Chet's Testomony

The Great Providence of God In the lives of Bug and Chet Wood




Spring 2010



Let's go back to the year 1928 to a very little town called Stephens, Arkansas. There is a small house there where a young seventeen year old girl is going to give birth to a little girl. Right now, this mother-to-be is suffering with pains that she had never experienced before in her lifetime - extremely hard labor pains. There were two other women there with her, assisting in whatever way they could. One was her loving mother and the other one was an old Negro woman, called "Deet" who was just like a dear family member. As Deet was wiping her forehead with a damp cloth, she said to her, "Child, you thinks you gonna die, but you aint!" Well, it wasn't too long before she delivered her baby girl. The Lord brought me forth into a whole new world - a world where I would experience much happiness and much sorrow. I couldn't have had a more sweet, kind, and loving mother - ever!! I experienced this preciousness in her toward me all the days of her life and I'm so very thankful to my beloved Lord for this!



Sadly though, I can't say that about my daddy. He left my mother and me when I was a few months old - maybe about two years old. This was at the time of the great depression and times were really hard. My mother and I went to live with my grandparents - her mother and daddy, my granny and papaw. By now, my grandparents were extremely poor, too, because papaw had lost all of his money and bonds when the banks closed. One of the things that I remember about the depression is that, for a long time, our daily meal consisted of fried Irish potatoes. Then, once in a while, we had some fried chicken, gravy, and biscuits. Later, papaw was able to buy a couple of pigs and this was wonderful! We ate all that those pigs had to offer - nothing was wasted!



Times were still very hard so my mother had to find a job. Since there were no jobs in Stephens, she went to a little larger town, twenty miles away, and got a job as a waitress. She would come home on the weekends and bring two or three bags of groceries! One time, she brought home a box of "Ritz Crackers" and they were the best things that I had ever eaten!! I had two cousins who were also living with us. So, I snuck off with that box of Ritz Crackers and hid from my cousins, then, I ate so many of them that I got sick as a dog! Even to this day, I don't even like to look at a Ritz Cracker box!



Now, unbeknown to me, in the great providence of God, three years before I was born, God had given to two loving parents, who lived in a town called Sayre, Alabama, a little baby boy, whom they affectionately called "June Bug". What a plan God had for this little boy and little girl, called "Chet". Through many trials and circumstances in life, He would bring these two together!



When I was about nine years old, my mother met a man who was visiting in Arkansas. They were married about a year later and we all moved to Birmingham, AL. (Now, you're beginning to see how God is moving in His great providence.) There is so much that I need to say, but, I've got to keep this as short as possible. This man, my new stepfather, was what they called back then, a Chiropodist, now called a Podiatrist - a foot specialist. They eventually opened a Foot Clinic on 4 th Avenue North, downtown Birmingham, right across the street from "Forbes Piano Company". He trained my mother in Podiatry. The Lord blessed her greatly and she became a very good and highly respected doctor. Back then, you didn't go to school, as you do now, to learn Podiatry. You were taught by someone else. So, you see, these people back then were the great pioneers in foot care. However, the time did come when they were required to attend the University of Chicago to study for a period of time. They also went through strenuous exams to test the depth of their knowledge concerning foot care. From then one, they had to be licensed the same as any other doctor. My mother was among the top group who scored the highest! I was so proud of her!!



I really didn't like my stepfather. In time, he became very mean and hateful to my mother. He sort of had a Jekyll & Hide personality - you never knew how he would be from one moment to another. I also believe that he was jealous of my mother. Many of their patients desired her service above his, because of her warmth, friendliness, and gentle care that she had toward them.



This marriage finally ended, the practice dissolved, and in the end, my mother was destitute again. She was left with nothing. She later went to work for a company that required her to be located in another state. I was around eighteen years old now. We found a place for me to live in West End. It was a very pretty two story brick home where young working women lived. It was owned by two elderly sisters and they provided the needs and care for those young women.



In each room there were two roommates. My roommate was Agnes. She was so nice and we got along really good. (Now, see again, how God is going to move in His great providence.) As time went on, Agnes would tell me about this guy that she knew (I can't remember the details concerning her knowing him.) She would often tell me, "Oh, how I wish that Bug Wood would call me for a date!" One day, the telephone rang and they called Agnes and said that the call was for her. In a few minutes she ran back into our room and said, "Guess who that was!!" Well, from her excitement, I replied, "Well, it must have been Bug Wood!" He had asked her for a date and wanted to know if she could also get a date for his friend. She asked me if I would go and I said that I sure would if it meant that she could date Bug. This happened about three times with me dating three of his friends. I finally got fed up with his friends and told Agnes to count me out from then on.



