Insecure Rebellious Surrendered Blessed: (Child) (Teenager) (Man) (Old Man)

By Ron Hullett

By the grace and mercy of God’s guidance Ron maneuvered through insecurity, rebellion, and a lack of knowledge in God’s Word resulting in a lot of bad decisions. Finally surrendering to the will of God, he allowed God to direct and bless.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664294950

Ron Hullett

Ron Hullett was born and raised in Tyler, Texas, one of seven children. After graduating high school in 19777, he worked as a welder for three years. Ron surrendered to the call of God on his life to be a youth pastor in 1980. That fall he enrolled in Bible College in Missouri where he met his bride to be and they were married in the summer of 1983. Upon graduating from college in 1984, he began serving as a full-time youth pastor in Arlington, Texas. After eight years, the Lord moved Ron and his family back to Missouri to be youth pastor in the church he attended while going to college. Twelve years later and the Lord saw fit to move the Hullett family to Florida. This is where Ron currently serves as youth pastor. He is the father of two beautiful daughters. He is grandfather to five terrific grandsons. Ron is a second-degree black belt and Alumni of the FBI Citizens Academy. Ron’s summery of all of this? “All I can say is, I AM BLESSED.”

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INSECURE

(Child)

REBELLIOUS

(Teenager)

SURRENDERED

(Man)

BLESSED

(Old Man)

RON HULLETT

Copyright © 2023 Ron Hullett.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9494-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9493-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9495-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904540

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/28/2023

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1      Insecure Child

Chapter 2      Rebellious Teenager

Chapter 3      High School Tough Guys

Chapter 4      Turning Points

Chapter 5      The Call Of God

Chapter 6      College And A Wife

Chapter 7      Youth Pastor Beginnings

Chapter 8      Redirected

Chapter 9      Redirected Again

Chapter 10    And Redirected Again

Chapter 11    After I Was Too Old

Acknowledgements

Unfortunately, I cannot possibly list all of the people that I need to thank. If you read this book and do not see your name, please give me a phone call and allow me to say thank you personally.

In the order that these wonderful people entered my life: Thank you Lord for a loving praying Mom, Pauline Hullett. Thank you for a caring sister, Lois. Thank you for a great friend, Chris. Thank you for a godly wife, Cindy and our two godly daughters, Brittany and Natalie.

I am blessed far beyond belief. Blessed with family and friendships that have truly shaped who I am today. It is those relationships that provide me with something to write about.

Thank you to the many teenagers that have afforded me the opportunity to lead them and the many adult team members that have battled alongside me in this journey. Thank you to the many fellow pastors that have poured into me over the years.

Please forgive me in advance, for I know that I will remember many events and people only after this book is in print.

So please, give me that phone call. I would love to talk with you.

To God be the glory!

Thank you, Father. Thank you very, very much.

Introduction

Mine is a journey from insecure child,

to rebellious drug using teenager,

to Bible college student, to husband, father,

youth pastor, and grandfather, etc.

God used not only these aspects of my life but also softball, karate, and the FBI, among other things to direct my path and to bless my socks off, so to speak. When I sought and followed His instruction.

But when I didn’t? Well?

The key truth I long for readers of this book to

grasp is what Jesus said to the Sadducees:

Matthew 22:29

Jesus answered and said to them,

"You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures

nor the power of God."

Every time, and I do mean every time, that I acted contrary to God’s Word, I made an error. Simply put, when we choose to sin, we will be badly mistaken, in error, making the wrong choices, going the wrong direction at those forks in the road.

Thus, the reason our Father inspired David to write these words:

Psalm 119:11

Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You.

Nothing will change our lives more, than becoming a diligent student and doer of God’s Word.

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate in it day and night,

that you may observe to do according to all that

is written in it. For then you will make your way

prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Our Father made it very clear in that scripture that

he does not demand success, He gives it!

Throughout Matthew chapter five,

several times Jesus said, You have heard that it was said, followed by But I say to you. We have information and opinions flying at us from every direction on a daily basis. We must know what God says.

