Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, December 29, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, December 29, 2018 

KATIE Tse..........This and That


WALKING SIERRA MADRE.. The Social Side By Deanne Davis

“So much has been given to me; I have no time to 
ponder over that which has been denied.”

Helen Keller

We’ve done it, friends and neighbors, we’ve gotten 
through another Christmas and a brand New Year 
stands panting outside our doors, just waiting to get 
this show on the road. We’ve put all the wrapping 
paper in the appropriate bin, made a list of people 
to thank and our thank you notes are sitting on the 
counter, ready to write.

“Thank you is the best prayer that anyone could 
say. I say that one a lot. 

Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, 
understanding.” Alice Walker

We can leave the Christmas decorations up another 
week without feeling shame or guilt. After all, it was 
a lot of work to get them just right and, seriously, 
what’s the rush? The tree is beautiful, whether it’s 
real or not, and the “stockings we’ve hung by the 
chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon 
would be there,” (Thank you, Clement Moore for 
“A Visit From St. Nicholas) can stay up just a little 
longer.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like 
wrapping a present and not giving it.”

William Arthur Ward

We’ve been to lots of nice events, maybe even a memorable church service or two, where the thoughts 
expressed fit our sentiments exactly. People have invited us out for a glass of wine, or to dinner 
or breakfast and we enjoyed the pumpkin pancakes at MiMi’s Café more than once if we planned 
carefully enough.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual 
experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” Denis Waitley

The children in our lives loved whatever it was we got them, the $25 Target Gift Card being a popular 
favourite among the younger set so they can pick out exactly what they want, rather than smiling 
grimly at what we thought they wanted. The picture is Jessie and Emily in front of their Christmas 
tree.

“Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into Joy, and change 
ordinary opportunities into Blessings.”

We’ve had a wonderful Christmas. For me, the second one without my best friend, John, was OK. I 
was surrounded by family and we had a great time together. God has been good to me and I’m sure 
He’s been good to you, too. I thought I’d pass along one more little gift to wind up the year. The easiest 
and best coffeecake ever. Give this a try New Year’s morning when you’re getting ready to watch the 
Rose Parade, or maybe a test run today.

CINNAMON COFFEE CAKE

Starting this particular day should be a delightful experience. Force yourself out the door to get a 
little exercise to get everything moving - as a friend of ours, Harvey Hyde, says, “gettin’ it done!” 
Start the brain working, and take a few thankful moments to tell the Lord you are grateful for life, 
for the ability to walk, for eyesight to see the flowers in everybody’s yard and hear the birds singing. 
Now, go back inside, make some coffee and put together this quick and easy coffee cake. It’s great 
with some fruit and you can double and triple it with impunity!

1/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs beaten

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 TB. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon (generous)

1 cup milk (nonfat works fine, or you can use orange juice if you’re out of milk).

Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs, beat till light and fluffy. Mix together flour, salt, baking 
powder and cinnamon. Add alternately with butter-sugar mixture and milk. Pour into greased 9” 
baking pan. Sprinkle with topping mixture.

Topping:

1/1-2 tsp. cinnamon (generous)

1/2 cup sugar

2 TB melted butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Topping melts down into coffeecake creating deliciously 
cinnamon-y valleys amongst the cake.

Take your coffee and a good sized piece out to the couch and enjoy your Christmas tree just a little 
longer. 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

 “Star of Wonder – A Christmas Story,” 

A Kindle Book which will fill your heart with joy is available there!

As is “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter

Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@playwrightdd

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE


Merry Week-After-
Christmas! I actually 
submitted this article for last 
week’s edition, but something 
must’ve happened, and one of 
my other articles got recycled. 
Oh well. I was a little upset that this one didn’t 
make it to print in time, but then I felt a stab of 
conviction for being more concerned about how 
the town might perceive me as a columnist than I 
was about how people might perceive Jesus, who 
is, after all, supposed to be the whole focus of my 
piece. So, even though it’s a week late, I hope you 
sill enjoy it, and that Jesus will be glorified, despite 
my guilty pride. 

 I frequently recycle old articles, and you may 
think this one is, too, since it has the same title as 
my Christmas article from last year. But this is, in 
fact, a new article. 

 Actually, that’s not entirely true. The Christmas 
message hasn’t changed from last year or the year 
before that, or the year before that. In fact, it 
hasn’t changed in 2018 years. If you were to go 
back and read my article from last year, much of it 
will probably be almost word for word the same as 
the article you’re reading now.

 Some well-meaning Christians try to dress up 
the Gospel to attract a certain group of people. 
Maybe they want to reach millennials, or maybe 
they want to bring more people of a different 
ethnicity into the church. That’s all well and good, 
but you don’t have to doctor up the message of 
salvation to do that. The Gospel stands on its 
own. As soon as you try to add your own personal 
touch, you taint it a bit, or a lot.

 So I’m going to try to present it to you in 
the plainest way I know how. The message of 
Christmas, Christ’s birth, is just the first chapter 
in His purpose in coming to earth --to die for me 
and for you. Why did He have to die for us? Why 
did He have to be born as a human? 

 He had to be made like us to atone for our sins. 
If someone sins and is put to death, that person’s 
death fulfills the punishment for their own sin, but 
it does nothing to pay for the sins of anyone else. 
In order to cover for someone else’s sin, the person 
who dies would have to be, themselves, sinless. So 
why would Jesus’ death be able to cover the sins of 
everyone from Adam to the present day? Because 
Jesus was not just a man. He was, and is, God.

 “But I’m a good person,” someone may be 
thinking. True, many people are “good people” 
--compared to their family members, coworkers, 
the criminal in state prison, and the drunk down 
the street. But are they “good people” compared 
to a holy and sinless God? Because that’s the only 
comparison that matters in the end.

 I was talking with a coworker the other day 
and the conversation touched upon religion. She 
knows I’m a Christian and I know she’s not, and 
we have a lovely relationship. At one point, she 
mentioned that it’s fine for everyone to believe 
what they want, as long as they don’t try to tell her 
what to believe. 

 I don’t know if the right thing at that moment 
would have been to delve into a discussion on her 
spiritual condition and need for a Savior. I didn’t 
feel that it was the right thing to do at that time, 
and hopefully I made the right call. I continue to 
pray for her, and hope that my witness to her as a 
friend will somehow contribute to her coming to 
Christ. That may sound like a cop out, and maybe 
it is, but at least I’m being real with you about it.

 What my friend might not realize, however, is 
that if someone really loves someone else, they 
will want to spare that person from danger and 
harm. Real love sometimes means telling others 
that they’re wrong. Not simply because the 
person disagrees with someone else, but when the 
person disagrees with what God has set forth, it’s 
a problem. And if they die in that state, that’s an 
eternal problem.

 I know people don’t like to think about death, 
and certainly not at Christmas time, but death 
is a reality we all will face. If there had been any 
other way for God to save sinners without having 
to send His own beloved Son, don’t you think He 
would’ve done it?

 The Christmas message is the same as the 
Easter message: God loves you, wants to be in 
relationship with you, and wants you to spend 
the rest of eternity with Him in Heaven. He has 
done all the work of salvation for you. There’s 
nothing you can do to earn it and nothing you 
can do to add to it. It is finished. Your only 
job is to reach out and take hold of the only life 
line available to you. And that life line is named 
Jesus.

 *If you choose to accept Jesus as your Savior 
you can pray this prayer and He will come into 
your heart and give you peace with God --today 
and forever!

 “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, 
and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died 
for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from 
my sins and invite You to come into my heart and 
life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and 
Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com