“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Mt. 5:41
If you’re familiar with the expression “going the extra mile,” then you know it pertains to how some people will go the extra distance to help someone whereas others will not. It’s not about the actual distance, whether it’s one mile or many, a few steps across the room or all the way across the world. It’s simply about going beyond the ordinary, beyond the usual, beyond the normal, beyond what’s easy, comfortable, and about pleasing self, and is instead about love and sacrifice and giving, and is about going the distance, for others. One day in a roundabout way, in a way that could only have been orchestrated by the Lord, I met a cab driver who didn’t want to go the extra mile. But oh, how beautiful and inspiring is what the Lord did in the midst of it all!
I noticed a disabled man standing on a New York City street corner who looked like walking with his cane would be enormously challenging, particularly in the summer heat, and there wasn’t a taxi cab anywhere in sight. I asked if he needed help, and he agreed to let me walk a block or so without him to get him a cab. I hurried down the street, found a cab, and asked the driver to roll down his window. I then told the driver I didn’t need a cab, but could he please drive a block or so out of his way and pick up the disabled man if he was still there. The cab driver immediately looked dismayed, disinterested, even a bit disgruntled, and like he was headed right toward saying, “no way”! But instead, he somewhat reluctantly agreed to go see if the disabled man was still there.
I hurried down the street as he drove away to see what would happen. Sure enough, the man was still there. I helped him a little into the cab, then handed the cab driver and the man my Gospel tract. By that time, the driver’s face was filled with JOY! He was utterly delighted that he had been able to help the man in need, and he was just as glad to see I had handed him a tract. Why? He reached out his hand and handed me several Gospel tracts for me to take with me! We were brother and sister in the Lord, fellow Christ followers whom the Lord had brought together to help a man in need and to both be reminded that sometimes we are asked to go out of our way to help someone in need. To go the extra distance. To go the extra mile. And for those of us who follow Jesus as Lord, when His Spirit is leading the way, no matter what we actually feel like doing, and no matter the sacrifice involved, when it’s God leading us, the answer should always be – YES!
Only the Lord could have brought together this meeting – and message, don’t you think?