Christ Is All That Matters: Devoted For Life

By Phillip Brown

Phillip Brown’s life changed forever on a May evening in 2005. He fell twenty-six feet from a roof gable, landing on his shoulders and head. He survived. Twelve staples closed the head wound, but the worst damage was invisible, tucked within the complex webs of his brain. A traumatic brain injury stole everything he thought was his, gifts he took for granted. He began journaling.

In Christ Is All That Matters, Brown offers a compilation of essays written in the black of morning, his first waking hours with the God he loves. Chronicling his journey with Christ, he shares the goodness of God at work in his life and tells how God used tragedy to transform his walk with God. Brown puts his heart on paper—his fragility, failures, sorrows, joys, and his hopes and dreams, the conversations he has with God.

Every essay engages a singular desire. Each encourages one and all to embrace the God who loves them, the God who keeps them, the God who knows them by name.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9781664287976

Phillip Brown

Phillip Brown is a husband and father to four children. He worked as a master carpenter before experiencing a life-changing accident in May of 2005. Brown began journaling and created a blog for his writings, which became the basis for this book.

Book preview

Day 1

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Christ Is All That Matters

I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

—Ephesians 1:16–23 NLT

I sat in the living room across from my grandfather. He sat in his recliner smothered in a blanket. Fevers came and went. The coughing spells were the worst. Grandpa was dying. I felt helpless. I didn’t want to remember him this way. I looked around. The house looked tired, and the kitchen needed work. The most valuable items in this Texas cottage were memories, the legacy of life in the service of God’s kingdom.

Robert O. Brown was born in 1902 and grew up in a large family. Northwest Kansas was home. Grandpa and his brothers were an imposing lot. My dad liked to say, God have mercy on the boy who fought with big Jess. Fact or fiction, this young boy dreamed about the barroom brawler named Jess. I know nothing about the boy named Bob Brown. Grandpa’s story begins with an earnest young man who marries Eunice Bluhm. Their story is a love affair with Jesus. How else can one explain their extraordinary journey through life?

It was two in the afternoon on a Sunday. I would be headed home in a couple of hours. Grandpa asked a few personal questions, family stuff. I answered him best I could. His answers surprised me; they were honest, direct. Grandpa made it plain that this would be a different conversation. I was soon transported to the early days of family and ministry. He wept at the death of his daughter; it nearly ruined him. Grandpa continued: I imagined a truck with a makeshift camper on it barely making it up a hill, revival meetings and creek baptisms, odd jobs and hard times. He wept again when he talked about Philip. These wounds of loss never healed. Dad always said his mama was the strong one. Grandpa talked of personal failure, times he let his temper outrun the Holy Spirit. Going to Prospect Valley was a mistake; he wanted me to know why. At this point I knew, finally knew, Grandpa was passing on his legacy. He opened his life as instruction to his grandson. I heard opinions best kept private but earnest and pure before a holy God. He bared the heart of flesh now clothed in the transformative grace of God. The time was four in the afternoon. Grandma walked over to Grandpa’s chair. He grasped her hand. In tears, he said, I’m sorry I didn’t give you more.

Grandma would have none of it. We lived a rich life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I got up and said, I need to get going. I knelt down, and his arms embraced me. I rose up, and our eyes met one last time. Grandpa said, Phil, in the end, Christ is all that matters. I turned to the door. I heard Grandpa begin to sob. He knew, I knew, we would never see each other again this side of heaven. Two months later, Grandpa passed from life to life.

Lord, almost forty years have passed. I never forgot Grandpa’s last words, In the end, Christ is all that matters. Those words drive my existence every day. I placed those words on my father’s grave marker. I sign off my blogs and letters with Grandpa’s final gift to his grandson. Indeed, in the end, Christ is all that matters.

Day 2

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Young Lady, You Will Dance Again

Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

—Acts 3:17–19 (NIV)

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

—1 Peter 1:20–21 (NIV)

Last year, a pastor friend of mine received a call from a parishioner. A young lady suffered a terrible accident. Her back was broken in two places. The girl and family were Eastern European immigrants, Orthodox Christians. The church member said, These people are friends of mine. Please pray.

