"Hawg" Wild For Jesus - On The Road Again

by Hank Beymer

  As Julie (not her real name) drove down the freeway that hot August morning, she had no idea what she was doing there, or where she was going. The past 24 hours had seemed like a real blur, a scene straight out of Dante's Inferno. First, she had gone to work only to find out she was among a number of employees scheduled for a "RIF", reduction in force. In other words, she had been fired. So she went home, and called her fiance to give him the news. His response? "I've been thinking about us, Julie, and I want my freedom.'" Click, and the line went dead. As the line was dead, so suddenly was Julie's heart. With no relatives living, it seemed to her that she had suddenly hit the bottom, and she couldn't understand. As she spent the time turning things over in her mind, it seemed clearer and clearer that she had nothing to live for.

To cap everything off, as she began driving, the air conditioner on her car quit. How much more could she take? Thoughts came to her that the best thing to do would be to just drive off an overpass, and end it all. From deep within, a cry of despair welled up, and she screamed out "God, if you are real, and you care, show me a sign."

Just as the words came out, Julie was shaken to the core of her being by a low, loud rumble that set her teeth on edge. Glancing out her window, she quickly saw the cause, and flinched in fear. A biker. Arms up on the handlebars, bald head shining in the sunlight, leathers, goatee.

 Surprisingly, though, the biker glanced over at Julie, flashed a smile, waved, and then powered on past. And as he did, what did Julie see, but a trailer behind the bike, and on the trailer? A large wooden cross! In her amazement, Julie could barely make out the words carved into the cross. "There's room at the cross for you."

Larry Northmore was on his way to another biker rally, as he has been doing for the past 8 years, faithfully pulling a cross on a trailer, and witnessing to those who come from all over the country to attend these rallies. This particular morning, he felt an urge to change his route, and he detoured through a large town. He had already been riding since dawn, and needed to stop, stretch his legs, and get some coffee. Up ahead, he saw an exit from the freeway, so he put the gas to his hog to pass a small car in the right lane. As he pulled up alongside, he saw the young girls startled glance, so he just smiled and waved, and pulled on ahead. Changing lanes to exit, he noticed the small car begin to exit with him. No big deal. But as he pulled into the gas station/store, the small car immediately pulled in behind him. Uh oh...what's up with this? As he waited the young girl hurried up to him at his bike. He could see that she had been crying, and looked very distraught.

Placing her hand gently on the wooden cross, Julie sobbed "please tell me about Jesus."

  Larry Northmore is not your usual, run-of-the-mill see you at church on Sunday morning type of guy. He never had been, and since being saved by Jesus, he still isn't. By his own admission, Jesus has changed him a lot. His language is new, his thoughts are new, and his life is new. But he's still Larry....and Jesus is using him to the hilt to spread the Gospel to a segment of society that is generally ignored and shunned. Those who love motorcycles, especially the "hawg", or Harley-Davidson, have long been perceived by society in general as rebels, loners, gangsters, haters, dopers, and just about anything else you could name them that would be reprehensible in the mind of John Q. Public. The glamorization of the biker lifestyle by Hollywood, casting all of them into the same mold of Hell's Angels, or Bandidos has fostered that image. Surprisingly, though, that kind of biker is considered a "1%'er", since the majority of bikers today are not in that "outlaw" mentality.

  Since 1996, when Larry answered the call to full-time ministry work, he has been to rallies all across the United States, from the "big one" in Sturgis (over 800,000 in attendance in 2003), to Daytona's Bike Week, to smaller regional rallies such as Galveston, Texas (where only several thousand may attend). In each place, he has unashamedly displayed the cross, walked throughout the vast campgrounds with it over his shoulder, and washed the bikes of others in its shadow. And, in each place, he has been cursed, threatened, made fun of and ridiculed. None of that has deterred him, for he knows that in each place, there is someone who has need, and he is there to help them fill that need through Jesus.

During the Sturgis rally this year, over 50 people came to a saving knowledge of Jesus through Larrys ministry, plus several more that happened on the road to get there, just like Julie at the beginning of this story. According to Larry, everywhere he goes, that cross is right behind him, and everywhere he goes, people react to it...some gratefully, some spitefully, but there is still reaction...and for that he is grateful, because no matter what the reaction is, it then gives to him the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with others.

Larrys ministry is There's Room At The Cross For YOU Ministries, and he is actively seeking churches where he can come and talk about this ministry, its importance and its results. And he does have some tales to tell! Larry currently has over 170,000 miles on his bike, and is hoping to raise enough funds through love offerings from appearances to get a new bike.

You can contact Larry at 254-939-1941 or 254-258-3752. He is located in Belton, Texas, and when he's not on the road to a rally, he spends his time in downtown Temple at various street missions and at the park, working with the homeless.