Christmas came and Agnes was going home to be with her family for about two weeks. One day the phone rang again and they called me to the phone. When I answered it, it was Bug. He asked me if I would go out with him. I said, "What do you mean, you are Agnes' boy friend?!" He said, "Look, I'm not obligated to anyone". He didn't realize how Agnes felt about him, and, as far as he was concerned, she was just a very nice girl that he had known in the past. As most of you know, by now, my career was, at that time, a professional dancer. I also taught for "Arthur Murray Dance Studio" and taught dancing in several city and county schools. So, getting back to the phone call, I said to Bug that I had a floor show that night, and, if he wanted to take me there, then, I would go out with him. Well, my dear ones, that was it!! As the old saying goes, "the rest is history"! In God's great providence, He brought us together for fifty six years! But, needless to say, I dreaded when Agnes came back from visiting her family, because, I didn't know what I would say to her. Oh my, she was really mad at me and hurt. I don't blame her. It was hard living in the same room together for a while. But, everything turned out good in the end. Bug and I were married in the First Baptist Church of Birmingham and Agnes was my "maid of honor"! The great providence of God!!



Even though Bug and I were not Christians at that time, God was so good and merciful to us. He gave us a brand new little brick house, Bug graduated from the University of Alabama, and then, He gave us a precious little girl that Bug named "Lynda". Then, in time, he also gave us a very dear son-in-law, Bobby, and three dear grandchildren, Jason, Kevin, and Mandy.



Bug and I didn't go to church, but, a neighbor who lived across the street from us, used to carry Lynda to Sunday school and church. One day, she said to me, "Chet, I don't mind taking Lynda to church, but, you and Bug need to be going and taking Lynda yourselves." I knew that she was right and the Lord used her words to convict me. More and more He continued to convict me of my sins. By this time, I was thirty years old and Bug was thirty three. One night when Bug came home from work (3-11 shift), he came into our bedroom and saw me on my knees praying. He said to me, "What do you think you're doing?" He told me later, that as soon as he had spoken those words, God struck his heart and he said to himself, "This is what I should be doing."



It wasn't long after that that he agreed to start going to church with Lynda and me. Bug and I didn't know anything about the Lord or His word. We hadn't been brought up in Sunday school and church as most of you have. But, dear brethren, from the time that we first put foot in that Baptist church, our lives were never the same again. We immediately loved that church and every soul there, especially our pastor, Ralph Fields! Now, brethren, as I look back, I really can't say just when the Lord actually saved us. The thing that I have to go on is to examine how our lives progressed and how the Lord lead us through His great providence. His church, His people, and His word consistently became more and more precious to us. Our love for Him and gratitude to Him was beyond words to describe. The things that we used to love is so hated now, and, the things that we used to hate are so precious now. And, I can hardly bear to think of the sins that I committed against my Lord - sins of commission and omission - a whole lifetime of sins! I despise every one of them that I committed against my Lord. Our lives were truly changed.



Then, we finally had to leave our beloved Baptist church in Fairfield because of different things. For instance, how the Southern Baptists were dispensing money (our tithes), what they were teaching in some of the seminaries, and, false doctrine, etc. It was then that the Lord led us to Minor Heights Baptist church under the ministry of Ferrell Griswold. This really changed our lives even more! We had never heard the Gospel proclaimed like this preacher did! The truth became so clear! We now understood what the words election, chosen, predestination, and the sovereignty of God, etc. meant! Brethren, it was like a puzzle that came together! The whole picture of God's grace was clearly seen. How wonderful this was to us! We were blessed to be there for several years under Ferrell's ministry. And, then, a terrible split came in the church! I can't go into the details now, but, the court ordered us, half of us, to leave the church. So, we left with Ferrell and Ron Rumburg, who was Ferrell's associate and Head Master of the school. We came out with nothing - no money, no song books or anything. The only thing that we came out with was Ferrell's master tapes of all his sermons.



