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Tales Of A Wrestling School Dropout

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

(It’s Wrestlemania week on POP GOD! Join us everyday this week as we count down to Wrestlemania XXIX this Sunday with new posts searching for God in the squared circle.)

This is the tale of a wrestling school dropout.

324122_278504272180672_1937001811_oBefore my alter ego Ice D ever defended his championship, I flunked out of wrestling school.

A few years back I stepped into a professional wrestling ring with two of my best friends in the outskirts of Harlem, GA. We grew up watching spandex-clad athletes assault each other every Monday night for years. One day we heard of a local wrestling group offering tryouts. We decided to join them.

We had our ring names picked out – a faction known as The UnXpected. Our T-shirts would bear our catchphrase: “Respect The UnXpected.” The merchandising dollars would be rolling in.

We dreamt of winning world championships and entering the Hall of Fame.

We never made it out of training. 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 →

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 →