Pastor went to the hospital, met the family. Dad, in broken English, said, My daughter is a very good dancer. She will never dance again.

Pastor said, Can I pray with your daughter?

Dad said, Yes.

Pastor went to her bed, prayed over her by name. In the midst of praying, Pastor felt prompted to speak these words, Young lady, you will dance again.

Pastor visited faithfully. Doctors came to a grim decision. We are going to have to sever her spinal cord. She will never walk again.

Pastor’s heart sank, Lord, did I make a terrible mistake? I was so sure You spoke to me.

The day of surgery, Pastor prayed with the family. He watched the team wheel a precious girl into surgery. He sat, waited, wondered. So many times, circumstances make no sense. The only constant in life is God. We do our best to embrace a God of providence. In these moments, we cling to God’s goodness. God knows. Thirty minutes passed, and the head surgeon walked out to the family. We didn’t go forward with the surgery. We decided to wait and see. Hope arose out of the ashes of despair. Pastor thought, Lord, I am watching and waiting. Please fill me with expectation.

Pastor got a message from a precious young woman this past week. Pastor, remember when you came to my bed and prayed for me? You told me, ‘You are going to dance again.’ I am getting married soon. I am going to dance with my husband on our wedding day.

Pastor looked heavenward, Lord, Your miracle in this young girl instructs me as much as it instructs this young woman. I know You want to work powerfully. Instruct my faith and fill me with expectation every moment of every day.

How can I grasp Your heart, Jesus? From the very beginning, You knew what it would cost You to create me. How do I grasp this kind of love? In spite of my ridiculous failings, You pursued me. You simply love me because You made me. Like Pastor, I pray, Fill me with expectation. Use me daily to express Your extraordinary in the ordinary. Help me to step into the realm of Your providence, a world where all things are possible, a world where divine love reigns. There is power in Your blood: power to save, power to heal, power to love with the love of Christ. Oh Lord, let me celebrate times of refreshing. Awaken me to Your awesome love in all of its mind-blowing dynamics. Walk me into a deeper life of expectation. Holy Spirit, what are we going to do today?

Day 3

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We Build with a Forward Gaze

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

—Deuteronomy 6:1–2 (NIV)

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.

—1 Corinthians 3:10 (NIV)

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

—Hebrews 11:1–2 (NIV)

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

—Hebrews 11:9–10 (NIV)

My daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Michael, visited Cologne, Germany, this week. One of the great cathedrals in the world dominates the city landscape, St. Peter’s Cathedral. Its twin gothic spires rise 515 feet above the ground. The massive edifice reduces people to ants. Twenty thousand tourists visit this landmark every day. Construction began in 1248. Ongoing construction stopped in 1560 in the midst of political and religious turmoil. In 1840, construction resumed. The building was completed in 1880. The church took 632 years to complete. I pondered this staggering fact. My mind went back to the men who conceived this dream, the workers who laid the foundations, the artisans who toiled those first centuries. Every one of them knew they would never live to see the end product. But every one of them did their part to the end goal. They remained confident that a new generation would build upon their efforts. And one day, generations later, someone would lay the final capstone.

Sometimes I feel insignificant. In three generations, nobody will remember my name, save an enthusiastic archivist. And then I am reminded, whose backs are you standing on? How many generations passed on the torch of faith so that you could hear the Gospel message as a little boy? My great-grandfather’s Bible sits on my library shelf, 1880, in Norwegian. My mother’s Bible, 1962, stands next to it. My Bibles of fifty-plus years stand next to them. All of us build upon the foundation of the chief architect, our great God.

A megachurch thrives in Racine. My old classmate pastored this church for many years, Dan Remus. Under his leadership, the church expanded its reach across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. He succeeded a pastor who dramatically expanded the original church. That pastor grew up in a North Carolina church pastored by my grandparents. None of us can begin to comprehend the reach of our lives generations from now. We are not insignificant. We never were. We are God-breathed, purpose-filled change agents of the Most High God. We build with a forward gaze to the Celestial City. We hope with absolute confidence that what must be built will be completed.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV)

Lord, I thank You for every person who labored before me. Like pearls on a string, their precious faith led to me. And now I pass my faith on to the next generation. Every detail You poured into my life through previous generations, I pass on to my children and my children’s children. Lord, no child of God is ever insignificant. We are Your providential laborers, and our labor is never in vain. Inspire us and inspire others through us. May fire, holy fire, burn in my bones. All that I have, all that I am, is Yours. In the end, Christ is all that matters.

