Life According to Darwin

By Gorman Woodfin
700 Club Producer

CBN.com - He was on the fast track toward fame, power, money … and serious drug addictions, when life began to slip away.

In high school, Darwin Benjamin of Inglewood, Calif., lived for the roar of the crowds. Many locals lifted him up as a hometown hero.

"I was a high school football All-American. They called me 'Darwin the Darth' or 'Road Runner Benjamin'. I was one of the premiere running backs for Southern California and I figured I had it all set."

But when Darwin attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, his past hometown glory faded and his hopes of professional football grew dim.

"My high-school football coach treated me like a blue chip athlete. He was always encouraging. I came to UOP and I was just an average jock. I never sat the bench in high school. Here at UOP, I'm sitting the bench and it disturbed me. Then I really went downhill, because it's like there's no way I'm going to be able to make professional football. They broke my spirit at UOP, and I didn't want to go try out for pro ball, so I got involved with cocaine and crack and marijuana and the party lifestyle."

His lifestyle of drugs and partying brought him the fame and power he longed for.

"The fame was coming with the clique that I was hanging around -- the reputation, the power, the money, the houses, the cars, the jewelry -- but poor morals. And I wound up getting strung out on cocaine and crack for seven-and-a-half to eight years."

Darwin Benjamin and wife Yolanda But then he met a beautiful Hispanic woman named Yolanda.

"She was my Bo Derek, my big 10. And the only thing we had in common in our relationship was intimacy and drugs. That was it."

Their lifestyle of hard partying and intense drug use was filled with abuse.

"There was verbal abuse. There was the physical abuse where I would chase her through a window, she would hit me with a car, the police would show up at our house."

Their relationship took a dark turn when Yolanda got pregnant.

"The drugs will numb you to the real issues of life. They'll take you further than you want to go, they'll keep you longer than you want to stay, and they'll cost you more than you're willing to pay. She told me she was going to give birth to our kids, and she asked me if I would go with her to the hospital to bring our kids into the world, and I said no."

But his mother-in-law talked Darwin into taking her to the hospital to be with Yolanda. They arrived shortly after the delivery.

"I was greeted by a doctor, and I saw my lady and I had missed the birth of my kids. Then he took me around the corner and he showed me a beautiful half black, half Hispanic child; had my eyes and my nose. There was no denying that she was mine."

But the joy of seeing his daughter was soon crushed. Darwin found out his beautiful baby girl was a twin, and her twin sister had severe deformities.

"Her head was nearly twice the size of a normal child, her chest was crushed, her eyeballs were swollen shut, she had a cyst that went from the lower part of her head to the lower part of her back, she had all of her organs born on the outside, she had no rectum, and she was paralyzed on the left side. I remember taking my index finger and I put it out there, and she grabbed it. And even though she couldn't speak, the sensation I felt was these words: 'Daddy, oh, Daddy, I know it's you. Help me. Oh, how it hurts.' And I pulled my hand away and I instantly touched the drugs and I knew by the lifestyle that I had chosen to live that it had caused my child to be born in this condition."

For five days the hospital battled to save his daughter's life.

"I held her in my arms and I said, 'Oh, baby, I'm so sorry for what Daddy's done to you, but I'm getting my life in order and I'm going to see you in the kingdom of God.' I don't know why I said that because I wasn't serving the Lord, but for the first time in a five-day old life, I held her in my arms, and she looked up at me and she panted for her breath. For the first time she opened up her eyes, and we locked on -- eyeball to eyeball. She smiled, she went [breathes] and died in my arms at five days old. That was a tough time. I blamed my lady for the death of our daughter. I wanted nothing to do with our relationship."

But God was working on Darwin's heart. And when he went to hear an old college friend named Donnie Morris preach, Darwin knew he needed to go forward at the close of the sermon and accept Jesus Christ.

"I got up and it was the hardest walk to do. It was just like something was opposing me. I went there and I fell in his arms, and even though he was there, I knew it wasn't him. I said, 'Oh, D, help me. I'm strung out on cocaine, crack, marijuana, alcohol. I've killed my little girl. Oh, D, I've been looking for you for so long. I'm so tired.'"

After seeing Darwin's newfound faith, Yolanda also accepted Jesus as her savior.

"All I can tell you is that ever since November 13, 1988, 7:45 p.m., God saved me. He healed me, He filled me and He delivered me, and I've been clean now ever since. I haven't even had an urge for drugs. I haven't been unfaithful to my wife, and we celebrated 11 years now of being born again, and he's restored my family."

Yolanda thanks God daily for her husband and his godly influence on their children.

Yolanda Benjamin "I think in the area of being a father, when we were not serving the Lord, it was hard for me to picture it, because I had two of my own and then two of his, wondering if I was going to have to raise these children alone, all four of them, without a father, and thinking of the future back then," says Yolanda. "But I thank God for what he's done. He's covered them. He's prayed over them. He loves them. He teaches them about the Lord, and that's just what I want for this family is to be nurtured in that area."

Darwin and Yolanda have lived a life of intense ministry. They've helped those caught in the bondages of drugs and crime, and they've worked tirelessly to minister to those broken by the pain of abortion. Darwin thanks God daily for his new life.

"He's everything to me. He's all that I ever need. I don't quite understand His love and His mercy, but I do know that when the world rejected me and they treated me like a piece of gum -- they chewed me up and spit me out -- and when I was at my lowest moments and I cried out to God with a sincere heart, He met me right there, and He hugged me and He held me. He didn't reject me. He didn't spit on me. He didn't tell me how bad I was. In fact, He told me how much He loved me. And He's walked with me ever since."