Leaving Boyhood, Finding Manhood
Ron Morehead | March 18, 2025
Peter Pan is a timeless tale of a boy who never grew up. The story has been recreated into numerous variations of films, and Ron Morehead has seen them all. It’s a story he relates to himself: a boy who struggled to grow up. Ron’s story is one of pursuit, brokenness, pain, peace and beauty. From treating God as a ‘cosmic butler’ to growing into a man after God’s heart, this is Ron’s first-person testimony of how Christ filled the God-sized hole in his heart.
“I grew up in a loving military family. My mom was the center of it, always there, always supportive. My dad supported our family and loved serving his country. We moved every 3 years which made it difficult to establish lifelong friendships. We lived in Hawaii and later we moved to Georgia, where our house backed up to a creek and woods—perfect for adventure. That’s also where I was first exposed to pornography at ten years old. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal, but looking back, it planted a seed that would shape many of my struggles. When we moved to Virginia at age twelve, I discovered an inappropriate X-rated video and it further shaped by view of sexuality and of women.
Church wasn’t a central part of our lives. During our tour in Georgia, we went every Sunday to an Episcopal church, I memorized creeds and prayers, but it was all routine, nothing personal. I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Pornography continued to shape my thoughts and ideas and when I was 17, my girlfriend got pregnant. I was in shock, but I told her I would support whatever decision she made. The decision was made to have an abortion. I remember going to the clinic sitting in the waiting room and the quiet drive home after the procedure, and everything between us changed. Our relationship ended shortly after, and I buried any emotions tied to that experience.
From that point on, my relationships followed a pattern. I sought love, but I chased after the wrong things. I dated my high school sweetheart but broke up with her when I went to college because I wanted to date someone older. In college, I met a girl who was a virgin, and we liked each other, but during her relationship with another guy, we had sex. Though she and I later reconciled, dated for two years and broke up badly. The pain of that experience lingered for many years.
After college, my desire to find “the one” intensified. I married a woman, but we were more like friends than soulmates. The marriage lasted a year and a half before we divorced. It was during these years after my divorce that I was lost and seeking out the wrong things. Alcohol, partying, and meaningless sexual relationships were the pattern of my life.
It was during another bad breakup that God showed up in a mighty way. Standing in my bathroom, I looked in the mirror and saw a God-shaped hole in my chest, in my life. I left the bathroom knowing I needed to do something; I could feel God calling me. I reached out to Mark, an old friend I hadn’t seen in six years, and he took me through Romans Road. That day, I gave my life to Christ. But surrendering to God wasn’t easy—it was a long, slow discipleship process because I didn’t want to give up everything I had done.
Later, I moved to Florida with a girl after dating for five months and then got engaged, but that relationship fell apart too. I longed for connection but kept making the same mistakes. I moved back to Kentucky in 2008 and still longed to find the woman that I would marry for life and have a family together. I started to attend Living Hope on a regular basis.
Then I met Marci in the singles group at Living Hope and everything changed. She was different from any woman I had pursued before. From the beginning, she set clear boundaries—no sex before marriage, no living together. I had never encountered someone so steadfast in her faith. We did a 40-day prayer journey to discern if we were meant to be together. By the end of it, I knew. I bought a ring in December 2010, proposed on the beach in Florida, and we married in March 2011. I was 40; she was 38.
Marci helped me understand what it meant to be a man. I had spent so much of my life avoiding responsibility, chasing pleasure, and making selfish decisions. She made me realize that manhood wasn’t just about growing older—it was about leading spiritually, emotionally, and financially. I thought back to Peter Pan, a story I had always loved, and recognized that I had been living in Neverland, refusing to grow up. I was just doing childish things. It wasn’t until I met Marci that I think I became a man. When we were dating, she said, ‘I need a man who can lead me spiritually, emotionally and financially as a husband.’ I learned to grow up. My son (Canaan) is going to know what it means to be a man. I will be doing a disservice to him, his future wife, society and God if I don’t do that.
God has opened my eyes to what it looks like to be a man in His Kingdom. I want God to use my testimony how He will. I went through so much pain and doubt. Thankfully, I never was suicidal, but I can see how someone would get to a hopeless doubt seeing there not being a point in partying, sex, drinking and drugs. Where is the point in life? I found it.
When I look at what God wants me to do from here on out, I know I’m still a work in progress, but I know He has something mighty for me to do for his kingdom. Where I work now, I try to be excellent in what I do. At church, it’s through something like BetterMan (Living Hope’s 10-week men’s ministry course) and these small groups. It’s through (Ministers in Training) Vocational Track that I encourage other fellow believers to live out their faith seamlessly in everything, including their workplaces. Our society isn’t going to change for the better until men step up and live out how to be a true man as God has defined and the mission he’s given us.
For men, it can become a solo sport.
My relationship with my parents also evolved. When my mom passed away, I discovered things about her past that broke my heart. She had been sexually abused as a child, and she had an abortion—something she never told me until later in life. Knowing this deepened my compassion for her, and it also connected her to Marci, who had been through the same experience. Though my parents weren’t religious, my mother’s story showed me the weight of unspoken pain, and I wished I had been able to help her find healing.
When she passed in 2018, the Christian community surrounded me in ways my father couldn’t understand. People brought food, offered support, and showed up. My dad was confused. He had never experienced that kind of love and connection before. That moment reinforced what I had learned faith isn’t a solo journey. We aren’t meant to walk through pain alone.
I have come to understand that my past—the mistakes, the pain, the searching—wasn’t meaningless. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” That verse became the foundation of my marriage and my faith. My life before Marci was chaos, but God was shaping me, preparing me for something greater.
Now, I share my testimony because I want others to see that transformation is possible. I was lost, consumed by sin, treating relationships as conquests. But God didn’t leave me there. He pursued me, broke me, and rebuilt me into a man who seeks to lead with faith and integrity. My prayer is that my story can help others avoid the same pitfalls, that they would learn what it truly means to be a man—one who leads, protects, and honors God in every aspect of life.