The Perfect Stranger

Last night, after a series of great dinners with great friends, we watched The Perfect Stranger, which is the ultimate great dinner! A cynical lawyer gets an invitation to dinner at her favorite restaurant with Jesus Christ, and He answers all of her questions, quite profoundly. I highly recommend it!

I posted about the dinners and the movie on social media, and almost immediately my friend Katie Lentz commented: Rich! In The Perfect Stranger, Nikki is played by my friend Pamela! You met her when we saw you in Revelation. Cool connection!

I'll say it's a cool connection! I got to thinking about it, and when Pamela saw Revelation she watched my character interact with Jesus. So, my mind kept going on this. I first saw The Perfect Stranger in the Philippines while performing and teaching some workshops at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, where I just found out our host for one of our dinners had taught a few years before I was there. The man playing Jesus with my character in Revelation was played by a Filipino.

So I had a little whoah moment, but my brain kept noodling. That cool God wink wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been in Revelation, which happened because I "happened" to be at the only combined gathering of Mastermedia and The Hang that I'm aware of. That was where I shared that I do a 1-man play about The Revelation, and the producers later called to see if I'd perform the role of John in their Off-Broadway musical.

But Pamela wouldn't have seen Revelation the Musical if Katie hadn't invited her, and Katie wouldn't be alive if it weren't for a series of extraordinary miracles after an extreme car wreck (main miracles, follow-up).

I wouldn't have seen The Perfect Stranger in the Philippines if I hadn't met the folks who invited me to perform there while I was in Indiana, and I wouldn't have been there if I hadn't been invited to teach for one week... that turned into 16 years at the MasterWorks Festival. I wouldn't have been invited to teach for that week if I hadn't been a member of Christians in Theatre Arts.

And you wouldn't be reading this if I wasn't pondering it hours before I'd planned on getting up for my last work day before leaving town for seven weeks. I felt like the Lord wanted me to take the time to write this up. Maybe it was for you.

If you don't notice the profound things the Lord is doing all around you, I invite you to have dinner with Jesus.

I write more about that at www.RichDrama.com/MyPassion.

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I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area or watch at home.

More Divine Appointments!

I didn’t notice it until just now, but less than an hour BEFORE I posted my grandma’s interview about her prison ministry today, I received a link to the testimony of a prison ministry recipient below.

I met Buckie on a train last week. I made the decision to take that train, though it had a longer route than another option, because I wouldn’t need to transfer. I would have been on a much earlier train had I not stopped for dim sum with colleagues after recording a song.

So, on the train and in the car I was supposed to be on, I overheard someone giving his testimony to a friend about having found the Lord in prison. So I was praying. When the Christian got up for his stop I handed him my card and asked if his testimony was online. So it was a #DivineAppointment on the train and in the timing of him sending the testimony! I picked up the baton and kept sharing with the other man about the Lord for a few more stops.

Hope you enjoy it. You can watch it below or if you’re receiving this via email, visit www.Blog.RichDrama.com (Thanksgiving Day).

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See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

Thankful for this memory...

Hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This interview with Ruth Friesen and my grandmother, Hilda Miller, is in 1987. I digitized it from a VHS cassette in 2009, and searched the web for Ruth Friesen and her show, Beauty of Life. I wanted to get her blessing to post the program, but there was no online record of the show’s name paired with her name. 

Recently my wife, Joyce, and I have been involved with Christian Union’s Great Experiment. We’ve committed to five disciplines for a month, and one of them is asking the Lord every morning what he wants us to do that day. Joyce calls it a concrete kindness for the Lord. Two days ago I felt like the Lord was asking me to look into posting this interview. This time the internet pulled up Ruth’s name in her obituary. She died this April. I reached out to her family by Facebook and noticed that they’re friends with Grandma’s niece’s husband. I reached out to him, and he said the son-in-law just Friended him on Facebook! Soon the family got back to me with their blessing, and then I saw why the Lord had prompted me now. One of Ruth’s daughters pointed out that this will be their family’s first Thanksgiving without her mother. I'm so glad they'll have this wonderful memory to share today.