Then, Ferrell died in 1982 and, a few months later, the church called Dr. Gary Roper to be our pastor. While Brother Roper was with us his infant son was stricken with meningitis. This resulted in complete deftness due to the heavy doses of antibiotics given in order to save the child's life. About three years later, Bro. Roper and his wife, Lucy, found it necessary to move to Memphis in order to place their son in a special school for the hearing impaired. They desired for him, not only to "sign", but, to be able to speak in order to communicate with all people. He was not sufficiently being trained in Birmingham, therefore, the necessity for the move to Memphis.



By this time, the church membership had been reduced to a fairly small number due to various reasons such as moving out town, illness, deaths, etc. Instead of calling another pastor, the church decided to disband and we would all go our separate ways. We proceeded to dispense all of the church's assets, such as, property, furniture, money, etc.



Prior to this, Bug was in charge of recording and duplicating the tapes for the church. While in the process of disbanding, Bro. Roper suggested that Bug and I start a private tape ministry. We gave serious consideration to this and decided that it would indeed be a good work for the glory of the Lord and the good of His people for we knew the value of the tape library. It consisted of all the master tapes of Bro. Griswold dating back to the 1950's up until he died.



Our willingness to start the tape ministry was presented to the church. The church then voted to give us the tape library, the equipment and $5,000 to get the ministry started. Soon, the church disbanded and then we were on our own. We must admit that we were very excited over this, but, have to confess that we didn't know where or how to start! By the time that we got the tapes, we discovered that they were all out or order and it took us almost a year to get them in the order that we thought they should be in. This was a tremendous job and we saw (after printing the catalog) that we had made a few mistakes. However, these mistakes haven't been a great problem. The Lord was surely gracious to us to this point!



The next step was - who would we send the tapes to - how could we get started? We were given ten names and addresses so we immediately sent them out, and, in a few days, we got a letter from one of the recipients stating what a blessing the tapes had been and thanking us very much!! Well…..the Lord was so good to us by sending us just what we needed in encouragement through that letter! We then heard from others that we had sent to and, then, we started getting requests for tapes from people that we had never heard of. The word was getting around about these wonderful Gospel tapes. We gave to all who asked for them.



It wasn't long until the Lord opened a mighty big door for us. We were made aware of the annual Southern Baptist Founders Conference held, at that time, in Memphis, TN. This was a gathering of pastors, deacons and their wives. Some believed and some were coming into the understanding of the Doctrines of Grace. We were able to obtain a list of those attending the conference between 1983 and 1988. We sent tapes to all of the pastors that were listed and the response was wonderful. It became apparent, by the letters that we received, that the pastors were recommending the tapes to other pastors and, on other occasions, pastors would send us names of pastors asking us to send tapes to them. We were staying busy! Later, the Lord opened other doors for us to go into several seminaries to provide tapes for the students studying for the ministry. We were extremely grateful for this opening, also. Gradually, our ministry primarily became a ministry to pastors, seminary students and missionaries. However, we always gave to all people who desired them.



Another huge door was opened for us when Bill Clark, missionary and editor of the Evangelical Times in England, printed an announcement or advertisement in his paper about our ministry and the offer of tapes recorded by Bro. Griswold. This resulted in extending our ministry to thirty eight foreign countries.



The last great event in God's providence in our lives is when He led us to Dominion Baptist! To be under the ministry of Ron Rumburg and Mark Liddle has been precious beyond words! And, too, dearly beloved, how can I express to you how much Bug and I have loved each one of you! My beloved Bug is no longer with me, but, I have you!! What a sweet, precious and loving family you are to me. How can I not praise the Lord for each one of you! My heart is overwhelmed with His goodness, kindness, and tender loving care that He has so lovingly bestowed upon Bug and me and each one of you! I want you to know how grateful I am for all your kind and encouraging words that you've spoken to Bug and me over the years. Thank you so kindly!!



I praise the Lord for so great a salvation, for washing away our sins with His precious blood and clothing us with His righteousness.

I praise Him for leading and providing for us all the way. Isn't it good to know that He does all things well - He makes no mistakes!! Sweet brethren, that's our Lord, that's our great God, our great King of kings and Lord of lords! Could we have ever imagined where His great providence would lead us?! Yes, us, such poor and needy sinners - so helpless and undone!!



Your sister, who dearly loves you all,

Chet