A HISTORY OF GOD WORKING IN GERRY WOOD’S LIFE
Revised April 15, 2024
Introduction
I’ve had opportunities (such as at church or at the Los Alamos County Detention Center Sunday church services) to give a portion of my testimony, but never an almost unlimited one like this. Many years ago I was asked to prepare a page in a daily devotional called, “Power for Today,” and I had only 200 words to do it. In that article I chose the song, “Love Lifted Me” which describes the crisis point in my conversion. But a lot of things led up to that day in 1963.
There’s a well-known 100-year-old poem by Francis Thompson called “The Hound of Heaven.” The title almost says it all. I used to think this described my story, too. But now I think the 23rd Psalm is better. Instead of running away from God, like Francis Thompson, I was more like a sheep wandering in a desert without a clue about God. The Good Shepherd has been calling me all my life. There are specific times I remember it happening.
Background
My father’s parents were farmers in western Oklahoma when he was born. Their religion (in which my dad was raised) was largely social, going to church on Sundays. Later in life in Oklahoma City they experienced a further conversion to Christ and were baptized at the Del City Church of Christ. My dad’s religion, however, was “Eat, drink, and make merry, for tomorrow you may die.” This was a self-fulfilling prophecy, as he died at a young age of 44 from living just like that and from financial stress.
My mother’s family was nominally Methodist during my mother’s rearing. I had one aunt who was an active Baptist and another who was active in a Norman, Oklahoma, Church of Christ. Later in life my grandmother became a devout Christian, regularly attending church, praying, and reading her Bible. My mother’s philosophy was to go along with my father.
So, I had no religious encouragement from my parents, but in my later teens I had three out of four grandparents as good examples.
One of my first memories was when I was about six years old and living in Hofheim, Germany. My parents built a bar and casino in our basement, where they regularly had parties. One of my first games was Roulette. One of my first morning chores was keeping my toddler brother from drinking the booze and cigarette butts out of glasses.
God's Calling #1
However, it was in Hofheim that I first learned of God. Another American family in the neighborhood invited me to a Vacation Bible School. I knew what “vacation” and “school” meant, but what was this “Bible?” I went and found out about “Bible” and that “God” is not just a curse word.
God's Calling #2
About four years later I had another experience with God. Back in Norman, Oklahoma, for the summer my Aunt Margarite and Uncle John invited me to another Vacation Bible School. (I still have the graduation certificate from it.) It was there that I learned to pray to a caring God. I began to pray a childish prayer, that I still remember: “Dear God, watch over and protect Mikey, me, Billy, mother and father; Grandmother and Grandfather Wood, Grandmother and Grandfather Harp, Aunt Dee, Uncle Leroy, Uncle Bill; and all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and relatives; especially Mikey, me, Billy, mother and father.”
God's Calling #3
Another four years later (ninth grade) I encountered God in a Christian youth group at a military chapel in Frankfurt, Germany, where we were living. My parents were having marital problems and my mother decided to try going to church as a solution. We kids went with her the few weeks it lasted. But I continued to make friends and participate in the activities of the youth group. So, in this encounter I discovered that a community of believers in God exists. And they are really pretty “neat” people.
God Calling #4
In the middle of my High School Junior year our family moved back to Oklahoma City. My dad started a business that soon went bankrupt. In the meantime I got to visit with and know my grandparents. They took me to church when I visited them and I heard about God’s love and plan of salvation. My dad returned to Germany to pick up the pieces of his career, Mom divorced him, we lived in poverty, I graduated from high school, and then escaped to the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
God's Calling #5
The summer of 1963 after my sophomore year I spent in Albuquerque, where my mother, her new husband, and brothers were working. I didn’t get a job, because I was expecting Dad to send me money for an airplane trip to Germany to visit him. I hadn’t seen him for three years, but was writing him regularly. It didn’t happen. We all moved back to Oklahoma at the end of the summer. Me to go back to college.
Upon arriving back to Norman, I got a telephone call from my aunt that my Dad had just died of a heart attack in Germany. Of course I was devastated. It had been one of my teenage nightmares that my parents would die. After school started one of my best friends and OU Band buddy committed suicide, when he couldn’t get readmitted for failing grades. Things kept going downhill. I evaluated my life and found that even though I was making decent grades, I had no purpose in life, no motivation, no joy.
Sunday morning, November 10, 1963. I was sitting in my dorm room doing homework and listening to the local radio station KNOR. A preacher came on and showed from the Bible what I needed to do: Turn my life and everything over to God and be baptized into Christ for cleansing, new life, fellowship, guidance, and beginning eternal life.
