The faith of Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek

I couldn’t believe the post that my friend sent me on Instagram yesterday morning. Actor James Van Der Beek, who was best known for his role in the US teen drama Dawson’s Creek, died aged 48, from bowel cancer.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning,” his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. “He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace.”

Van Der Beek was diagnosed with cancer in late 2023, sharing the news in November 2024. His passing so quickly, and at such a young age, is just so unbelievably sad, and like everyone, my first thought was his six precious children left without their dad, and his wife. 

A star in multiple popular series and films in the late 1990s and early 2000s, like Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues, Van Der Beek was someone that millennials like me grew up with. Dawson’s Creek was a key part of my youth, and watching his character of Dawson shaped my girlhood, my view of the opposite sex, and the world.

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Dawson’s Creek followed a group of teenage friends in a small town as they navigated adolescence through the hurdles of romance, sex, love, mental health, and family. 

My friends and I used to sing the theme tune, fan-girl over the gorgeous, leggy Joey (co-star Katie Holmes), and, of course, alternate between our crushes on the two main male characters, Dawson and Pacey (Joshua Jackson).

And the main character of the show was Van Der Beek: Dawson - a lovable teenager (but sometimes annoyingly sappy!)

And the main character of the show was Van Der Beek: Dawson - a lovable teenager (but sometimes annoyingly sappy!) with dreams to become the next Steven Spielberg. The love triangle between Dawson, Pacey, and Joey was what kept us hooked on the show week after week, part of us wanting Dawson to get the girl, part of us rooting for him to just let her go!

After a harrowing journey through cancer, the unbearable pain of losing a child, I found strength not in my own resilience alone but in the abiding presence of Jesus

James spoke up about his experience of cancer online, and he shared an Instagram video titled “What cancer taught me,” as he entered his 48th year. He shared openly how the disease stripped away the identities he once relied on, saying he was forced to “look my own mortality in the eye.”

“I had to come nose to nose with death,” he said. “And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.”

“I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids, put them to bed, and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn’t working.”

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“I am worthy of God’s love simply because I exist,” he said, “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”

At his lowest point, when everything he found meaning and purpose in was taken away (not unlike Job in the Bible), Van Der Beek had to lean into all he had left: The love of God. “I am worthy of God’s love simply because I exist,” he said, “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”

Van Der Beek claimed this revelation was due to people praying for him. He went on to say that although he didn’t know who God was, he was still connecting to Him. My prayer is that he encountered the love of his true heavenly Father through the saving work of Jesus Christ. Witnessing Van Der Beek’s family lose him so young is truly a sobering reminder that life is the most amazing gift from God, and it can be gone at any moment. So we need to ask ourselves: where do we find our worth? What’s it all about?

How much do we cling to different identities to find our worth? Our jobs, our ministry, being a mum… all of them are good and God-given, but when our world identities are stripped away, do we know who we really are: Children of God, deeply loved and cherished by a Heavenly Father. James also said, ‘Before cancer, God was something I tried to fit into my life as much as possible. After cancer, I felt like a connection to God, whatever that is, is kind of the whole point of this exercise on this planet.’

He was absolutely right. Knowing and enjoying God is what we were all made for. It’s the whole point of life. Let’s not merely fit God into our lives; let’s make Him the sole focus instead. We cannot know how many days we will be gifted on this beautiful planet, but when we put our trust in Jesus as our saviour, we know that our days on earth are but a front cover page to an eternity with God after death. It was far too soon to say goodbye to James Van Der Beek. Let’s pray for his beloved wife and children, Kimberly, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah, as they process their immense loss. And let’s remember James not just as a successful actor, but as a child of God who faced sickness and death holding onto Love.

‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ John 10:28-30.