A Bunch of Jehus

One of the things I had always admired in my father was that I never heard him utter a cuss word. Not once. Not even mild, broadcast TV replacement ones. I hope my kids will be able to say pretty much the same about me ... but I know they've heard me use a couple of the mild replacement ones a couple of times, especially when I'm driving. I've been guilty of calling some other drivers the modern day equivalents of Racca. But I'm going to change that. I'm going to try to emulate my dad.

I do recall my father remarking that someone was "driving like a Jehu," so I'm going to go with that. I'm also going to stick with his pronunciation jay-hoo, rather than the dictionary's jee-hyoo. 

So, the text for this morning's message comes from the book of Second Kings, chapter 9, verse 20:

"The lookout reported, 'He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.'" (NIV)

So Jehu had been anointed king of Israel and was headed to Ramoth Gilead with his troops to dispatch Ahab's son Joram. The troops had been spotted and first one and then a second rider had been sent out to find out if the troops were coming in peace. The riders were told to fall in behind.

It reminds me of a bike ride I took with my son Peter a couple weekends ago. We decided to head south on part of the route I'd ridden for the Tour de BBQ. A good part of the route was on Nall between 123rd and 157th. As we headed south, things were mostly good; we had a nice tailwind and most of the drivers gave us plenty of room. Things changed as we headed back north. That nice tail wind turned into a nasty headwind with gusts pretty steady around 25 MPH. Drivers turned ugly and aggressive as well. Just past 135th a large pickup truck pulled up next to me, their front fender two feet to my left, and paced me for about 20 seconds before gunning it to pull ahead and pass myself and then Peter. There were no cars in the lane to his left. I suppose the driver was just trying to teach me a lesson or something. This was not an isolated incident. 

When we got an opportunity to get back on the bike path, we took it. It just felt too dangerous. I didn't want to be out in front of a bunch of Jehus anymore.

Something to keep in mind, next time you're out in front of, or mixed in with, a bunch of Jehus; pull over and fall in behind. Let them drive off like a maniac and wait for the danger to pass.

Stay safe out there, and stay off Nall on Sunday afternoons.