The next Sunday I put on my suit (which I hadn’t worn since my Dad’s funeral), borrowed my roommate’s car and drove to the University Church of Christ on the edge of campus. I had never been there before. I sat through the service and sermon until an invitation was given to be baptized. I was baptized by Frank Notgrass (60 years later I still have the certificate). Among the witnesses was a pretty coed named Linda.
God's Blessings Continue
Two days later was my 20th birthday and eight days later I coped with Kennedy's assassination. Two months later I quit the OU Band to focus on my career by starting an undergraduate research job in the chemistry department. The next summer I started dating Linda. Believing that God had chosen her for me, I proposed to her the next Valentine’s Day. We were married in Fort Worth on August 28, 1965, and we took off to both attend graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin.
God blessed us with spiritual growth through two churches in Austin. He worked it out that my graduate professor was J.M. (Mike) White, a dedicated Christian, who also happened to have connections at Los Alamos. Linda and I both started teaching Bible classes. Linda completed her Masters degree in communication in 1967.
I completed my Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1969 with a postdoc job lined up at Los Alamos. Five days later I was drafted by the Army to go to Vietnam. We came on to Los Alamos anyway. I postponed the Army for 3 months and Linda took the job as church secretary. Two months after leaving I was back to my postdoc in Los Alamos having been honorably discharged from boot camp for medical reasons (poor eyesight).
1972 was a year full of God’s blessings: 1) I got a permanent job at the Lab (not the academic job somewhere else I wanted); 2) We bought a house; 3) A baby girl (Julie) was adopted into our family; 4) God provided a tax refund for a ’67 GMC pickup truck; 5) and we continued to worship, work, and fellowship with the Los Alamos Church of Christ. In 1975 we were further blessed with the adoption of another baby, Paul. Julie and Paul are both married and have given us (and God) three grandchildren.
Linda and I both retired from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (University of California) June 30, 2004, and continued to live in Los Alamos. Linda has been able to concentration on book authorship; I continued to consult with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, finishing some of my best professional work.
In mid 2023 we sold our house in Los Alamos and moved to an apartment in Austin, TX. The main reason was to be closer to family in Austin and Fort Worth. We became members of the Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ.
God has continued to bless us in our family, our church families, our careers, etc. with His guidance and care. I’ve served as a deacon and an elder (30 years) in the Los Alamos Church of Christ, occasionally teaching and preaching.
I give God the glory for these events and accomplishments. The Good Shepherd found me, brought me into His flock, and has blessed me beyond any hopes or expectations. Not to say there haven’t been difficulties and disappoint-ments; but they pale in comparison with the blessings.
Revised April 15, 2024
Introduction
I’ve had opportunities (such as at church or at the Los Alamos County Detention Center Sunday church services) to give a portion of my testimony, but never an almost unlimited one like this. Many years ago I was asked to prepare a page in a daily devotional called, “Power for Today,” and I had only 200 words to do it. In that article I chose the song, “Love Lifted Me” which describes the crisis point in my conversion. But a lot of things led up to that day in 1963.
There’s a well-known 100-year-old poem by Francis Thompson called “The Hound of Heaven.” The title almost says it all. I used to think this described my story, too. But now I think the 23rd Psalm is better. Instead of running away from God, like Francis Thompson, I was more like a sheep wandering in a desert without a clue about God. The Good Shepherd has been calling me all my life. There are specific times I remember it happening.
Background
My father’s parents were farmers in western Oklahoma when he was born. Their religion (in which my dad was raised) was largely social, going to church on Sundays. Later in life in Oklahoma City they experienced a further conversion to Christ and were baptized at the Del City Church of Christ. My dad’s religion, however, was “Eat, drink, and make merry, for tomorrow you may die.” This was a self-fulfilling prophecy, as he died at a young age of 44 from living just like that and from financial stress.
My mother’s family was nominally Methodist during my mother’s rearing. I had one aunt who was an active Baptist and another who was active in a Norman, Oklahoma, Church of Christ. Later in life my grandmother became a devout Christian, regularly attending church, praying, and reading her Bible. My mother’s philosophy was to go along with my father.
So, I had no religious encouragement from my parents, but in my later teens I had three out of four grandparents as good examples.
One of my first memories was when I was about six years old and living in Hofheim, Germany. My parents built a bar and casino in our basement, where they regularly had parties. One of my first games was Roulette. One of my first morning chores was keeping my toddler brother from drinking the booze and cigarette butts out of glasses.
God's Calling #1
However, it was in Hofheim that I first learned of God. Another American family in the neighborhood invited me to a Vacation Bible School. I knew what “vacation” and “school” meant, but what was this “Bible?” I went and found out about “Bible” and that “God” is not just a curse word.
