The Christian Broadcasting Network

The 700 Club with Pat Robertson


Dave Bruno


Credits

Author, Can I Get a Do Over?(2011)

QVC, Senior Host, 17 years

Actor in Hollywood

Married to Amy; 2 sons



GUEST BIO

Rick Domeier: Can I Get a Do Over?

By The 700 Club

A GREAT START
After a heated basketball game between Rick’s two sons, one asked for a do-over.  Evidently some things needed to be corrected, re-done, done-over.  Rick realized that was exactly what he had needed in his personal life years before, and fortunately he received his do-over by the grace of God.

Rick grew up in a family of faith, attending church every week with his sister and parents.  He graduated from a Catholic high school with a faith in God that was very much a foundational part of his life, instilled in him by loving parents.  Things changed though after high school when he left for Hollywood to pursue his dream of acting.   

It didn’t take long for Rick to immerse himself in the stereotypical Hollywood lifestyle.   This is where he could have stayed … even died, if it hadn’t been for the grace of God and his own “do-over.”  Rick learned that it’s easy to fall into the sort of narcission that is so much of the world today. 

 “In my mind it was all about me,” says Rick, and he had unconsciously walked away from everything his parents had worked so hard to instill in his life.   “I had forgotten what my dad taught me – the principles of the Bible.”  

Rick’s dad was a WWII hero, one of five brothers who went to war.  Only three came back.  His Dad rarely talked about the war, yet it was a period that shaped his life.  “I can’t say enough good things about my father,” Rick says.  His Dad preached more with his life than with words. 

A DO-OVER
Once in Hollywood Rick wandered – chasing the dream.  During the time he was dating a wonderful hometown girl named Amy.  Everything was going along great, he worked as a bartender and was acting in some commercials.  He auditioned for movies and was rejected for a part in CBS’s 48 Hours.  But soon two challenging things happened which made him re-focus his life.  After three years Amy broke up with him, and to top it off his manager had to quit for health reasons. 

Rick found himself in LA, broke and alone.  Rick decided to start making calls for himself – determined to find a steady job in television.  Channel surfing one night he saw this new network, QVC, and sent them an audition tape.  He got the job!  He moved to West Chester, PA, and reconnected with Amy.  Eventually he married to his long-time love. 

Although his wild ways subsided, “I was still completely focused on me,” he says.  This was until he became a father.  There was something about holding that small life in his arms.  It was like a slap in the face, a completely overwhelming feeling.  “I suddenly realize I couldn’t do this on my own.  I needed help and not just from other people,” he says.  “I needed God.” 

Moving away from faith and the journey to his u-turn and finally coming home was a process for Rick.  It didn’t happen overnight.  Yet his Dad never waivered in his love for him.  In December 2005 Rick and family were heading to Minnesota to spend Christmas with his parents.  His Dad was 85 and diabetic; they got a call he was not expected to make it.  They rushed to be by his bedside and Rick had four hours with him before he passed away on Christmas Eve.   That Christmas they celebrated his Dad’s homegoing as well as the birth of Jesus. 

Rick had the honor of giving the eulogy for his father to honor him.  He knew what he wanted to say about one of the most amazing men in the world, his father.  “For it was my father, who taught me how to be a father, who taught me about my heavenly Father, and eventually loved me back to The Father,” Rick says.   No one can have a do-over by themselves, Rick says.  They need help.  And that help comes from God. 

THE MOVIE OF YOUR LIFE

Rick says his father was the inspiration behind his book.  One day, Rick was having a long talk with his dad who was then 85 years old. Rick recalls that his dad was having trouble remembering what he had for lunch that day.  When Rick changed the subject to World War II, his dad’s memory shifted.  “He was talking as if he were 22 years old and a gunner’s mate first-class on the USS Boise,” says Rick.  (His dad was on the Boise when it was attacked by six Japanese warships. Withing 36 minutes, 88 men were killed, many of them friends of his father.  Miraculously, his father survived.) 

As the conversation wound down, Rick says his father asked a very simple, profound question,” Where did the time go?”  “It’s those kinds of moments when we all reflect on the lightning speed at which time passes,” says Rick.  “We’re suddenly shocked at the reminder that…our days are numbered,” says Rick. 

Rick says he and co-author Max Davis delved into the people whose stories are profiled in their book, Can I Get a Do Over?.  The common theme emerged:  at some pivotal time in the movie of their life, they stopped the action and yelled, CUT!  With imagination, focus, and blood, sweat and tears, each person created a new ending to their story, even after hitting rock bottom.



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