An Inconvenient Map App
The following is from an article I once found
on Forbes.com:
Embarrassing defects in Apple‘s new Maps app may
be inconvenient
for some, but for others in Australia they could
be deadly.
Police in the city of Mildura, Victoria are
warning motorists to be careful when using the iOS 6 service in the area,
because the app incorrectly lists Mildura as being in the middle of Murray
Sunset National Park. The flaw has
consequently lead several motorists to become stranded in the Australian
Outback.
Sunset National Park is not a typical park
with barbecue cookouts and babbling brooks, but more than 3,000 square
miles of Australian bush that contains poisonous snakes and insects, has very
little water or mobile reception, and has recently seen temperatures of
115 degrees Fahrenheit.
It’s also about 43 miles away from the real
Mildura. Google Maps
shows Mildura as being to the northwest of
the park.
This is a “potentially life-threatening
issue,” Victoria
Police say. Officers have found some motorists were
stranded for as long as 24 hours with no food or water, and were forced to walk
for long distances through “dangerous terrain” with virtually no shade to
get phone reception.
Inspector Simon Clemmence of Victoria Police
says six vehicles have so far contacted the police asking for help because the
app sent them off course, and officers are worried because Australia is now
entering its summer season. Last week temperatures in the park reached 112
degrees Fahrenheit.
Among the stranded was one man who drove so
far into the park he was forced to walk for 24 hours to get into mobile phone
range. Fortunately temperatures were not
at their highs on that day, but had they been “there’s a fair chance he may not
have made it,” says Clemmence.
What an appropriate
illustration for depicting the error of following the world’s directions! Unfortunately, those who follow the world’s directions will end up in a much hotter place
than Mildura, Australia (see Mark 9:43-48).
Jesus warned, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go
in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to
life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Everyone needs directions to access the way that leads to life.
Jeremiah said, “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who
walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Twice in Proverbs, we find
this warning: “There is a way which seems
right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (14:12; 16:25).
But God loves us so much that He provided the way that leads to life.
That
way is through Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior (John 14:6). Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for
our sins and to open a “new and living way” to heaven through His redeeming
blood (Hebrews 10:19-21).
Bob Williams
Comments
Post a Comment