Living With Purpose

Everything Is Amazing And Nobody Is Happy

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above.)

Where has the joy gone in our lives? We live in a most incredible time, and yet we find ourselves complaining and worked up over the most menial problems.

The technology we have in this time is beyond incredible. Yet, as Louis C.K. perfectly puts it, if our phones take a minute while going to space we become ungrateful brats. The miracle of flying through the air has become an incredible burden.DSC_0068

Think about this: if all the “things” in your life were taken away, all of your possessions, everything you have, even all the people you love, would you be able to be joyful? Would you still be grateful?

God has called us to be joyful always. But how? How can we exhibit joy in all situations? Continue reading →

The Gospel According To Autocorrect

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

I love everything about my iPhone. Everything except Autocorrect.

You might think I would love a feature which automatically corrects my typing. I’ll admit it really is amazing how accurate autocorrect can be in fixing my myriad mistakes. Sometimes I can’t believe how intuitive my phone can be in figuring out what I’m trying to type.

What I don’t love is how much I depend on autocorrect. I’m afraid of how desperately I need it to fix my mistakes.

Without autocorrect, an average text message from me such as this one:

photo 1

Would end up looking like this one: Continue reading →

Practice?

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

(click here if you can’t see the Youtube clip above)

Practice?

Why are we talking about practice?

After all – isn’t life just one big practice round? Aren’t we just biding our time until the next life comes around?

If the next life after this is so important, then why do we spend so much time talking about and worrying about this life?

There must be a point to this practice round. There must be a reason why God placed us in this world. There must be a reason why He hasn’t rescued us from it yet.

Maybe this practice round really counts. Continue reading →

So I Thought I Could Dance…

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

There I was, just an ordinary kid, on the precipice of the most important night of my life: the fifth-grade dance. If I had learned anything from watching hours of “Saved By The Bell” every morning before school, it was that true love is born at school dances.

nrcc.net

nrcc.net

Desperately desiring a girlfriend, I knew I needed to enhance my appearance for this night. This was my first school dance. It had to be perfect.

I picked out a snazzy shirt from my closet. I doused myself in drug-store cologne. I slicked my hair back and sprayed it down until it was brittle.

I looked good.

My best friend and I gave each other pep talks in the car on the way to the dance. I arrived with confidence, ready to find true love and dance the night away.

Instead, I spent the night stuffing my face with cookies and candy bars, standing scared against the wall for two straight hours. Continue reading →

Wake Up With Purpose

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

What does your morning look like? Do you typically sleepwalk through the same routine seven days a week? Does the alarm on your iPhone go off for over an hour before you finally throw off the covers? Are you up every morning at 7:30 but not really awake until 11:30?

Maybe you should try waking up to something different. Maybe you should try waking up like Rick from “The Walking Dead”. Rick-Grimes

In the first episode of “The Walking Dead”, a routine traffic check goes awry and Officer Rick Grimes is shot. The next time we see Rick, he’s waking up from a coma in an Atlanta hospital.

The problem is he’s the only person left in the hospital. In the indeterminate time since Rick has been shot, the world has become overrun with zombies. The walking dead have taken over the hospital and the world around him.

There is no time to waste when Rick wakes up. His life is in danger. His family is missing. There is no time to fool around with the snooze button. There is no time to procrastinate. Continue reading →

A Lesson From Elmo On Happiness

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

My favorite verse in the bible is Philippians 4:4. It reads:

Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, rejoice!

Some people, including myself, have a hard time living this verse out. Take Elmo, for instance:

Our furry friend seems to have some serious emotional problems. One second he’s ecstatically happy, the next he’s nearly suicidal with despair. And why? All because the green frog won’t play with him right that instant.

We’ve all acted like Elmo before, haven’t we? Much like Kermit promises Elmo everything he wants, God promises us everything we could ever desire. Yet we complain because we want it all right now.

Elmo is guilty of an error many of us make in life. Elmo is not finding his joy in the right place. Continue reading →

Be More Like Ralph

/ Alex Doriot / 3 Comments
nytimes.com

nytimes.com

Do you ever feel stuck in your story? Do you feel like you’re living out the same plot, day after day after day?

Do you ever feel like Wreck-It Ralph?

Ralph makes his living as the villain in an ’80s arcade game. For decades he’s played the same character, living out the same story every day, losing to the same hero of the game in every battle.

Tired of the drudgery of his “day job,” Ralph finally decides to leave his post in the game, sending the rest of the characters into shock.

The concept for the movie is cute and clever. It also reflects our own lives.

Some days it feels like we can’t stop living the same story.

Some days it feels like we’re just going through the motions.

Some days it feels like the author of the story keeps running us through the same scenes over and over again, no matter how boring, painful or difficult they may be.

So how do you change the type of story you’re in?

The answer is quite simple: make a decision. Continue reading →

You Are Not Too Old

/ Alex Doriot / 3 Comments

You are not too old.photo 2

How do I know? Because I’ve heard my grandfather play guitar.

He only knows a couple of songs. I think that’s understandable though, when you realize he just started playing a year ago. In his 80s.

He had never played an instrument before. Doesn’t have a musical background. He just always wanted to learn the guitar, so our family bought him one. And now he’s slowly strumming along, learning chords, and playing Silent Night for our family at Christmas. No big deal. Continue reading →

We Hate To Wait

/ Alex Doriot / 3 Comments

It’s hard to live life from the couch. But I feel like that’s where The Roc and I have been stuck the past month.

That’s my dog The Roc on the left. He’s an old miniature pinscher I adopted a couple years ago. Last month he had surgery to remove an infected toe, a cyst above his eye, and a growth inside his mouth.

He’s had a rough time of recovering from surgery. We’ve been back to the vet nearly a dozen times since then.  Just when one area seems to heal up a new problem arises.

My heart breaks for him. He’s not meant to be stuck on the couch with a cone on his head. He’s meant to explore and go on adventures. It’s hard to thrive when you can’t get away from the doctor’s office. Continue reading →

The U2 Trick

/ Alex Doriot / 4 Comments

Who would you say is the biggest band in the world right now? Would it be Mumford and Sons? fun.? Maroon 5? One Direction?

U2-Rattle-and-HumIn the late 80s, the answer to that question would have undoubtedly been U2. In 1989, at the peak of their international popularity, U2 decided to take a break. After ten years of constant touring across the world and six smash records, the biggest band in the world took a few years off to, as Bono said at the time, “dream it all up again.”

When they returned with their next album “Achtung Baby” in 1991, most people expected it would consist of the same uplifting, soul-searching arena rock that was a trademark of U2. Instead, “Achtung Baby” sounded like this: 

“Achtung Baby” was not just a tremendous departure from anything U2 had ever created, but from anything on the radio in 1991. Why would the biggest band in the world completely deconstruct their sound and release an album so far removed from their previous catalog?

Here’s the trick: they wanted to thrive, not just survive. Continue reading →