March 2011 – Unitarian Society of Germantown – Rev. Rahman tells two compelling stories, one involving a humpback whale in distress, and the other, a woman who encounters a stranger when she comes to draw water at the well. Both lives are changed forever. Two very different characters and scenarios originate from different times and places, yet they possess similarities. Tragic circumstances place them both in dire straits – in ties that bind. How do they extricate themselves, or do they? How do these two stories relate to our lives today? Rev. Dr. Qiyamah Rahman is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and was a faculty member of Meadville Lombard Theological School.