Day 4

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Borrowed Time

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

—Ephesians 5:15–16 (NIV)

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

—2 Corinthians 6:1–2 (NIV)

A young man died yesterday, several days after a horrific car accident. His best friend died at the scene; his fiancée survived. Death be not proud. Life can be so sobering. We take our lives for granted; we take time for granted. Not one of us is promised another minute on this planet. In fact, all of us live on borrowed time. Our days are granted and numbered by our great God. Our God is the God of the present. Each moment is a gift; each moment is a privilege. Why do we strive to live in presence? Why does the apostle Paul exhort us to walk in step with the Holy Spirit? The answer is simple: we have only this moment. That moment is pregnant with God’s purposes. We must seize those ordained opportunities in the present. Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation.

I learned a painful lesson at the age of eighteen. My mother told me, Dieter Gabriel is in the hospital. You should go see him.

I took a pass. I’ll go see Dieter tomorrow. The next day, Dieter passed away. I made a selfish decision. I blew off an ordained opportunity. I still feel that pain of regret. Every one of us has a full shelf of regrets. Relationships are never convenient; they must be nurtured. How many of us older men have squandered ordained opportunities with our wives and our children? I shudder to think of how many ordained opportunities I have squandered with those outside my intimate circle. Why is Colossians 3 so important?

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:16–17 NIV)

We must live in presence to seize the moments of ordained opportunity. Every moment is worship unto God. Every moment is service to King Jesus. The next moment may not matter if the last moment is too late. Redeem the time. We live on borrowed time. We dare not live any other way.

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4 NIV)

All that I have, all that I am, is Yours. I must treasure the moments You give me. I live on borrowed time. Thank You for the privilege of life, for these moments of ordained opportunity. May I steward every gift of time to Your glory. Christ is all that matters. Let’s live lives exuding passion and compassion. Let’s live each moment without regrets. Soon enough, our work on earth is done.

Day 5

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God Must Speak Before I Speak

O LORD, how long will I call for help And You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? For destruction and violence are before me; Strife continues and contention arises. Therefore, the law is ineffective and ignored And justice is never upheld, For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore, justice becomes perverted.

—Habakkuk 1:2–4 (AMP)

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests] and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory and majesty of His Father with His angels, and THEN HE WILL REPAY EACH ONE IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHAT HE HAS DONE.

—Matthew 16:24–27 (AMP)

Our faith is a radical faith, not a faith of convenience. The year 2020 caught me flatfooted. The stock market roared; real wages rose for the working man—the first significant rise since 1973. Unemployment stood at ridiculous lows. The future looked bright. The suffering church across the globe seemed distant to America. And then the madness broke loose: COVID-19, oil wars, BLM riots and Antifa riots. The future is no longer clear as we witness a struggle for power in America not seen since the Civil War.

What am I to do? Number one, I refuse to cloak Christ and His church in an American flag. I submit to the Christ of the Bible. I am first a citizen of heaven, and the kingdom of God is my primary responsibility. At worst, I love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me. God’s love governs my life. Number two, I pray, I abide in God’s presence, I soak in scripture. God must speak before I speak. I am secondarily a citizen of the United States, an accident of birth to man but divinely purposed of God. Our worldly citizenship carries awesome privilege and responsibility. Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego were great citizens in the courts of Babylon. Paul exercised his Roman citizenship. Their stories illustrate how we are to live out our dual citizenships.

Lord, may others know me by Your love in my life. Don’t let me muddy the Gospel with the affairs of men. Give me strength and humility to stand firm in Your righteousness. In the end, Christ is all that matters.

Day 6

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Are You Sure?