Our own families can lead us stray. We have always done it that way, or vice-versa, We have never don it that way. Beliefs founded possibly on nothing more than tradition. The culture, the place and time in which we currently live, will certainly attempt to lead us astray. The things we value become our gods. We give our time, our money, and quite possibly our hearts to them. We serve and worship them. Joshua challenged us all to follow his lead and make the wise choice. It was written so long ago yet seemingly more relevant today.

Joshua 24:15

15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord,

choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods

which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River,

or the gods of the Amorites,

in whose land you dwell. But as for me and

my house, we will serve the Lord."

If you choose to read this book you will see for yourself that everything about my life changed when I took hold of God’s Word.

Then when I allowed God’s word to take hold of me some incredible changes and blessings started appearing.

I have had experiences and met people that I would not have enjoyed, had I not decided to follow Jesus. Oh, and as I chuckle a bit, I tell you in advance, I am a name dropper. If I have met anyone even semi-famous, you are going to read about it here.

God’s Word put me on a different path.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path.

A lamp on our feet shows us our own

current condition, where we are.

A light on our path shows us

where we need to be headed.

This is a rags to riches story.

But please know that I’m not talking about money.

John 10:10

The thief does not come except to steal,

and to kill, and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life,

and that they may have it more abundantly.

There is a huge difference between existing and really living.

This is about what God can do with a life.

He truly wants to bless us, but He will not do for us

what He has told us to do ourselves.

He promises in James 1:5 "wisdom," free for the asking.

Wisdom is defined as the proper use of knowledge.;

however, He tells us that we must go get the knowledge.

2Timothy 2:15

Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God,

a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.

I invite you to journey with me through the phases of my life and the many ups and downs. Watch carefully what our Father does and be reminded of what He can and wants to do for all of us! And it bears repeating, every time that I, we, choose contrary to God’s Word we err!

Chapter 1

INSECURE

CHILD

July 5, 1959, I was born in Tyler, Texas, to Homer and Pauline Hullett. We called them Mama and Daddy.

We lived on the north side, the poor side of town.

But oh, how many times I’ve repeated the words,

If I had known then what I know now.

I shout, Hallelujah, that’s right, when I hear the words of a song by country singer Justin Moore,

We had it all when we didn’t have much.

Before material possessions and money gripped our world so tight, we had family relationships, love and laughter, and so much more.

I didn’t know that we were poor until I started school and began to make comparisons. I got caught in that trap, and I erred, not knowing Psalm 139:14 says,

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully

made; Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

I was absolutely swallowed up by insecurity. How else might I say this? I lacked confidence? I didn’t measure up? I had incredibly low self-esteem. As a result, I would, like many others, be easily influenced by the wrong people, and be bullied during childhood. Insecurity can cause us to see ourselves as failures. Failing from time to time does not make us failures, unless we quit right there. Insecurity does not just go away. I still see adults dealing with it. They, too, are bullied and easily influenced by the wrong people. It has been said that growing old is not optional, but growing up is. We need instruction. We need the Bible! We need people to walk this journey with us and pour into us encouragement, exhortation, and even discipline. We need the church!

What’s Wrong with Me?

I read slower than most, and that made me feel very inferior. My reading rate resulted in me having to spend more time studying than other kids. So, naturally, I grew up hating to read. I cut corners, and even lied at times, about reading my assignments. Any of us who choose not to read, simply forfeit valuable knowledge. We do not learn. We do not grow. That is a choice. And yes, we always have a choice.

I could not have the latest fashions – when they were actually in style, that is. My mom sewed a lot of our clothes by hand. No, at the time, I did not see how wonderful she was.

I was in middle school before I realized that not everyone’s mom made most of their shirts by hand and let the hem out of their pants as they grew. I got the cool Chuck Taylor Converse All-Star basketball sneakers two years after they were the hottest thing. I still wore them until they literally fell apart. Those sneakers became a prominent part of my reputation. I wore them everywhere. I even tried to get away with wearing them to church one day.

Water Park?

Perhaps a water yard. We didn’t have a swimming pool. We did not have the money to visit local public swimming pools. I was not able to befriend anyone who had a swimming pool. We played in the backyard under the sprinklers or just the water hose.

Paper Bags

As children, we never had a genuine Christmas stocking. My little sister, Ruby, and I would use large brown paper sacks that we had brought the groceries home in every Friday evening. We used crayons to draw Christmas pictures on those bags.

