Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1474702
Uniquely Black Sheep Nancy McCarroll (aka "Sassy") BSHDFC International Board In July 2019 my husband and I moved from Southern California where we lived for the majority of our lives, to North Carolina. So many people ask, "Why North Carolina?" Well, you may be surprised to hear that it has nothing to do with politics.........the short answer is, it was the only state where we could both transfer our jobs to as well as be near a daughter with two boys . Need I say more? We joined the local HOG Group in Raleigh at Tobacco Road Harley (formerly Ray Price Harley) the first week of August. We made ourselves known as the "new kids" immediately when we rode to the HOG meeting even though a storm was en-route. We were literally the only ones who rode to the meeting! We had to race the storm home, which included lightning. If you are familiar at all with East Coast storms, you know they are no joke! But what did we know?! We were new here....... Before we could really get plugged in to our HOG Chapter (because winters here aren't my kind of riding weather) the Pandemic hit, and everything shut down. We ended up selling our bike, but that didn't last long....we bought a new one in February of this year! A beautiful 2022 Road Glide Special in lipstick red! (Okay, that really isn't the name of the color, but I like it better than Redline Red.) We reconnected with our HOG group, but it was a whole new group than the one before the pandemic. Let me tell you though, this is a very different HOG Group than the HOG Group we were part of in So. Cal. They pray before their meetings! The Director is a pastor, there are a few members who are part of a biker church and other Christian motorcycle MM's and MC's. It was a great atmosphere to be in as new BSHDFC Area Contacts. We didn't feel that initial awkwardness as Black Sheep or followers of Jesus that can be part of the process when you join a new HOG Group without any other Black Sheep. As we spent more time with them and observed how the other ministry focused members served the group, we thought that maybe our purpose there had a different focus than what we thought going into it. One of the really great things the biker church members do is stocking the dealer with several copies of WOG Magazine!! Boy, were we excited about that! Since we were new to being area contacts (we were part of Temecula Valley Black Sheep for five years before moving) and new to the HOG group we wanted to make sure to get to know people personally before we tried bringing in the ministry. We also wanted to be intentional about just serving in any way we could. Well, God had other plans........ At the end of April, right before The Gathering in Dallas, a HOG member who we had never met shared on the HOG Group's Facebook page that he was in a motorcycle accident on the freeway. He hit something in the road that he didn't see and slid into the concrete divider. His bike was totaled. He was injured but he was ok. Immediately my husband reached out to our BSHDFC regional director, "Chopper Bob" and asked about downed HOG funds. Typically this is only a California fund, but we all agreed that it was worth asking our National Office if there was anything we could do as Black Sheep to help. National agreed that they wanted to do something to help and saw the opportunity to make an impact in an area where there was no Black Sheep chapter.......yet! The Gathering was the next week, so everyone's focus shifted to that and to be honest we sort of dropped the ball on following up. Thankfully we have an amazing board and soon after returning from The Gathering our national office let us know that they would be sending a check for the HOG member who was in the accident. Hallelujah, praise God! Now we needed to track down the HOG member because we had never met him. My husband sent him a message on Facebook, but he didn't respond. We asked around our HOG group to see if anyone knew him or if anyone knew how he was doing. Nobody knew him. As it turned out, he was a new HOG member, but nobody knew what shape he was in. We felt like there was nothing more we could do. About a month had passed since the message on Facebook was sent with no response....and then he responded. After some small talk through messages my husband told him who we were as Black Sheep and what our ministry does. Come to find out that he had lost two fingers and was still in a cast with screws in his hand. My husband Brandon shared that we had a check for him from our national office and that we would like to deliver it to him. He was very thankful and wanted to know more about Black Sheep. When we met with him to deliver the check we were so touched by his gratefulness and before we could offer to pray for him, he asked to pray for us, the ministry and over the check! He asked a lot of questions about Black Sheep. The part that I want to make sure to focus on is why we do what we do as Black Sheep; it's because nobody else is doing it! Although there are other motorcycle ministries working in our HOG Group, they don't focus on HOG the way we do. Nothing against them at all, the work they are doing is great! But this is why we are Black Sheep, called and set apart, to serve Harley Owners Group and give God the glory in all that we do, even if we think there are others who are doing the work. ¿ 4 - www.BlackSheepHDFC.org