The interview is mostly about Grandma’s prison ministry, and it reminded me that I was 10 years old when Grandma first brought me in with her to minister to the first prisoner she mentions. I continued to go with her from time to time throughout the rest of her ministry. 

Throughout my career I’ve performed and taught in a few prisons, and I know that was on my heart because of Grandma's prison ministry. My most dramatic encounter was earlier this year in the gang unit on Riker’s Island. 

Grandma talks about how much energy the Lord was giving her, but within a year she sensed him telling her, “Get your affairs in order.” As a high schooler I remember thinking, “Does God want her to clean her room?” July of 1988 she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The Lord kept shining through her right to the end, which was three months later. She was a tremendous witness to the doctors and nurses attending her. One of the nurses told me how she was feeling a bit down one day, and there was Grandma, jaundiced and taking her final breaths to encourage her. 

I count Grandma my greatest spiritual mentor and pray I can encourage others right to the end.

For those of you who watch this who aren’t family, I can’t expect that you’ll be as blessed as we are by this interview. I’m writing this after just having seen it for the first time in eight years, and I’m a blubbering mess! I do pray it will give you a sense of gratitude for family members and friends who have represented the Lord well to you. 

Watch the video below, or if you're receiving this via email go to www.Blog.RichDrama.com (Thanksgiving Day).

For more information on Grandma’s mission work in Kenya click here.

To read about the miracle that kickstarted Grandma's ministry click here.

To find out more about a relationship with the Lord, visit www.RichDrama.com/MyPassion.

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See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

Conservatory Report

This morning I got to share a report about the Salvation Army's Territorial Arts Ministry Conservatory, and I made reference to a series of Divine appointments that occurred yesterday, which you can read about here.

Pastor Jim Warren preached on Haggai 1:1-15, 2:15 and 18. Pastor Linda Warren opened with prayer and later led in commissioning new board member Eva P.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:



This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

If you want to more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/Salvation.

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I teach annually at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp. Subscribe to get a note that registration is open.

God just blew my mind!

We never got all five faculty members
who were my former students together
for a single photo, but this is
Jonathon Shaffstall, Brad Cain,
and Kathryn Ballantine. 

All week I've been performing, teaching and directing at the Salvation Army's TAM Conservatory, where we've been meditating on Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

This morning during the send out I shared with the community how the Lord had been speaking to me about his long-term plans with the Conservatory. The Territorial Commanders, William and Lorraine Bamford, addressed our students after many faculty and students shared, and Commander William Bamford pointed out that we're approaching 1500 students who have been trained at the Conservatory, and many have gone on to do great things for the Lord. This year four faculty members had been my students at TAMC years ago, and one other was a student at a Christians in Theatres Arts event in Puerto Rico. I asked faculty members to stand who had previously been a student at TAMC, and I believe there were nine!

We had a BLAST catching up with
Sean and Cath Gaffney, who
taught me so much about writing,
acting, and teaching!

So, this morning I was on faculty at TAMC with Brad Cain, who had been my student at TAMC 15 years ago. Then, tonight Sean and Cath Gaffney messaged me that they were in NYC and asked if we were free. Sean was on the faculty at Regent University while Brad and Cath (Sean loved being a professor dating a student!) were working on their M.F.A.s in acting at Regent together.

But wait, there's more! Sean and Cath were in the city to see Samantha Sturm, who the three of us taught...wait for it... about 15 years ago! Samantha is now in her sixth Broadway show, CATS, and that's the Broadway show that brought Carol Jaudes, the founding director of TAMC and Susie Somerville Brown into their first collaboration.

OK, so now it gets really interesting: Samantha was 14 when we worked with her. On Thursday Susie worked with my students, who were 14 and up, and this morning a 14-year-old student of mine at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp a month ago was staying with her family at our place while we were at TAMC.

