We Just Never Know, Do We July 22, 2009

My Jewish friends have told me about a liturgy recited at Passover that recounts the story of the Exodus. (I think Harry also explains this to Charlotte when she is converting in season 5 of Sex in the City.)  Anyway, the recurring theme is that if God had only done one miracle for the Israelites in Egypt . . . that would have been enough, but he proceeded to do many.  That is how I look at the last month and a half of my life.

A month and a half ago I was looking at a dwindling bank account and a scarce job market.  I did not have the energy to figure out how I was going to fix this, so I prayed, and tried to have faith.

Two days later I got a call from a casting director in Philadelphia that I have not heard from in two years.  She offered me a four day job as a Stand In (sort of like an extra) on a film shooting in the city.  Those four days of work felt like a miracle, and would have been enough.

Then, on my fourth day of work, the assistant director approached me to ask if I might be available to stay on and work the rest of the film shoot.  The additional three weeks of work felt like a miracle, and would have been enough.

Then, two weeks into shooting, I had the opportunity to rehearse a scene from the film with the director while the lead actress was finishing up with her hair and make up.  It was a pretty meaty scene, which was a good creative outlet for me who has not done much acting in the past six month, and I got to show the director a bit of what I can do.  Just the chance to act, not to mention the little bit of exposure felt like a miracle, and would have been enough.

But then, the director followed up this experience by offering me a small role in the film.  This does not happen.  Extras (hilariously seen on Season One of Ricky Gervais’s show, Extras) tediously try to use the job as an opportunity to be discovered, but it’s not a good idea.  It never happens, and one just ends up annoying the entire cast and crew.  Well, this time it happened . . . for me.  The above picture is a shot of my close up, right there in the middle of Central Park.  It was amazing.  A real miracle.

Somewhere in the Bible it says something like, God wants to do immeasurably more for us than we can imagine.  I have often thought that it is pretty hard to out imagine as active a daydreamer as myself, but when I said a little prayer asking for a job back in the beginning of June, I never could have guessed what was right around the corner.