The Second Mile
She called me on Friday. I was actually already on my way home for the weekend. It’s the end of the week, everybody has put in a hard five days, and everyone just wants to take it easy. It is time for a Sabbath. God made us to work, but He also instituted Sabbath because we can easily get burned out.
She tells me that they have a family in need and asks what we can do to help out. I can tell it is pretty urgent by the tone in her voice. I let her know that House of the Harvest will be open the next morning and ask her if it can wait. She says she will have her principal call me in the morning.
And if that isn’t enough, on Saturday, the school’s principal calls me. She goes over to the family’s house, picks up the mother and brings her out to get what she needs. And basically, what I want to say is, that deserves a tremendous applause. I know she didn’t do it to make a scene. I know she wasn’t seeking an applause. I know for those two school administrators it really is only about helping that family through a hard time.
It would have been pretty easy for her to just tell that mother about our services, maybe even send her a piece of paper with my contact information, or details about where and when to arrive. And, I have to say, as a school administrator, that probably would have been the route I chose, especially on a Friday afternoon. But that wasn’t sufficient for today and not for this situation. Not this time.
There is just something different about standing in the house, listening to the children, and seeing the empty pantry that connects your heart to the situation. These are real people. This is real life for them. And that voice you hear is a real cry for help. And as a leader, the only thing I can think about, is that these people are mine. They are ours. They belong to Him...and He has called us to lead them on every level...spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Jesus said, “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” He said that in reference to Jews being forced to carry the equipment of their enemy Roman soldiers. Roman law required it. If a soldier demanded you carry his things, Roman law said you had to for one mile. Jesus said, “Go ahead and go two.” What would He say to that mother of two in desperate need of food for her hungry children?
We live in a world where we are inclined to think more about where people have been, not where they are now and how we can help them grow. A world where people are more concerned about credit than they are about community. A world where leadership is becoming more and more about status than it is about responsibility. A world that teaches us to ask questions before we open our hearts. Isn’t it ironic that the greatest leader of all time was strikingly opposite to the way our society operates?
On Friday, one school sent an administrator and counselor to pick up food for several families in need in their community. Early Saturday morning, those two came back to volunteer their time. And then this school principal spends her Saturday morning going the second mile to meet the most basic need of one of her families.
To me, that is inspiring. That is leading. That is following the greatest example of all time. Our society may never applaud that, but it is being applauded somewhere...where people go the second mile.
“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Mt. 5:41