Dominic

“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” –Psalm 63:3

I think a trait that is constant throughout our lives is that as we grow older, we look upon our younger selves and consider how little we knew then, compared to what we know now. Whether it is wisdom, understanding or anything, we always think that we know more now, than we did then. As a Youth Pastor, sometimes I look at my students and see their desire to learn, the choices they are making, and recognize the same struggles that were going through my own mind in that time.

I learned at age 25, that this is not always the case. I learned that an eight-year-old has more wisdom and understanding than what I could have. As a Christian, I had an understanding of life, death, spirituality, and overall the reality of the universe and how God is at work in it.

Until Mom told me about Dominic. I heard his story and I was rocked. Dominic, an eight-year-old was a celebrity in his own right. Most celebrities are known for their money, their talent, or apparently we celebrate people because of their reality television appearances. But Dominic was not any of the above, nor was he a celebrity because of the brain cancer that eventually took his life- Dominic was a celebrity because of his everlasting kindness, his unmatched joy, and his unyielding spirit.

You can Google Dominic’s name, and learn his life story. You can see the people he befriended, the experiences he had and the life he lived. This post isn’t about Dominic’s life. It’s about an impact. It is a natural human desire to have an impact. Some of us thirst and work and faint for the chance to impact people. If you knew him, he impacted you. I did not meet him until his visitation, but through pictures, stories, and memories shared by those who did- I understood his impact.

I’ll be honest, I have not had very many crises of faith in my life. Even when things were the absolute worst, I haven’t been one to say, “How, God?” or “How could you let this happen, God?” One day, however, in the early Summer 2016, I did a pretty poor job of this, and the faith crisis hit me hard. Mom, faithfully keeping me updated on Dominic’s condition left home one morning telling me that Dominic had a scan that day, and they were very hopeful for excellent news. They felt the latest treatments would prove very successful, and everyone was cautiously optimistic, but more optimistic than cautious.

Later that day, the narrative took a turn. The scan had come back in a tragic way. I was shocked. Mom was shocked. Everyone was shaken. There was no more optimism, and for all we knew, Dominic’s life would soon be ending. On June 22, it did.

I tried to remember the things I was most concerned about when I was eight years old. The most traumatic event in my life at that point was coming home to see that the house was ransacked.

Not that I was sick.
            Not that I was going to die. So, in that moment I did what I had seldom done in my life, I went to prayer to my creator and I said “How? Why?” A child, and eight-year-old. A little boy who smiled in every picture. When you take Philosophy and Theology they always teach you the same thing: Evil and Death do not come from God, but are a result of an imperfect world that God will one day redeem. You can write that in your notebook as many times as you can, but your heart still is not prepared for when an eight-year-old loses a battle to cancer.

Yet, then you see the outpouring of love. You hear the stories. You see Dominic’s testimony. You hear of his love for God, and his knowledge of Jesus. What’s more you start to see that he didn’t keep these things to himself but he told others about Jesus, and how his joy and his strength came not from himself, but from God. He could be content in his circumstances, because he had God. He told his friends, his family, my family, Royals players, Firefighters, Hospital staff the same message: that he was okay because of God.

I am a Pastor and have never been so bold in my desire to tell people about God. My circumstances are easy; my burdens are light. Dominic had brain cancer. He wasn’t the one asking “Why?” because he had a greater faith than even myself. His eyes were not set on his life on earth but on what was above and his friend Jesus, waiting for him.

At this point I was rocked again, not because of sadness, but this time because, I haven’t seen faith like that anywhere. Not even in the church have I seen faith that looked in the face of death and smiled because death was not the end for Dominic Johnson. He knew what so many have taken for granted: Death was inevitable, but life in Jesus Christ was on the other side, and lasted forever.

Dominic’s impact on me was that the Lord used him to renew my own faith. Just as the Lord has used him to help others who did not know Jesus, to meet him. Dominic introduced a lot of people to his friend, Jesus- who could lead them to eternal life, just as he had for Dominic.

A month or two after Dominic passed away on June 22, a video of him was discovered as he neared his last day. In the video he said over and over that Satan had no control over him, but that he knew Jesus and Jesus was stronger, and because Jesus was stronger, Dominic was stronger. When Satan tried to make Dominic hurt, or be discouraged, or give up, Dominic, in faith, said aloud that the devil had no such control, but that Jesus was the Lord of Dominic’s life, and that Jesus was the one who called the shots, no matter the circumstances.

Dominic likely didn’t know it, but he responded to his circumstances in a nearly identical way that King David did, when he was in the desert avoiding men who were trying to kill him. P

“Oh God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints

for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Dominic, at the end of his life, was in a dry and weary land where there was a lot of hurt and not much relief. But instead of being overcome with sadness, Dominic, with the maturity and strength of someone five times his age, accepted his circumstances, and straight up told the Devil that Dominic Johnson belonged to Jesus Christ. He responded like King David, whom the Bible said was a man after God’s own heart:

“Therefore, I have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. Because of this, I will bless you as long as I live, in your name I will lift up my hands.”

                                                                                    Psalm 63:1-4

            Dominic blessed God, and many people until his last breath. He is no longer in pain, but has been welcomed into glory beyond our wildest imagination. Dominic also knew a powerful truth: that the Kingdom of Jesus is for anyone in any circumstance. Dominic would have wanted you to turn from your sadness and turn your eyes upon Jesus, and know him. Because money, success, power, and influence are very small and completely useless when compared to Glory of God and the free gift of eternal life that is offered to all of us at all times no matter who we are or what we have done.

            Thanks, D.