This week's Theme: This is the Way
Day 1: Follow Me
“You have to turn right to turn left!” The jokingly made statement is common in New Jersey, where many left turns are made using jug-handles (also known as slip lanes or filter lanes in some countries). Other Northeastern states, like Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut—as well as a few in the Midwest— also use jug handles, but they are so common in New Jersey that they are sometimes referred to as a “Jersey left.”
To use a jug handle, a driver turns right onto a sort of small exit ramp that loops in a half-circle and then crosses the roadway to the other side. This achieves the desired result of getting to the other side of the road without making a direct left turn. Variations exist, and in some places, reverse jug handles are used for right turns.
Many would agree that these pseudo left turns are easier to navigate than traffic circles (also called rotaries or roundabouts), but as with all unusual traffic patterns they can be confusing to drivers who are not familiar with them. Still, according to the experts, they enable a faster, smoother flow of traffic. And above all, safety is the major reason cited by civil engineers and traffic experts for the use of the “Jersey left.”
As I take the jug handle that leads to my home, I sometimes think of the jug handles and reverse jug handles in life—the times when the turns do not seem to match our desired direction. Losses, sudden illnesses, setbacks, and unexpected challenges can leave us disoriented and uncertain.
Yet we can trust that the One who designed the path knows the way to ultimate safety. He knows all the bottlenecks, the snarls and the stretches of rough terrain. And He asserts His Sovereignty in the assurance: “Take heart!” I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus prepares His people for tough times with realistic, candid, honest, forewarning—just as God has done in numerous instances in Scripture. And He calls us to trust in His power, His goodness, His grace.
What must it have been like for Simon Peter in the moment, when Jesus tells him, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21: 18). John gives us the clarification that Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God (John 21:19).
Peter, probably struggling to process this weighty information—much as he struggled to process the events at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-33) — reverts to deflection: Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them… When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” (John 21:20-21).
In a critical teaching moment, the Lord Jesus explains to Peter—and to us—the individual and personal nature of the journey. Amid all the twists and turns, the detours, the off-ramps, and the jug handles, we have been given a clear directive to trust: “You must follow Me” (John 21:22).
And when the news is weighty and the path is uncertain—when we have to turn right to turn left—we remember that we serve the same God who promised His people, Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
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