We all know the Millennium Falcon “made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs” with Han Solo as pilot. That was his boast in the very first “Star Wars” movie and was reaffirmed in the spin-off, Solo: A Star Wars Story. Some years ago I watched a young woman in a Camaro attempt to repeat the feat on Courtney Campbell Causeway (a narrow road crossing Tampa Bay). It looked as if she was attempting to use the force to will cars to move over or go faster. But it was heavy rush hour traffic, so, despite her drafting and weaving in and out, she didn’t have much success, and fortunately didn’t cause any accidents.

Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon may be fictional, but they’re well known for speed. Who can forget seeing the Falcon weaving in and out of the Death Star after helping Luke or flown by Rey in the more recent movies? Recently we introduced a real person, Jehu, who was also known for his speed.

We first met Jehu when Elisha sent a young prophet to anoint him as king of Israel. However, at the time he was just a captain among several who were leading Israel’s army in a siege of Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 9:1-3). We quickly learn God chose Jehu because he was a man of action. He immediately had himself declared king and left to confront the current king, Jehoram (2 Kings 9:12-13, 16). When he got there he promptly killed Ahab and Jezebel’s evil son Jehoram, the king of Israel. And in a bonus two for the price of one he also killed their evil grandson, Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who happened to be in town visiting his uncle.

In the middle of the gruesome account of judgment on the house of Ahab and Jezebel was a genuinely funny line about Jehu’s driving. When a messenger came to tell Jehoram someone was coming in a chariot from the battlefield he said, “the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously” (2 Kings 9:20). Of all the things for Jehu to be known for, it’s just funny that it was how he drove a chariot. I can see him now trying to get through Nashville in 5 p.m. traffic. He would quickly run out of arrows, or get shot by someone who brought a pistol instead of a bow.

Well, how does this apply to us, other than possibly needing to reflect on how we drive cars? Simply this, when it comes to doing the will of God, do we drive furiously or do we dawdle? Do we live like we have somewhere to go (like Heaven perhaps) and a short time to get there, or like our destiny is not that important and we’re not in a hurry to get there? How’s your spiritual driving?