The upside? I bet my stocking was bigger than yours!

The same was true for Halloween trick-or-treating - not a plastic pumpkin but a large paper bag. And yes, what a haul we made! Those sacks were huge! I remember years in which I had to return home to empty my sack before continuing.

Years later my own children heard these stories. Then, from time to time, we sat in church listening to a guest speaker share stories of his upbringing. He would tell, for example, of his first car. Our daughters, Brittany and Natalie, would lean toward me and whisper, Your first car was made from a brown paper bag wasn’t it, Dad? Hahahaha! They took advantage of every opportunity to toss that comment in over the years. I rolled my eyes, and we all laughed.

Since I have written two other books, it was suggested that I title my life story, From Paper Bags to Paper Backs. But Father has blessed me far beyond becoming an author. He has blessed me much more than that!

Father has a plan for each and every one of us.

But I did not see it way back then.

Go ahead, and say this with me: "If I had known then what I know now, it would be OK."

This won’t be the last time I make that statement.

But I erred by not knowing God’s Word.

Philippians 4

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer

and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God;

7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

As a kid, I had no peace of mind because I was caught in the acceptance trap as well as the approval trap. My focus was on pleasing others and being accepted by my peers.

I had no idea what the word anxiety even meant, but I was being eaten alive by it. I would later waste so much time and effort trying to please, be approved, and be accepted by all the wrong people.

I erred by not really understanding that my God and creator had said that real men are not judged by their outward appearance but from the inside out.

1 Samuel 16:7

For the Lord does not see as man sees;

for man looks at the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart."

Daddy

I continued to grow in this environment that I had been planted in. My father was a drinker and wanted nothing to do with God or church.

That, too, was an embarrassment, not to mention the violence that it unleashed in our home.

Once every month or two, he would drive across the county line since we lived in a dry county (no liquor sales). He would have me ride along. This was a two hour round trip filled with Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and George Jones on the radio. It was two hours of secondhand cigarette smoke as well. Because of what I had seen the alcohol do to him before, I knew that I was basically saying goodbye to my dad for two weeks. That is about how long the binge would last, and therefore he would be under the influence of alcohol for fourteen or so days. I received no positive upbringing during these times. My father erred because he either did not know or simply rejected,

Ephesians 5:18

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is

dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Being drunk is called being under the influence being under the influence of a liquid that is poured into the body as opposed to being under the influence of the Holy Spirit that is poured into our bodies by our heavenly Father. I did not have that yet, nor did my Dad.

My dad was, however, a hardworking, old-school-kind of guy.

Neither he, nor I, realized at the time that he was teaching me good, biblical work ethic.

2Thessalonians 3:10

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

1Timothy 5:8

But if anyone does not provide for his own,

and especially for those of his household,

he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

He was perhaps accidentally teaching.

But I was not learning.

Therefore, I would err for a long time.

My father could have taught me a lot more. Unfortunately, he chose to take a lot of two-week trips with a bottle and would leave me behind each time that he did.

Moreover, my father was such a smoker that his bedroom walls were yellow, thick with the stains of tar and nicotine. The walls had to be vigorously scrubbed clean before they could be painted.

I did love my dad. He inspired me at times, having been a World War II veteran. Lazy was never a word used to describe my father. I do not recall ever seeing him lay on the couch, unless he was drunk. As I said, he was a hardworking man.

He worked on our cars, the plumbing, the roof, and so forth. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I guess being poor forced my father to be the jack-of-all-trades, master of none kind of man.

He worked in a nearby factory called the Continental Canning Company. I remember when he would get home late some nights, I would be allowed to go through his lunch box and eat anything he had left. Yeah, he had a lunch box. I remember thinking that was so cool.

My dad later had an accident and broke his back. For more than six months, he was in a full-body cast.

For some time, we survived on the money he drew from social security and an army pension.

My father was a proud man and even a good man when he wasn’t controlled by alcohol. But he was not godly.

Being unable to work a full-time job after healing from his injury, he worked even harder around our home. On cold winter mornings, my mother never started her own car to head off to work. Dad made sure it was clean, gassed up, and running properly. He did the yard work and even planted small gardens in our backyard to help a bit. To this very day, I still believe there is no tomato as good as a home grown, vine-ripe