So the only four 14-year-olds I believe I've ever worked with were connected by this day.

Ryan Livingston was my student for
acting, and though he was on faculty
to teach visual arts he used his flair
for performance in the presentation
of their artwork.

Lord, raise up all of our students to co-create with You, the only One who could have even thought of arranging that many Divine appointments in a single day to blow my mind and encourage me to pray all the more diligently for my students, no matter their age!


#PowerToBe
#smallworldBIGKINGDOM

I teach annually at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp. Subscribe to get a note that registration is open.

Worship the King

I was sitting at the train station when an inebriated man stumbled toward me and threw a punch. Find out what happened below. It's at the 16-minute mark in this morning's service...

Dr. Linda Warren led us through an immersive journey into Psalm 96. Pastor Jim Warren opened the service and closed by giving gifts of some of his artwork he created to illustrate this morning's service.

This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

 If you want to more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/Salvation.

 

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

The Screenwriters at Patrick Henry College

I had a great time at the screening of The Screenwriters at the alma mater of our director, Peter Forbes, and screenwriter, Elizabeth Stinnette. I was honored to join them and producer David Cook in a Q/A after the show, and we all had a blast at the afterparty. I had to leave early though. The screening just "happened" to have been scheduled the night before I performed and taught in a nearby school.

I play a lead in Providence, which could be heading to a city near you. Sign up at www.RichDrama.com/Updates to get the announcement.

Registration is now open for the 2016 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Sean Gaffney launched my career

Happy 50th Birthday to Sean Gaffney!

Sean and I in Colorado, July 1995.

Sean launched a 20 year career in the performing arts for me. I’m sure that’s not what he had in mind when he invited me to drive out to Seattle from NYC to take the position of managing director at Taproot Theatre, but when I said yes to the trip I quit my day job forever. He and I pulled together some of our own sketches, including Sean’s “Lazarus," which I still perform all over the world in a one-man version. We drove together six days and performed together just about every night. Somewhere out there between jumping over a 15’ cyclone fence and running through a cemetery in a Nebraska downpour only to discover the folks we were supposed to perform for in a park on the other side of that cemetery decided to go camping instead, to long chats about good and bad plays, to the Lamb’s Theatre where we met, Sean encouraged me not to go back to my day job. Miraculously I never have, and Sean was a very big part of that.

We both happened to be in London early this July, 20 years to the month after we started that trek. I was tremendously disappointed that our schedules didn’t quite coincide, but the Lord connected us in a very cool way. I was in London to perform with John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings, Beyond the Mask) and Helen George (Call the Midwife) for an audio movie on Alfred the Great (www.RichDrama.com/TheDragonAndTheRaven). Toward the end of one day a colleague approached me: “Is your last name Swingle?” I confirmed it, and he said, “I’m about to have tea with your friends Sean and Cath Gaffney.” I was tremendously disappointed that I couldn’t join them, but I sensed the Lord celebrating two decades of artistic service in that Divine appointment.

Sign Up to get the announcement when registration opens for the next Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.
 

Divine Appointments

Joyce and I were hanging out with Nathan when Josh texted to see if we could get together. I asked if Nathan Clarkson could join us. He said, "I just had dinner with someone who said I should connect with Nathan Clarkson!" So I told them both about how a friend gave Patricia Mauceri a DVD of Settled (2012), and how her son noticed my name on the DVD. Our friend told them he ran into me on the subway about an hour earlier! Josh was also in Settled. You can watch it for free: www.RichDrama.com/Settled.

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Sign Up to get the announcement when registration opens for the 2016 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Also, we're now taking sign-ups for Rio Ready.

Njeri "Miller" Gitonga

With Njeri in 2007.

As soon as I could understand English I was hearing stories about my mom growing up in Kenya when my grandparents were missionaries there from 1948-1953. So I grew up grateful for Njeri Gitonga, who watched over Mom and my Aunt Jeri when Grandma and Grandpa Miller were away ministering in the bush.

