In Pursuit
Most police fleet vehicles come in two flavors: patrol vehicle and pursuit vehicle. The first is for small-town sheriffs, detectives on assignment, and Fourth of July parades. The second is for state troopers ready to ruin your road trip when they appear out of nowhere and fill your rearview mirror at 80 mph. How? Big V8 power. For instance, the Chevy Caprice PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle) puts 362 horsepower and gobs of torque to the pavement through meaty rear tires on its way to a 155 mph top speed.
You can run, but you can’t outrun radio. Chances are, you can’t outrun the average pursuit vehicle these days either.
The tenacity of a pursuit vehicle is an image that complements a famous passage of scripture that you thought was serene and idyllic: Psalm 23. Among images of green pastures, still waters, and a soul’s restoration lives this line:
“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6)
“Follow.” It’s adorable, like a loyal puppy that followed you home from school. Maybe you’ve heard this verse before and pictured goodness and love frolicking along like puffy lambs in a field of daisies. But the Hebrew word here literally means “pursue.” Goodness and love are on your rear bumper, filling your rearview mirror. You can’t shake them.
There’s no chance of outrunning them or losing them. They have already found you, no matter how far off-track you think you’ve gone.
The Old Testament is roughly 40 percent poetry. Poetry’s strength lies in word choice, and the decision to use “pursue” here was inspired by God to impart a specific image. Later, in Luke 15, Jesus would build on that image with the stories of a person who “goes after the lost sheep,” and “sweeps the house and searches carefully” for a lost coin. It’s part of a thorough, total, inescapable pursuit by which God seeks every person – every single one.
That’s God behind you. He’s not following you to cuff you and take you downtown but to love you. He does indeed restore your soul – that’s the goodness – and provide for your daily needs. You’re never far from his presence, and you definitely can’t outrun him. He’s too powerful for that.
Chevrolet brought its Holden Caprice to the U.S. in 2011 for exclusive police fleet usage, which means you couldn’t find them in a showroom. They were basically a bigger version of the Pontiac G8, and they came in V6 (patrol) or V8 (pursuit) variants. Most jurisdictions have moved on to newer cars and SUVs by now, and cheap Caprice PPVs can be found at police auctions. Car folks looking to build a drag racer on a budget love to track down good, cheap examples. It’s funny how the formerly pursued are now the ones doing the pursuing.
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