Hi Rich fans,
One of the coolest things about the Internet (besides getting to meet face to face, some of the cool new friends I meet online) is the way that people that haven't seen each other for dozens of years track each other down - quite by accident. It's happened to me twice in the past month. Both were old high school friends I hadn't seen since then (and we're talking 20mumblemumble years), and both tracked me down accidentally while surfing the net. Very cool!
It also just happened to one of our newest RichMailList members. Steve Page first met Rich way back in the Zion days and lost track. He happened upon the Mailing List - but wait - I'll let him tell you about it...
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 00:23:15 (EDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 From: Steve Page Subject: Re: Rich I was a new Christian in 1982 when I met Rich and the rest of Zion. It's important to know, that the way that I met Our Lord was much the same way that Saul did. One day I was smoking dope, in a dead end relationship and contemplating suicide. By that afternoon I was saved, in the truest sense of the word, by Jesus. It truly was the most incredible thing that could have possibly happened. I took home a new testament and read until I was finished, allowing myself only enough time for a bit of sleep and some peanut butter sandwiches. A couple of weeks later I went to a small coffee shop in New Richmond Ohio, where we had heard there was some kind of Christian thing happening. I was with a friend I had met in church, Kenny Craycraft. He had befriended me so that I would not slip back into the life that I had recently given up. (The folks in the Church where I went could not relate at all to a person who had never known Christ and who been a fervent partier since he was fourteen, I was twenty-two at that time. I was essentially friendless at that point, with no one to hang with except my old buddies.) We arrived a little early and were standing around just kind of soaking it all in. This very intense, burnt out kind of a guy, was staring at me every time that I looked at him. I mentioned him to Kenny and joked that the guy staring at me looked like he was on acid. It seems now that it was only moments later when I turned and this person was in my face asking me "whater you doin". I just grinned at him and said something about coming there to listen to some music and ask if he had ever heard the band that was about to play. He said yes and that they were okay. He left and I didn't see him again until he was on stage. As it turned out my new acquaintance was Rich, he was there with his group Zion. That evening is one that I'll always remember. It was the most wonderful music that I'd ever heard. I remember sitting in my chair swaying to the music, totally captured. I'd seen almost every significant rock band that had done a concert in Cincy, in the Seventies. But none grabbed my attention like this. They did Praise to the Lord, Resist the devil and many more. Their lyrics seemed as if they were coming at me through Zion from the mouth of God. Rich approached me after that concert and Kenny and I ended up going somewhere to eat or something with him. He spoke to me about his relationship with God, the struggles and whatnot. Kenny and I went to every concert that Zion did for several months after that. Between concerts I spent as much time as possible with Rich. It was through those conversations that I learned about a Jesus that I didn't know existed. A loving, forgiving, caring God that didn't expect us to fit into any mold. A God who was not legalistic, who could care less about Church doctrine and expectations. I'm having trouble trying to explain just what I learned during that time, maybe the thing that was most important was that we need not feel guilt for our sinful nature, instead we should praise Him for our knowing Him. A sense of love for the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord was instilled deep within my soul. It has been living there ever since, even through the worst of times. In my darkest hours I've never forgotten that He is there and that He loves and cares for me even when I'm at my most depraved human level. It was due to Rich's love for God that this happened. It wasn't really Rich though. It was the way that he allowed himself to be used by the Lord. It's really the Lord's music, and Rich is His mouthpiece. If you don't see this in Rich then you really don't see Rich at all. If you give Rich credit for the beautiful music that he does, then you are taking credit away from Rich. We were later roommates at the Cincinnati Bible college. It was during this time frame that he and Zion were getting ready to cut their album. I left college and joined the Army, Rich went on in his work for the Lord. And I guess that you know the rest of the story.
The last time that I saw Rich was in 87 or 88 and he was doing a concert in Seattle. He just showed up on my doorstep. The only other time that I've seen him since school days was in Korea. I was in the army there. I was sitting on my doorstep and this Charley Manson looking guy appeared in front of me. It took me several seconds before I realized who it was. The whole time he just stared at me with that intense look of his. I have to admit that he scared the crap out of me. God bless him, he's the only person that I know who would look me up in Korea. What a friend. I think he stopped contacting me because I never called him. Little did he know that we never finished getting his phone number on paper. He never let on to me how successful he was. I had no idea that he had put out so many records. I only knew of his first one and couldn't find it. I can't express the joy that I feel for him.
Thanks so much for sharing that with us, Steve. I wanted to tell you that I talked to Kathy today and she remembered you. She mentioned something about you and Rich and some other guy whose name escapes me and gross-out contests in the CBC cafeteria? Surely not! :-)
Anyway she is leaving this Sunday to go meet Rich and some other old college friends to do some serious R&R, and she was going to personally hand Rich your address and phone number. Cool?