Indiana which reads:

“Stranger when you pass me by, as you are now, so once was I.                                  As I am so you will be. So prepare for death and follow me.”

A passerby read these words and underneath responded:

“To follow you I’ll not consent, until I know which way you went.                                       Was it assent or descent?”

Each of us needs to follow rather than make our own decisions about what to do.  It is imperative that we pick someone and something that is always right.  The best smartshoes are to turn to the Bible and to put our feet in the footprints of Jesus, who said, “Follow Me.”

There is a beautiful picture of a father who is walking across a field of freshly fallen snow.  He is leaving footprints behind.  His son is carefully putting his foot in each of the footprints in the snow left by his father.  That is a good picture.  Now that boy has on some really smartshoes.  He is following his father.

The best smartshoes are when we follow our Heavenly Father.  His smartshoes are for the blind and for people who have 20/20 vision.

God’s smartshoes will get you where He wants you to be!