In many ways, the story of YEEHOG, a 2012 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Custom, parallels my life. While it isn’t a story of complete destruction and restoration, it is a story of discovering the “Master’s Plan” long after the journey has begun.

My story begins with what I thought was a decent, religious upbringing, where I developed an unhealthy confidence in my religious ways and legalistic behaviors. In my self-righteousness and concern about what people saw on my exterior, I thought I was a good judge of character and determining who was acceptable in the sight of God. In fact, many years ago before an evening church service, I remember hearing a rumble outside, and watching in shock as several leather-clad bikers walked into my church. As I stood there in my suit and tie, I immediately concluded that they didn’t belong in my church and surely God wouldn’t approve of their presence. In my opinion, their exterior didn’t measure up to God’s standards.

But the reality was that I was hiding my internal spiritual shortcomings behind an exterior of religiosity and self-righteousness. After all, I was a deacon in my church and surely God would approve of my position because everyone else did. That’s when things started to unravel. As a confused husband and father of four teens/preteens hiding behind an external religious mask, I didn’t want people to know the true me with all my failures, shortcomings, and faults. Consequently, I made some incredibly poor decisions that resulted in me separating from my wife and kids to another state “to find myself” and to run away from people discovering the real me. At the time, I adopted the philosophy that “live for today because tomorrow you die” and started hanging out with a completely different set of people (bikers) in some very anti-Christian places.

What I didn’t know is that God was starting “rebuild” project in me. Just like my 2012 Road Glide, where Mark Brodie, the designer and craftsman for YEEHOG had a visionary for a seemingly great bike, my “Master” (God) had a vision and a different plan in store for my life even though up until my bad decisions, everyone else saw me as seemingly good and fine. One common denominator in any rebuild project is that “some disassembly is required.”

In my life, God broke me down (began the disassembly) through my unfaithfulness to and separation from my family so that He could begin the rebuild project in me. He redirected my attention from what I thought I could do on my own to what only He could do for me. God stripped me of my self-righteousness and pride and humbled me so that I could understand and freely accept His gift of new life that one can only experience through His grace and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. God restored my marriage and family, and amazingly developed a heart in me for bikers and others who had made poor decisions in their life. I was now the leather-clad biker walking through the church doors with a love for Jesus and a desire to share that love with the lost. But the story doesn’t end there. Toward the end of the counseling sessions we had attended before moving back in with my family, David our counselor suggested that I get involved in ministry. Since part of my downfall was self-righteousness and religiosity, I didn’t want anything to do with churches that I thought were full of “hypocrites” just like me. But what I didn’t expect is that God was about to use my newfound love of motorcycles and the biker world as a new ministry for me. Within two weeks of receiving the ministry advice from David, three different times I encountered members of “Black Sheep Harley-Davidsons for Christ” M/M. God revealed to me that this was the ministry where He wanted me to be. Just over seven years ago, I joined BSHDFC and since that time, my wife has also joined the ministry where we actively share the good news of God’s grace in a subculture I never would have imagined entering many years ago.

If you don’t know the Master’s Plan for you, humbly and earnestly seek Him, be prepared for some personal disassembly, and He will reveal His plan for your life. Today, I use YEEHOG to initiate conversations with those curious enough to ask about the “Master’s Plan.”

Linz Philips
Oregon City, Oregon

[title size=”3″ style=”options: default, sidebar”]MOTORCYCLE SPECIFICATIONS[/title]

• Background
  • Owner: Linz Philips
  • Bike’s Name: YEEHOG/Ground Pounder
  • Brand: Harley-Davidson
  • Model: Road Glide
  • Year: 2012
  • Design: Mark Brodie
  • Fabrication/Assembly: Mark Matthews of Chester’s H-D
  • Painter/Artists: Craig Henkel/Mark Brodie
  • Colors: Cadillac (GM) SRX satin white base; Cadillac CTS-V black and custom blend red
• Motor Specifications
  • Manufacturer: H-D
  • Model: Twin Cam
  • Displacement: 103 cu. inch
  • Air Cleaner: H-D CVO (Screamin’ Eagle)
  • EFI/Fuel Management: H-D
  • Exhaust: Vance & Hines Power Duals/CFR Motorcycles Fluted Slip-ons
• Transmission
  • Manufacturer: H-D
  • Gears: 6-Speed
• Frame and Forks
  • Manufacturer: H-D
  • Model: FLTR
  • Style Forks: Hydraulic/ Lowered 2”
  • Front Axle Covers: RWD
• Wheels & Brakes
  • Front:
    • 21” DNA “Fat Daddy”
    • Brake Calipers: H-D/Painted
    • Brake Rotors: KC International
  • Rear:
    • 17” Rampage Viper
    • Brake Caliper: H-D/Stock
    • Brake Rotor & Pulley: Rampage Viper
• Accessories
  • Handlebars: Roland Sands 1.25” King Apes/16”
  • Risers: H-D
  • Grips: H-D Edge Cut
  • Hand Controls: H-D Edge Cut
  • Fairing: H-D
  • Windshield: Klock Werks
  • Headlight: H-D; HID bulbs; LED inserts by Tazmo Customs Inc.
  • Taillights: H-D CVO
  • Front Turn Signals: H-D Stock with Arlen Ness Fire Ring LEDs
  • License Plate Mount: Kuryakyn
  • Mirrors: Joker Machine View Tech VII
  • Saddlebags: Dirty Bird Concepts
  • Saddlebag Lids: H-D
  • Saddlebag Latches: H-D Edge Cut
  • Seat: Drag Specialties
  • Side Covers: Dirty Bird Concepts
  • Gas Tank: H-D
  • Dash Panel: Russ Wernimont Designs
  • Front Fender: RWD
  • Rear Fender: Bagger Nation
  • Gauges: H-D
  • Floorboards: H-D Edge Cut
  • Foot Controls: H-D Edge Cut
  • Highway Pegs: Kuryakyn Flip Blades
  • Stereo: H-D Stock with Premium H-D speakers and Iron Cross Audio iPod controls

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