John Bradshaw - One Foot in the Church, One Foot in the World
John Bradshaw: So when you were back, were you back or did you?...
Heidi Tompkins: No, I was like one foot in the church and one foot in the world still. I joined the church choir and I decided I was going to be involved in church, but because of my job, there was a lot of pressure that you still had to go out and you had to show up and all that. And so I tried to escape that as much as possible and not participate in that and then I just decided I was carpooling with a co-worker and I thought I'll just be the responsible driver so I can't drink. So I just kind of put a stop to that as much as I could.
John Bradshaw: Were the people around you accepting?
Heidi Tompkins: Not really. There was a lot of pressure.
John Bradshaw: There was some challenge there.
Heidi Tompkins: A lot of pressure.
John Bradshaw: Interesting.
Heidi Tompkins: It all came to a head in 2004. I was the top salesperson in the company that year and the Christmas party was in New York City on a Friday night and my boss came to me and said, "I'll see you Friday night"? And I said, "No, actually you won't". I said, "I have a choir practice and we have a big program the next day in church. You know that I'm in the choir at my church and so I'm not going to be at the Christmas party actually". And this was maybe Wednesday during the week and so he said, "No, you will be at the Christmas party". I said, "No, I won't". I said, "There's no way that I would make it in time and besides it's the Sabbath and that's not where I belong on the Sabbath". And he said, "If you don't show up at that Christmas party". No, he said, "The president of the company is coming to the New York City Christmas party because of you. Because you're the top salesperson in the company". And if you don't show up at that Christmas party, you should not bother to show up coming to work the next Monday.
John Bradshaw: Wait, and he said this to a top salesperson?
Heidi Tompkins: Yes.
John Bradshaw: Wow. So what happened?
Heidi Tompkins: Well, God worked things in a very interesting way. The very next day I was coming back to the office from the field. This was a Thursday. I was coming back from the field and I was driving on the Long Island Expressway and all of a sudden the hood of my car flipped back, smashed the windshield. This is in rush hour traffic.
John Bradshaw: Oh, man.
Heidi Tompkins: I don't know how. An angel must have cleared the path for me to be able to pull over. I called AAA. They were sending a tow truck. I called one of my coworkers I carpooled with from time to time. He came and picked me up, brought me back to the office. He said, "I'll take you home". And I said, "Can you take me to Enterprise? I got to rent a car". So anyway, he takes me to the rental car place and they give me this huge, this 2004 Suburban, huge SUV. It was brand new. And they asked, "Do you want the insurance"? And I said, "Yes". And he's standing next to me. He says, "Dude, you're a good driver. You don't need the insurance". Convinced me not to get the insurance. I said, "All right". He said, "You have your insurance". I said, "Yeah, I do". "No problem". Didn't get the insurance. I drive home, walk my dog.
John Bradshaw: I'm holding my breath here. I'm wondering what's going to happen with my insurance.
Heidi Tompkins: Which, wait. I drive to the church, go to choir practice. After choir practice, I drive to a train station in Deer Park, park the vehicle, get on the train, go to Manhattan to this Christmas party. Guess what? The president decided to go to the Boston Christmas party. He didn't come to New York City. All of my coworkers are drunk, plastered, out of their minds.
John Bradshaw: You walk in, you see this.
Heidi Tompkins: I walk in and I was so mad the president wasn't there. I ended up having a Long Island iced tea. The bar was kicking us out. It was late at that time. We all go back to Penn Station. There was a TGIF there. We go in there. We had an hour to wait for our train. We go in. I had one more drink there. We finally get on our train. All of my coworkers are passed out. I'm the only one awake. They all missed their stops. I was the last stop. They get off and they said, "Oh, man. We missed our stops. You should take us home. Take us all home". They say that when you're drinking, the first thing you lose is your sense of reason. That's absolutely true. I said, "Sure. I'll take you all home". Meanwhile, I lived a half an hour to 40 minutes that way and they wanted to go 40 minutes the other direction. Anyway, I'm taking these people home. My coworker that I was carpool with, I had trained him. Our cubicles were next to each other. He was sitting next to me in the passenger seat. What I didn't know is him and one of our other coworkers were doing drugs at the party. He told me, "I got to go to Luke's house. Take me to Amityville right now". I said, "Let me drop these people off and then I'll drop you off there". We're passing the exit for Route 110. He said, "Dude, get off this exit right now". I said, "No. Let me take these people home and then I'll take you to Luke's house". He said, "No. I want to go now". I was like, "Chill out, dude". He said, "If you don't get off this exit right now, I'm going to flip this truck and kill every single one of you". He's in the passenger seat. I'm driving. He elbows me in the chest, grabs the wheel, flips the truck.
John Bradshaw: Flips?
Heidi Tompkins: Entirely. It went on its side. Now, on the Long Isle Expressway, there's ravines that go down on the side. It had to be many angels there or maybe one is strong enough. I don't know. The truck flips down on its side. It's rolling down the ravine. All of a sudden, it comes back up on all four wheels. I was like, "Get out quick. Check the damage". I put the thing in drive and I'm trying to drive away and it wouldn't move. A cop saw the whole thing happen. They came up, made me get out of the car, gave me a breathalyzer test, which I failed. I get arrested. They all get home somehow. I don't know. I was sitting in the precinct. I was handcuffed and I was chained between a drug dealer and a prostitute. I was just bawling, crying. Snot coming out of my nose. It was horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. You know what thought came to my mind? My sister's a lawyer. I can call her. I can hide this from my earthly father, but my Heavenly Father knows exactly where I am and what I'm doing. I think we're sick of my crying. They put me in another area. I still continued to cry all night long. I made my one phone call to my sister. She said, "I'll see you in court in the morning". I didn't sleep a wink. I was crying all night long, just spending time with God, apologizing to Him, seeking repentance, forgiveness. The morning came and the judge was being ruthless, handing out ridiculous sentences. My sister knew I had gone back to church. She said, "You better start praying".