You may have missed the short AP report in the papers about a month ago: "Police track prints; catch office burglars." A pair of Fort Smith boys snagged about $3,000 worth of computers and equipment from city offices and the footprints they left led police directly to them.

"Footprints left by the burglars came from shoes popular with skateboarders," the March 5 article in The Benton Courier stated. "Officers discovered that only one store in Fort Smith sold the shoes, and the shoe with the unique tread was sold to only a handful of customers."

Police were able to narrow that list of unique skateboard shoe wearers to two young men, whom they arrested in a restaurant at the local mall (incidentally, it was the mall I visited many times with friends when I was in the sixth grade. We would head for the Madcats music store to buy the latest single released by the Bay City Rollers or Olivia Newton-John, and flip through Tiger Beat Magazine while chomping on wads of that gum that had candy juice in the middle.)

But back to the burglars. Their incident made the lyrics of a preschool Sunday school song pop into my mind: "Be careful little feet, where you walk."

As an organizationally challenged mom who is living in what could conservatively be called the schizophrenic years of parenting (raising two teens and a kindergartner), my "little feet" have countless opportunities to walk into situations that could get me into big trouble. Oh, I may not rob an office like those skateboarding criminals did, but I can sure steal the spotlight when it’s supposed to be shining heavenward. I may not destroy someone’s property, but I can easily destroy someone’s reputation by joining in a session of gossip. I might not harm someone with a gun or a knife, but I can easily choose to use words that can be just as dangerous. Yes, I am in a position to commit some heavy-duty crimes indeed.

I just hope I never forget that, like the treads on the thieves’ shoes identified the boys as skateboarders, the shoes I wear sport unique treads that tell the world I’m a Christian. I pray God will "direct my footsteps according to his word" (Ps. 119:133) so I won’t have to worry about the trail of footprints I leave behind getting me into trouble or, worse, giving my fellow Christians some bad PR.