Walking for salvation

By Aliza Winnik

Eight miles is a long walk. Most pedestrians who end up stranded along the stretch of Highway 101 between Eureka and Arcata stick their thumbs out and attempt to hitch a ride either at the entrance or soon after the first semi roars by the narrow shoulder. Not Tom

Tom Whitney 'fishes' for converts to Christianity along Route 101. photo by Shannon Dybvig

Whitney. Every Sunday, Tom walks from Eureka to Arcata carrying a white plexi-glass sign stating: "Honk if You Love Jesus."

And they do honk. An intermittent chorus. Some long, some short, some staccato. Some cars almost disappear over the horizon before the drivers press down on their horns. Tom raises his hand at each honk, and waves, "Praise the Lord." Tom is practicing a form of silent witnessing with his sign. He is telling others about Jesus, sharing faith.

"I see my sign as a portable seed-sower," he said. "Maybe a non-Christian will ask, 'Why don't I love Jesus?'"

Tom began walking locally three months ago when one Sunday he could not get a ride to church. "I was walking along and thought it would be good if I had my sign," he said.

He is walking to the Plaza where he attends The Mountaintop Christian Bible Fellowship that holds its services at the Arcata Hotel. The church is in its fourth year and is a non-denominational, conservative, Biblical church.

"We are all gifted in different areas. Everyone that has Jesus in their heart is called to share. This is the way [Tom] has been called to do it," said Pastor Nick Torini. "I think it's great. It takes boldness and love of the lord to do what he is doing."

Tom is not new to faith walks. In 1997, he spent eight months walking 1100-miles of California from the Oregon state line to the Mexican border. He was 53 years old when he started the walk. "I go wherever God takes me," he said.

Tom prays while he walks. He prays for roadside salvation. He does not pray for his safety, which he believes is insured. "As I walk, I can feel the energy around me. The

"Even when I'm working, I'm praying. People think I'm talking to myself." -Tom Whitney

Bible says, 'He will send angels ahead to prepare the way,'" he said.

Before he leaves he visualizes the walk and the people he may meet. "I don't know what they will look like but I'm already praying for them," he said. Tom then carries his sign covered through Eureka on an external frame pack. An orange flag rises from the left side of the frame. He brings a canteen of water, his bible, and a CD player so he can listen to the soundtrack from the movie Apostle as he walks. He is always wearing a bandana ranging from muted black to red and black flames and he always wears sunglasses. One week they were gold-rimmed with black sidepieces and another week a black and pink ensemble. He has blue eyes and bleached surfer blond hair. He rollerblades in his sparetime and sometimes he will walk the highway in his rollerblading clothes: Nike Airwalks and fuchsia, royal blue, white, and black pants. Other times his outfits are more muted. Black boots, gray and black pants, a heather blue shirt with wide black suspenders. Tom is not out on the highway so he can be noticed. "My sign does not say honk if you love Tom," he said.

Tom knows the stretch of 101. "So much beauty, we take it for granted," he said looking out over the slough on the bridge leading out of Eureka. He knows the cars that pass him each week. "Old customers," he said jokingly. But he walks for the opportunity to meet and interact with people.

One of the first things Tom asks when he meets someone is whether they are saved and if they answer no he asks if they would like to accept Jesus into their heart. "I might not be the first one to tell someone about Jesus but I might be the last," he said. "I don't waste time, you could die tomorrow, in a year, in five minutes."

A person is led to Jesus by reciting the Sinner's Prayer that any Christian has the ability to lead. No two are alike but all contain the same components: Admitting one is a sinner, repenting one's sins, believing Jesus died for one's sins, and inviting Jesus into one's heart.

He takes his time walking to church. He stops to talk to people along the way. "People worry about getting to church on time, they don't realize we are in church," he said. Tom has refused rides from fellow parishioners that pass him on the highway. It would be on his mind the whole way, the missed opportunities. "I could be out there speakingto [people]," he said.