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Surely not, Lord! Peter replied. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. Peter went down and said to the men, I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come? The men replied, We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say. Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

—Acts 10:11–23 (NIV)

As an Oshkosh High School senior, I wrote an extensive paper on the Jesus Movement during the spring of 1972. I was a product of a movement that swept through the hippie counterculture into the local churches. The Gospel now blazed to the raw energy of Resurrection Band, long hair, and calls to sell out to Jesus. Shredded bell-bottom jeans and long, flowing dresses flooded the front pews of staid churches. I wrote an unapologetic embrace of the message and its importance to the future of our nation. Gladys Veidemanis, my English teacher, wrote some kind criticisms. But one phrase stopped me. She wrote, Are you sure? I never thought about the veracity of anything I read at that moment of my newfound faith. After all, I was sold out for Jesus. Nor did I ever ask, Is there more I should know? I assumed everything I heard was true, everything I did was right. Mrs. Veidemanis had no intention of undermining my faith. In fact, she was a subtle cheerleader. But she wanted to make sure I was thinking, growing, living a faith that could and would mature. At the end of the year, Gladys Veidemanis had a tradition with her senior honors class. She predicted what we would become in life. When she got to my name, she paused, smiled, and said, Phil will become a minister. And so I am. To this day, my ear is always open to the Holy Spirit’s question, Are you sure?

The apostle Peter grew up Jewish. He committed himself to a Jewish Messiah. He got filled with the Holy Spirit with a group of Jewish friends in the Jewish capital of Jerusalem. It never occurred to him that the future of the church could be anything but Jewish. He assumed that every prohibition of his known faith would remain in place. The question Are you sure? never occurred to him. The Spirit of God challenged Peter’s sensibilities. Peter resisted. Who among us wouldn’t? None of us freely abandon the familiar constructs of our truths. But the Holy Spirit persisted. To Peter’s credit, he relented. Peter obeyed the prompt of the Holy Spirit; he opened himself to be taught by the Spirit. Change never comes easily, especially in the realm of right and wrong. Peter said, Lord, I’ll go. I’m open. You’re the boss.

Gladys is now in her nineties. I would love to talk to her about that question. I’m so much wiser than I was then. I pray I will be wiser still a year from now. The Christian walk is never static. Relationships are the core of communal faith, knowing and being known. We relentlessly pursue Christ with the knowledge that we are ever being transformed into His image. The only thing that remains the same is the incomparable immeasurable person of God. Are you sure? captures the mystery of our faith. We know enough to embrace faith. We know so little that we must embrace faith. Are you sure? removes self-reliance from the dynamic of my faith and thrusts me into dependent trust in God. I embrace the Spirit-led revelation in relationship. I embrace the Spirit-led revelation of living scripture. I embrace the never-ending transformative journey of sanctification. The Spirit’s whisper, Are you sure? is an invite to absolute surrender. All that I have, all that I am, is Yours. Christ is all that matters.

Day 7

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Go Home

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

—Mark 2:16–17 (NIV)

On a Sunday night, December 1960, a six-year-old boy hunkered down behind a garage under a canoe in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The little miscreant was on the lam. An old man caught him throwing gravel at cars on Merritt Street. He bolted when the man knocked at the second-floor apartment door of his parents. Now tears rolled down his face, his toes and fingers throbbed from the cold, and the voices calling out his name went silent. The future looked grim. A whupping no longer seemed intolerable, so Phillip Michael surrendered. He went home. The whupping I feared didn’t happen. Mom warmed up supper and brought my aching limbs to life. I confessed everything. No sermons ensued. I suspect my parents were just as relieved as I was. They knew the harsh price I paid for my rash behavior. A sorry little sinner came home a miserable wretch, whupped without the whupping.

Adults do the same irrational stuff and run from the parent they can never escape, not as long as they have a mirror in the house. They cannot wish away who they are, and they cannot run from God. He waits; the soup is on, and loving hands beckon the prodigal home. No whupping is forthcoming, and no harsh sermons exist; just two simple words, Welcome home. He knows our sin. He knows our heart. He knows the ache we cannot or will not identify, our ache for God and His redemption. My advice to the prodigal is simple, Go home. In the end, Christ is all that matters.

