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Beyond the Pale: 2013 in Review
By Steve on January 2, 2014
I started Beyond the Pale in 2008 as an outlet for a number of “hodge podge” ideas in my head. Politics, baseball, movies, social commentary, as well as a few posts that reflected my Christian…
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Grace, a Guitar, and Gabriel
By Steve on December 31, 2013
Two years ago my teenage son Gabriel wanted a guitar for Christmas. I thought, “Yeah, that will be used for a couple weeks and then sit in his room as a museum piece.” (I’m pretty…
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Bono Leads Dublin Street Crowd in “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
By Steve on December 29, 2013
How cool would it be if you were out walking the streets on Christmas Eve night with your family and discover that the guy busking songs is not just some local musician, but U2 frontman Bono? Yeah,…
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Top Ten Best Books: 2013
By Steve on December 27, 2013
I read a lot. In the pre-digital world I would have certainly struggled to remember every book I had read in a given year. Now though I need only scroll through my Amazon purchases of…
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10 Things a 3 Year Old Jesus May Have Done
By Steve on December 24, 2013
My son Ethan George turned 3 yesterday. As I watched him laugh and play with some of the new toys he received I couldn’t help but think of Jesus…and what it must have been like…
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The Gift Of The Magi
By Steve on December 20, 2013
Over the last month or so my blog postings here have been a little sporadic…and my first book about my hike across England which has been edited and ready to publish on Amazon lays in wait….
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God Is (Not) In Control!
By Steve on December 17, 2013
“God is in control!” You hear that mantra a lot in certain Christian circles. Whether over a tragic death, a lost job, or even a lost presidential election, Christians like to brace themselves with the…
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Paul Ellis and “The Gospel in Twenty Questions”
By Steve on December 12, 2013
You may wonder why”grace”, the central component to the Good News of Jesus Christ, is so offensive to many Christians? I do… I scratch my head as to why fellow believers are the ones most…
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Why Mandela Matters!
By Steve on December 6, 2013
Nelson Mandela has died… As the world wide outpouring of grief for Africa’s greatest statesmen is played out on the 24 hour news channels I found myself wondering why this man’s story, as incredible as…
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Christianity Without Hooks 2: A Story of AIDS
By Steve on December 4, 2013
Evangelical Christianity has all kinds of hooks designed to catch people into the faith. We * organize special meetings * bring in exciting speakers * create multimedia shows * provide free food (pizza for the youth)…