God's Calling #2
About four years later I had another experience with God. Back in Norman, Oklahoma, for the summer my Aunt Margarite and Uncle John invited me to another Vacation Bible School. (I still have the graduation certificate from it.) It was there that I learned to pray to a caring God. I began to pray a childish prayer, that I still remember: “Dear God, watch over and protect Mikey, me, Billy, mother and father; Grandmother and Grandfather Wood, Grandmother and Grandfather Harp, Aunt Dee, Uncle Leroy, Uncle Bill; and all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and relatives; especially Mikey, me, Billy, mother and father.”
God's Calling #3
Another four years later (ninth grade) I encountered God in a Christian youth group at a military chapel in Frankfurt, Germany, where we were living. My parents were having marital problems and my mother decided to try going to church as a solution. We kids went with her the few weeks it lasted. But I continued to make friends and participate in the activities of the youth group. So, in this encounter I discovered that a community of believers in God exists. And they are really pretty “neat” people.
God Calling #4
In the middle of my High School Junior year our family moved back to Oklahoma City. My dad started a business that soon went bankrupt. In the meantime I got to visit with and know my grandparents. They took me to church when I visited them and I heard about God’s love and plan of salvation. My dad returned to Germany to pick up the pieces of his career, Mom divorced him, we lived in poverty, I graduated from high school, and then escaped to the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
God's Calling #5
The summer of 1963 after my sophomore year I spent in Albuquerque, where my mother, her new husband, and brothers were working. I didn’t get a job, because I was expecting Dad to send me money for an airplane trip to Germany to visit him. I hadn’t seen him for three years, but was writing him regularly. It didn’t happen. We all moved back to Oklahoma at the end of the summer. Me to go back to college.
Upon arriving back to Norman, I got a telephone call from my aunt that my Dad had just died of a heart attack in Germany. Of course I was devastated. It had been one of my teenage nightmares that my parents would die. After school started one of my best friends and OU Band buddy committed suicide, when he couldn’t get readmitted for failing grades. Things kept going downhill. I evaluated my life and found that even though I was making decent grades, I had no purpose in life, no motivation, no joy.
Sunday morning, November 10, 1963. I was sitting in my dorm room doing homework and listening to the local radio station KNOR. A preacher came on and showed from the Bible what I needed to do: Turn my life and everything over to God and be baptized into Christ for cleansing, new life, fellowship, guidance, and beginning eternal life.
The next Sunday I put on my suit (which I hadn’t worn since my Dad’s funeral), borrowed my roommate’s car and drove to the University Church of Christ on the edge of campus. I had never been there before. I sat through the service and sermon until an invitation was given to be baptized. I was baptized by Frank Notgrass (60 years later I still have the certificate). Among the witnesses was a pretty coed named Linda.
God's Blessings Continue
Two days later was my 20th birthday and eight days later I coped with Kennedy's assassination. Two months later I quit the OU Band to focus on my career by starting an undergraduate research job in the chemistry department. The next summer I started dating Linda. Believing that God had chosen her for me, I proposed to her the next Valentine’s Day. We were married in Fort Worth on August 28, 1965, and we took off to both attend graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin.
God blessed us with spiritual growth through two churches in Austin. He worked it out that my graduate professor was J.M. (Mike) White, a dedicated Christian, who also happened to have connections at Los Alamos. Linda and I both started teaching Bible classes. Linda completed her Masters degree in communication in 1967.
I completed my Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1969 with a postdoc job lined up at Los Alamos. Five days later I was drafted by the Army to go to Vietnam. We came on to Los Alamos anyway. I postponed the Army for 3 months and Linda took the job as church secretary. Two months after leaving I was back to my postdoc in Los Alamos having been honorably discharged from boot camp for medical reasons (poor eyesight).
1972 was a year full of God’s blessings: 1) I got a permanent job at the Lab (not the academic job somewhere else I wanted); 2) We bought a house; 3) A baby girl (Julie) was adopted into our family; 4) God provided a tax refund for a ’67 GMC pickup truck; 5) and we continued to worship, work, and fellowship with the Los Alamos Church of Christ. In 1975 we were further blessed with the adoption of another baby, Paul. Julie and Paul are both married and have given us (and God) three grandchildren.
Linda and I both retired from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (University of California) June 30, 2004, and continued to live in Los Alamos. Linda has been able to concentration on book authorship; I continued to consult with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, finishing some of my best professional work.
In mid 2023 we sold our house in Los Alamos and moved to an apartment in Austin, TX. The main reason was to be closer to family in Austin and Fort Worth. We became members of the Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ.
God has continued to bless us in our family, our church families, our careers, etc. with His guidance and care. I’ve served as a deacon and an elder (30 years) in the Los Alamos Church of Christ, occasionally teaching and preaching.
I give God the glory for these events and accomplishments. The Good Shepherd found me, brought me into His flock, and has blessed me beyond any hopes or expectations. Not to say there haven’t been difficulties and disappoint-ments; but they pale in comparison with the blessings.