Our families had lost touch, but sometime in the mid-90's my Aunt Jeri was visiting Kenya and asked someone how she might go about finding Njeri. The local asked her what her maiden name was, and when he heard, he exclaimed, "There's an Njeri Miller living up on that hill." Aunt Jeri knocked on the door, and Njeri invited her into her home, where Aunt Jeri saw photos of herself, Mom, and my grandparents. We've stayed in touch over the years, and though I haven't made it to Kenya yet, I have had two miraculous connections with Njeri!

Njeri in 1999.

In 1999 I did a 16 city tour of England with my play A Clear Leading. I happened to be there the first time Njeri visited England to visit her children who were staying there. Though Njeri wasn't there when I was performing the play, her daughter, Alice, made it to a performance in Muswell Hill, a suburb of London. When I performed the dream of my character Dolly swimming to Africa I had tears streaming down my face. I'll never forget that performance.

With Mom and Alice in 1999.

When Njeri did arrive we spent time at a mall, where Alice interpreted for Mom and me. One memory of that visit was when Njeri got on an escalator for the first time. What a frightening contraption that must have looked like in her eyes.

Then, in 2007 I was back in England, where I got to perform "Lazarus" with some Swahili translations for Alice's church. I learned the start of a Swahili praise song, and opened the piece with that. They all joined in and went way past what I had memorized! I can still sing some of it: "Sifu bwana, sifu bwana, dayama. Moyuwangu, sifu bwana, dayama."

Later I was at Eltham College, where Eric Liddell had attended school. I was interviewing the headmaster and had an idea for a shot of their choir singing a song which was written about Liddell for the documentary Olympic Hero in China: The Eric Liddell Story. In the midst of scouting for the documentary I got a text from Mom saying she couldn't get to Heathrow in time to greet Njeri. So I hopped on the next train... the wrong way! I turned around, got off at Piccadilly and transferred to the metro bound for Heathrow. As soon as the door opened I sprinted for Arrivals. Just as I came bounding up, someone was pushing Njeri out in a wheelchair. I calmed my breathing, walked up like I'd been there for a good long while, gave her a Kenyan handshake (flying down from up above), and said, "Jambo!" That's a Swahili greeting. I also know a few phrases of her tribal language, Kikuyu, so I was also able to say, "Wimwega." That was about it until Mom was able to arrive with Alice who was able to take over the translations.

In my post from December 14, 2007 I wrote:

What are the chances my trips corresponded with hers without either of us knowing of the others' schedule either time? Only the One who set up both visits knows.

Njeri "Miller" Gitonga went to be with the Lord earlier this month. My heart is filled to the brim with gratitude for how she cared for my mom and how the Lord allowed our schedules to connect in England twice!!

Our prayers are with her whole family!

With Njeri, her son, Kamau, and Mom.

A most AMAZING plane ride

I read the following story, posted by MasterWorks MasterClass instructor Bev Holloway, just after an extraordinary encounter on a plane ride that we might have missed: 

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?” [Posted by Knowledge of Today. Full article in the Washington Post.]

Now back to the plane ride: The gentleman sitting next to us told us about his mind-blowing career in the entertainment business. Then he asked us what we did, and when Joyce told him she is a pastor he told us his wife is a Christian, and he loves going to church with her, but he has doubts that creep into his mind. 
I mentioned the reality TV show that concludes on Thursday about a former atheist's life as a Catholic: Minor Revisions with Jennifer Fulwiler. Joyce told him about Mark 9:24 (ESV): "I believe; help my unbelief!" 

He asked if we'd pray with him, so we all three took hands, and prayed on row 36. When we said amen all three of us were crying. Okay, I was sobbing! He said when we prayed he felt something like doubt leave his heart. Then he wanted to pray, and he prayed a beautiful prayer of commitment to the Lord.

We might have hurried past this gorgeous work of Art to get to our books or the movie. Lord, don't let us ever miss a MasterPiece like this!

