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Ted Roberts  pastors East Hill Foursquare Church in Gresham, Oregon, a congregation seeking to be "Christ's hands extended to a hurting world." One way was starting For Men Only groups to deal with sexual addiction. As a Marine fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, Ted flipped through a book his born-again Jewish wife, Diane, had sent. Half-drunk, he prayed, "Christ, I really don't know who you are, but my life's become totally insane. So if you're there, sign me up!"

During my first couple of weeks at seminary, everyone seemed to walk around speaking Greek, Hebrew, or theological terminology. I had no clue what they were talking about. Everybody had huge black Bibles filled with notes. My green, plastic-covered Living Bible had coffee stains from reading it in the ready room prior to flight. I might fail miserably at this theology stuff; then what? That's when I started wearing my flight jacket to class to show all the flight patches. One day as I walked to class, the Lord asked a straightforward question in my heart: "Why are you wearing that jacket, Ted?"

"It gets cold when I ride my motorcycle." Since it was more than 70 degrees that day, I knew my response was ridiculous. So then I told the truth. "Lord I'm afraid of failing. I wear it so I'll feel like somebody."

Christ responded, "I died for you; that's what makes you somebody. Get rid of the flight jacket and trust me."

Adapted from Pure Desire (Regal, 1999) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me derive my sense of worth from Your love for me and not from what the world considers important.

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