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10 Things I Learned At Big Stuf 2013

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

IMG_2360You’re never too old to learn something from youth camp.

Last week I took my students from The Hill Baptist Church of Augusta, GA to Big Stuf camp in Panama City Beach, FL. Together with about 1500 other students we laughed, sang, and learned together about God’s Reality.

This is the 25th year of Big Stuf. Each summer founder Lanny Donoho and a crew of speakers, musicians, magicians, acrobats, and comedians have come together to proclaim the crazy things God wants to do in the lives of students. Here’s a few things I took away from the main session speakers Jamey Dickens and Jon Acuff: Continue reading →

The Song Of The Summer

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

ipod-peopleSometimes you can’t escape a song. You hear it one day on the radio on your way to work. The song is pleasant enough.

Then you hear it on your way home. You begin to sing along a bit, bobbing your head to the beat.

Next thing you know you can’t take a drive without hearing the song. Watching tv you hear it on every commercial and movie trailer.

Soon enough even the out of touch middle-aged adults in your life can teach you the dance moves to the song. You frantically spin the radio dial anytime you hear the first chord from the song. You carry a pair of earplugs with you at all times. You start to consider soundproofing your house so you don’t hear the song as someone drives down your street.

What was once an innocent earworm has now infected your brain. By the end of August you’re locked in a steel chamber underneath your house blocked off from all society just to escape the song of the summer. Continue reading →

So You Think You Can Doubt

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Time to come clean and reveal a dirty little secret. My favorite guilty pleasure of the summer is a show called “So You Think You Can Dance.”

I’m a fan of reality shows which track and reward a contestant’s growth over the course of the series. “Survivor”, older seasons of “American Idol”, even “Celebrity Apprentice”. I love seeing real people face down seemingly insurmountable challenges and overcome them, learning more about themselves and life along the way.

(Also I have an unhealthy crush on host Cat Deeley.)

But what I love most about “So You Think You Can Dance” is the moment of doubt. Continue reading →

What Would Taylor Swift Do?

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swift

Billboard

Without heartbreak Taylor Swift would have no songs to write.

Without the pain from relationships gone bad, where would Taylor Swift’s inspiration come from?

Her scars tell her story. Her pain inspires her art. Her conflicts create an opportunity for a greater victory.

Without getting knocked down we have no reason to rise up.

Without conflict there is no reason for us to rise off the couch.

Without getting fired from Apple Steve Jobs would have never invested in a little company called Pixar and we would have no “Toy Story”.

Without getting saddled with the horrible name “The Ringmaster”, Steve Austin would have never gone home and brainstormed the name “Stone Cold”.

There is significance in our struggle. There is art in our unrest. With conflict comes the chance for heroism. Continue reading →

What Do You Doubt?

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother. – Khalil Gibran, poet

What do you doubt about God? If you have any faith in God, you surely wrestle with doubt as well.

In a world where innocent Marathon runners and spectators become terrorist victims one day and innocent plant workers become victims of an explosion the next, doubt creeps in about a loving God.

What kind of God does this to His people? What hope is there in this world? What do we have to cling to?

The doubt in our heart is nothing new. The stains of doubt are never fully washed from our cup no matter how powerful our faith is. For as long as people have had faith they have wrestled against doubt.

482376_858133227665_1363584939_nTake Thomas for instance – the doubting disciple. For the past few weeks I’ve been rehearsing for a play called “Eight Days After”. The play is an exploration into the mysterious appearances of Jesus after His resurrection and how they affected the people He once knew. 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.

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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 →