Tom's book "Honk if You Love Jesus" which is published by Yes, Risen! is available for $10.95 at both One Way Christian Book Shop and Serenity Books & Gifts in Eureka.

Tom says there are plenty of opportunities all the time to mention God. "How you doing?" "I'm blessed." "What's up?" "Jesus in heaven." He even answers histelephone, "Praise the Lord, this is Tom."

Tom also wrote a book about his eight month faith walkentitled Honk if You Love Jesus. "[I wrote the book to] inspire Christians regardless of age to step out and spread the good news, to lead others to Christ, and to show the addictive patternthere is in escape until you surrender to Jesus Christ."

The days which Tom refers to as Tom Whitney, B.C. (BeforeChrist) encompass his earlier life that filled with alcoholism and a family torn apart from the effects of alcohol. In his book Tom describes himselfin those days as, "Abusive, violent, and non-caring described me in my drinking days, which were actually years. I abused my wife verbally, mentally, and physically-sometimes on a daily basis" (page 3).

Tom recited the Sinner's Prayer and first accepted God in a Baptist church in Missoula, Montana but then turned away from God back to drinking for another three years. "See I was in the drivers seat and nothing changed in my life until I got out of the drivers seat. When I'm driving, I'll drive the car right off the road," he said.

He eventually found his way into a six-month Salvation Army recovery program in Boise, Idaho. He goes on in his book to liken it to boot camp. The first night he prayed to Jesus, "Please take this terrible desire away forever. . . . Where twelve-step programs I'd tried didn't bring results, a wonderful one-step prayer did. I have never returned to drinking since that night" (page 11). Tom had a lot of time to think while he was in the program especially while he working in the Salvation Army warehouse. "Everytime I'd sort kids clothes I would think of my kids," he said. He also prayed a lot, something that he still does all the time. "Even when I'm working, I'm praying. People think I'm talking to myself," he said.

While he was in the rehabilitation program he often felt that there was little good he could do. However, he found a way while volunteering at the homeless shelters. Tom would make paper roses for the kids and moms and place them on their trays. He would write on a piece of paper 'Jesus Loves You' and slide it inside the rose. He learned how to make the roses from a bartender in St. Louis who told him, "anyone can buy a girl a drink but you put your name and telephone number inside and in the morning she will call you." Tom said it never worked for him. But he has had a lot more success since he started placing Jesus' name inside the rose.

Many alcohol recovery programs such as the one Tom went through intertwine spirituality with physical recovery. Alcoholics Anonymous states in its brochure 44 Questions: "The A.A. program of recovery from alcoholism is undeniably based on acceptance of certain spiritual values. . . . A.A. suggests that to achieve and maintain sobriety, alcoholics need to accept and depend upon another Power recognized as greater than themselves. Some alcoholics choose to consider the A.A. group itself as the power greater than themselves; for many others, this Power is God - as they, individually, understand Him; still others rely upon entirely different concepts of a Higher Power" www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.

Tom equates his love of god to a first love, the one that as you grow older you never forget. "My relationship [with god] is like puppy love. It gets stronger and stronger all the time."

And he continues to fish the streets and now Highway 101. Fishing is a term that refers to the idea of fishing for the souls of men and pulling them from hell by saving them through acceptance of Jesus. A pastor in Boise once told Tom, "let the fish come to you, never throw rocks and scare them away." That is Tom's style. He is humble and if someone declines to accept Jesus he respects that decision. "I like to see as many as possible enter the kingdom of heaven. [Some] are not ready to accept Jesus. All paths are different, some take longer than others," he said.

Tom plans to continue to walk 101 unless God calls him to walk elsewhere. Or unless The California Highway Patrol stops his faith walks. It is presently illegal for pedestrians to walk the stretch of freeway between Eureka and Arcata. "If we saw him we would ask him to get off the freeway," said Officer Randy Price.

But for now Tom Whitney will walk eight miles for God each week. Honk if you see him. Honk if you love Jesus. "If I saw him down the road, I would honk," said Pastor Torini.