Tonight I’m thinking about my grandfather and the time he taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life.

Snow blanketed the fields around his farm and I longed to cover every inch of them with tracks.  Not just any kind of track, the best kind in the mind of a young boy…snowmobile tracks.

Sometime in the early afternoon, my grandfather went out to one of the old barns.  Looking back now, I’m sure he had a million other things he could have been doing.  But today, he chose to go the extra mile.

The snowmobile, a 1968 Sno-Jet inhabited a far corner of the barn.  For years, it sat there in the shadows waiting to float over a fresh blanket of snow.

My grandfather sprayed starting fluid in the carburetor and filled the tank with fresh gas.  Then he began to pull on the pull-chord.  Then he pulled again and again and again.

Hours later the old machine rumbled to life and I rode back and forth in the fields for hours and hours.

There are some things in life we never forget.  Especially glorious times when people take the time to love us. It’s these kinds of times that get us through the hard times.  Times when nothing seems to make much sense.  Times when we wonder if anyone really cares.  We all have treasured memories that stick with us for the rest of our lives.

God knows we need such times.  Years ago the apostle Matthew wrote, “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer.  On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38-42).

We have a modern saying that sums this up quite well, “Go the extra mile”.

We make it a lot more difficult than it really is, so Jesus lays it out clearly in his own words.

Although my grandfather never went beyond the sixth grade, he knew what Jesus meant.

While Jesus said to go the extra mile, people today disagree.  Left to our own ways, many of us have been taught that retaliation is the best option.

If someone knocks out your tooth or eye, we want their house and bank account.

If someone slaps us, we slap them back.

If someone sues us, we hire the best lawyer we can afford and fight back.

If someone forces us to go the extra mile, we insist on being compensated.

If someone asks for something from us, we question their motives.

If someone wants a loan, we insist on interest.

Jesus offers us a better option.  He commands us to love people.  Lavishly.  Whole heartedly.

He commands us to love, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes a strong impression on the people who do not know him yet.

In my own experience, rather than loving people like they’ve never been loved before, we want them to come to church and act like we do.

I’m not opposed to the church.  I pastor one and honestly believe it’s part of God’s design to love the world.  What I am saying is that based on my messes in the past, it’s really quite possible that I still make a mess from time to time when it comes to loving people the way God loves them.

That being said, it’s important to live the way Jesus commanded because it opens doors for people to experience God’s love.  When we go the extra mile, there’s a chance people will ask us why we do what we do.  Then we get to tell them.

In the words of a wise friend, we can’t win our enemies to Christ.  People aren’t impressed when we argue with them or berate and/or judge them.  They are however impressed when we show them how much we care.  As, it’s been said, they don’t care what we know until they know that we care.

So what are you doing to show people you care?  More importantly, what are you doing to show people that God cares?

• Remember, God expects you to go the extra mile.  So what is that going to look like?

Many years after my grandfather served me by getting the snowmobile running, I had a chance to return the favor.  I didn’t know it but it would be the last time I’d ever see him alive.

One August afternoon as I was leaving the farm, he said goodbye as he was walking away from my car.  Something didn’t seem right, so I put the car in park and followed him.  When I found him he was working on an old Farmall tractor in the shop.  I provided an extra set of hands as he worked on the tractor.

Eventually the tractor started and ran.  My grandfather wished me good luck with my job search at the time and I drove home.  A couple of days later we received the call that he had a heart attack and died.  That day I lost not only a grandfather but a dear friend and a hero.

We never regret making time for people and going the extra mile.  All of us can do that today, regardless of where we are and what we’re doing.  For some of us it may mean taking a few extra minutes to listen to a co-worker.  For some of us it may mean taking the next step in our personal spiritual journey.  The extra mile memories we make today impact not only us, but the people we love…forever!