Our new friend told us that we have to tell this story. So if you'd like to offer a prayer or word of encouragement to him in a comment below, we'll be sure to share it with him. We know he'd be touched.

An Ipoh connection

We were waited on yesterday by two people from Ipoh, Malaysia, where Joyce preached and I performed Beyond the Chariots. One of the women said in 24 years she hadn't run into someone who had been to Ipoh. The other one knows how to make white coffee (a mix of coffee, tea and milk that is just an amazing experience), but she couldn't make it for us because the restaurant didn't have the right machine.

Pray that the Lord works through this experience to draw both of these women to Himself.

A mid-journey report

We've come to London to share my play about Eric Liddell (RichDrama.com/BeyondTheChariots) during the Olympics.

Last night was the debut of the Tamil translation, which was well received. They translated it for seven people who had come from Sri Lanka and India to attend the International College of Officers for the Salvation Army.

This morning a woman told us how integral Eric Liddell's story was in her coming to faith, and there she sat in the William Booth Officers Training School, where she'll start attending in the fall, watching a play about the man who had inspired her to go into ministry! The things that our Father orchestrates are so far beyond what we could ever plan!

Before we came here we performed the play in Romania with Hungarian translation slides. It was in Transylvania, a region that used to belong to Hungary, and the people we visited were Hungarian speakers. One of the men there asked us to tell him more about Jesus. We stayed up until 1am. In the end he prayed that Jesus would cover his sins, so that he could be in a relationship with the Father. The next morning he walked into our room radiating joy, but he still wants to see miraculous signs to confirm this. The next day, when we flew to London there were seven specific Appointments that we knew were all about confirming our friend's new relationship with the Lord. The highlight was when we discoverd that our waitress was from Tirgu-Mures, Romania, the city from which we'd flown only a few hours before. We'll also tell our friend about the woman who will start training school and her story. We're praying that these Love letters will encourage him to grow in his new relationship with the Lord.

On Friday we'll have breakfast with 120 Olympic athletes (some of which will be sitting at our table) as the Eric Liddell Award is given to two gold medalists who exhibit not only outstanding athleticism but also a strong committment to the Father.

filled with Hope,

Rich

More miracles

Just before boarding my flight to Chicago on Friday I got a call saying that there was a chance that my Saturday night performance would be switched to Sunday night so we'd have more time to prep.  So I got on the phone with the airline and explained that the only reason I was flying to Chicago was for that performance, so if it was switched to Sunday night, could my Sunday morning flight to NYC be moved to Monday morning.  The woman said that I'd have to pay to make that change.  I prayed and called again.  The next attendant gladly made the switch without hesitation or fee.

So here were the divine appointments that happened on my leisurely Sunday and Monday that wouldn't have occurred had the weather been nice on Saturday:

I got to attend a great Sunday school class and two marvelous sermons, all three of which I blogged (6/13 and 14).  And all three of which inform the devotions and sermon I'm going to share at MasterWorks on our identity.

I got to spend more time with Norm Kapp, sharing my experiences in the extra decade I've had touring like his daughter is.

I got to visit the wonderful Billy Graham Center Museum, where there's a display by Timothy Botts, who I performed with in St. Louis years ago.  He speaks as he creates his calligraphy.

When I got to the dinner for the Summer Celebration that brought me to Chicago I walked up to the tent full of strangers and prayed that the Lord would lead me to the right seat.  Within seconds a fellow from Romania hailed me.  I shared what little Romanian MasterWorks student Krisztina Fekete had taught me, and then the gentleman introduced me to Herbert Carlburg, pictured here.  He was withdrawn from the Cheefoo School, founded by Hudson Taylor, a few days before the Japanese took over the campus and declared everything and everyone there the property of Japan.  Later, they shipped all the students off to the Weihsien internment camp, where Eric Liddell spent his last years.  Herbert's family took him further west until the Japanese eventually pushed them to India.  Since Hudson Taylor came into our conversation someone said, "One of his great-granddaughters attends our church."  Before we knew it, Ruth Kerns, pictured here, came over and explained that she prayed from afar for her four cousins who were interned with Eric Liddell, two of which have spoken after performances of Beyond the Chariots: Rev. Dr. Jim Hudson Taylor, III, who passed away last March, and Mary Previte.

