She was only 4’ 10’’ but she was one of God’s giants in the faith. She was a real saint of God. I call her a saint, not as some use the word in the more formal Catholic since, but as a person who faithfully serves God and sets an example for others.  <!--more-->For nearly ninety years, she faithfully served her Lord. Her name was Ida Hicks but everyone called her Sister Hicks. This was more than just recognition of our mutual spiritual kinship. It was a title of honor. She and her sister were greatly instrumental in the founding of the church that I pastored from 1982-88. The church was in the small farm community of Arvin, California.

During some of the harder times of this small church’s history, she had been the majority of its financial support. However, she never used that support for dictatorial power. Many lesser men and women have done so. Such power has many times entrapped and suffocated many small churches. She simply served the church in her humble way.

Wintertime in Arvin is, as in many agricultural areas, the financially leaner months. Sister Hicks would piece together quilt tops. Whenever a quilt top was ready, she and several other women of the church would get together for a Quilting Day. These quilts, plus many baked items were sold to augment the church treasury during the winter months.

A Surprising Saint

There were times when this dear lady in her mid-eighties could surprise me. One Quilting Day, I went in to where the ladies were working. As usual, they were working around the outstretched quilt. It was attached to a quilting frame suspended about thirty inches off the floor. It so happened that Sister Hicks was hemmed in against one wall of the narrow fellowship hall that doubled as the quilting room. There she sat with a wall behind her and a busy quilter on either side when she felt the call of nature. Not wanting to interrupt the work in progress, to my amazement, she came out from under the quilt, crawling on all fours, then stood up (at least as far as 4’10’’ can be up) and went about her business. A few minutes later she returned to her work in the same matter of fact way in which she had departed.

Arvin is at the southern end of the Great Central Valley and experiences occasional earthquakes. One day after a mild tremor, Sister Hicks happened to mention that her commode had cracked during the quake. One tends to learn a number of skills while pastoring small churches and since commode replacement had become one of mine, I told her that I would be happy (well at least willing) to install a new one. So my son and I went to her house and performed the task.

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