Next Services 100 Miles

This is a story about a road sign and a trunk load of evidence. How do you get rid of a bunch of evidence that you can’t throw in a dumpster? Burn it at a power generation plant that converts trash into electricity. It’s that simple. The catch is it requires two people to spend most of a day driving to the central valley of California where the plant operates off of Interstate 5 at the Crows Landing exit.

The facility is enormous with semi and garbage trucks dumping everything from trash to loads of expired candy, unsold furniture sets and anything that can burn. A huge crane grabs all this stuff and drops it into a hopper ten yards by ten yards wide that feeds into a furnace. The stuff burns, the heat turns turbines and electricity is pushed out onto the grid. We lugged our evidence to the side of the hopper, dropped it over and watched it slide into the pit of fire. 

We finished up and headed back to the police department. Somewhere along the way, I noticed a sign that read: “Next Services 100 Miles.”

I get an idea.

What if we provided police services to people using the principal: Next Services 100 Miles? 

Next Services 100 Miles captures the expectation that we should work diligently to ensure people understand the criminal justice process, leave the Department with their questions answered and don't get the government run around. We take a few extra moments to explain the “why” when we respond to requests, answer questions or provide help. It doesn’t matter if a person enters our building through the front door or the jail door.

Next Services 100 Miles means that “customers” will not have to go anywhere else for answers. We might send people to other places for services but we make sure they understand the process and what to expect. We offer more than a business card to people who come to the front counter or the booking counter.

In the book God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis, he responds to a colleague who had questions about one of his essays. Lewis wrote, “I come into the matter at all only because my answers fail to satisfy him. And it is embarrassing to me, and possibly depressing to him, that he should, in a manner, be sent back to the same shop which has once failed to supply the goods.” Lewis understood the principal of Next Services 100 Miles.

The Apostle James calls us to action as a demonstration of our faith. James specifically talks about doing more than saying, “I will pray for you.”

James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

1 Peter 3:15 says that we should, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Our challenge is to be ready to act after we give an answer. Ask to pray with a person beyond telling them you will. Know where to refer someone who needs food, clothing or shelter if they ask for help. Explain why you believe in Jesus. Treat everyone as if they have to travel 100 miles to get the next answer, the next meal or the next opportunity to meet Jesus.