While telling some folks after the evening sermon how much I appreciated the Billy Sunday display at the Billy Graham Center Library one of the women I was talking to said, "I'll never forget hearing him preach."  She remembers that he put one leg up on a chair...until he threw it for emphasis.  It landed quite near her, which terrified her.  But I have the impression she's walked with the Lord ever since. :)

Today's flight home to NYC was also filled with divine appointments, including a fascinating O'Hare to Port Authority conversation about, among other things, this truly remarkable and miraculous weekend.

What are the chances?

We were having lunch in the pizza parlor where I ate many lunches as a student of Phoenix High School, Phoenix, Oregon, a town which had a population of 2,000 when I was a kid. Who should be having lunch there but Jon Davis, the lead elder at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship, who arranged for me to perform an excerpt from Beyond the Chariots there during the Olympics!

Joyce and I went to bed at about 10pm, and just before midnight Joyce asked if I was okay. She thought I was sobbing, but I was laughing my head off thinking about the chances we would have connected with Jon where we did. She woke up thinking of the same thing, just before my uncontainable giggles.

Now us theatre folk aren't known for our mathematical prowess, but if someone were going to calculate the probability of our encounter with Jon they'd have to consider the following:

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*the vast distances between Beijing, Phoenix, Oregon, and New York City
*the relative size and populations of Beijing and New York City
*the fact that, even after doubling in size since my graduation, the population of Phoenix could fit in an average apartment complex in Beijing or New York City
*the distance between Phoenix and the closest city with at least a million people (about 280 miles)
*all the decisions that factored into placing Phoenix, Oregon, on Jon's itinerary at that point in time
*the fact that last May George Fox University chose me, a Nazarene, as one of the featured presenters for their Quaker Heritage Week, which was what brought me out from New York City
*the fact that this was one of a handful of trips to Southern Oregon on which I didn't set up a performance on a Sunday (Since I've never performed in Phoenix since graduating from high school the probability of me eating lunch there before or after a performance would have been minuscule, and I can only remember eating at the pizzeria a handful of times since graduation.)
*the probability that each in our party of eight would contribute to our conversation in such a way that our 8am breakfast would extend until after 11:30
*the fact that Joyce and I didn't hesitate to stay with family past the starting times of every local church we knew about because on Friday afternoon we "happened" to walk into my grandmother's residence at the exact moment they were starting their only weekly church service, which we enjoyed immensely
*the fact that my dad's cousin mentioned the Phoenix Historical Museum and could let us in for a tour
*the duration of each person's time at any given display
*the fact that my dad's cousin recommended Angelo's Pizzeria
*the fact that my dad's cousin recognized the pastor and his wife who were hosting Jon and his wife and mentioned he was hosting people from China (Though we shared two hour-plus services in Beijing Jon and I only spoke for about a minute that day. For the rest of the services I was either watching him interview Olympic champion Madeline Manning Mims from backstage or he was watching my backside as I performed.)

If any of these things hadn't been in place we either wouldn't have been in the pizza parlor at the same time or, if we were, wouldn't have recognized each other.

It's been a long time since I've studied probabilities, but the way I understand it, the probability determined by each factor is multiplied by the next to determine the final probability.

Then multiply that by the possibility of also having sat one row behind a gal who graduated from Phoenix High School three years after me in the Bird's Nest Stadium just over a year earlier during the Olympics: Out of 90,000 Seats. I'd been invited to perform for athletes in the Olympic Village that day, but the night before a dignitary flew to Beijing unexpectedly and needed the pass I was going to be given.