Day 8

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Holy Spirit Essentials

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

—Acts 4:31 (NIV)

Monday night, a dear member of our men’s group came through the door. I hadn’t seen Rick in four months. We are his home away from home. I don’t know a whole lot about his past, but Rick’s journey has had the highest highs and lowest lows. Once a brilliant professional musician, he became a powerful pastor. Rick’s mind is second to none. His mastery of biblical languages is matched by his memorization of scripture and grasp of systematic theology. When Rick speaks, we listen with awe. He cuts through the noise and delivers the crux of biblical truth over and over again. How does a brilliant, accomplished man fall from ethereal heights to a curled-up wreck in an empty sanctuary contemplating suicide? Rick is a survivor, an admitted stew of human frailty. He still struggles today. Rick speaks to grace and sin with uncomfortable clarity, uncomfortable because we must confront our own frailty in the mirror. Only Holy Spirit essentials transform our messes into divine blessings.

Rick challenged all of us, Please, when you go home tonight, find a half hour out of your tomorrow. Spend thirty minutes alone, just you and God. Don’t open your Bible, don’t turn on worship music, don’t construct prayers. In the silence, let God have the floor of your heart and mind. Our success, our survival as Christians, is predicated on the Holy Spirit. We won’t survive without our senior partner. At best, we will practice a form of religion and give homage to secondhand faith, sing lyrics without conviction, pray prayers without expectation. We are created in the image of God for relationship. We were born to love and be loved. We exist to know God and be known. The Holy Spirit makes all this possible. Will we acknowledge our senior partner? Will we embrace our senior partner? Do we dare to embrace the supernatural, life without limits in the power of the Holy Spirit?

Lord, I thank You for my senior partner, the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, thank You for building day by day Your man. Thank you for convicting my heart when I sin, that pop in my chest when I don’t do the right thing, when I speak death rather than life. Thank You for mercy, for those countless second chances, for forgiveness. Thank You for the breath of life, for the opportunities to feel Your pleasure. Thank You for presence, to enjoy Your company, to take Your instruction, to operate in Your strength, to see the miracles of grace in my community. Thank You for taking me on this quest of service to the King of kings. All that I have, all that I am, is Yours. Christ is all that matters.

Day 9

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Draw Me Nearer

Then Jesus asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

—Mark 3:4–6 (NIV)

Stubborn hearts. Has anyone else been tripped up by a stubborn heart? I bring my stubborn heart to God every day. The vestiges, the effects, rear their head when I do not live in presence, when I don’t acknowledge my senior partner. Imagine how strong that stubborn heart abides in a foe of the cross? We see a horrific assault on followers of Christ around the world today. That animosity rears its head as never before in our own nation, America, a historic Christian nation. We must pursue intimacy with our Lord if we want to thrive in this new season of rebellion.

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,

And it told Thy love to me;

But I long to rise in the arms of faith

And be closer drawn to Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,

To the cross where Thou hast died;

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,

To Thy precious, bleeding side.

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,

By the pow’r of grace divine;

Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,

And my will be lost in Thine.

Oh, the pure delight of a single hour

That before Thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God

I commune as friend with friend!

There are depths of love that I cannot know

Till I cross the narrow sea;

There are heights of joy that I may not reach

Till I rest in peace with Thee.

Those lyrics, penned by Fanny Crosby in 1875, spoke to my heart at four this morning. I never take these prompts lightly; I know God is speaking to me. Crosby’s critics dismiss her lyrics as sentimental—she wrote nearly nine thousand hymns. I love them precisely for that reason; her songs speak to the experience of intimacy with our Lord. Fanny had a mind-boggling goal. She wanted to see a million people come to Christ through her music. She actually kept a log of testimonials to that end. Like Fanny, I too long to be nearer, more intimate with my Lord. I commune as friend with friend. Resist the stubborn heart. Draw near to the Savior. In the end, Christ is all that matters.

Day 10

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Pride Must Die in Me

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

—Proverbs 11:2 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise