Page 165 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

MY DAD

Having farmed since he was six years old, my dad had become a good weather forecaster. Since May
was almost always a very dry month, he used to say that if it rained much in May it was going to be a
very wet summer. This year we got 5 inches of rain in May, and then 2 months later Tropical Storm
Debbie came by and dropped as much as 30 inches of rain in most areas of the county.

My Daddy had the reputation of being a long-winded preacher, and I must say that 1 cannot disagree
with other people’s assessment of him in that regard but I have never heard any one mention his
preaching that did not say that he was an extremely good preacher. My Daddy stopped school at a very
young age, as most farm boys did back in those days in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s, but
nevertheless, he was an extremely educated and well-read man. John Dicks could talk knowledgably on
almost any subject and he was very keen on picking up information that many others might miss.

He read constantly, or at least at night after he had finished his days work on our farm, which he worked
with a great deal of perseverance and sweat, but at night he would invariably be found reading a book or
the Bible, and I remember later when I was a student in Stetson University that one of the Professors in
religion at Stetson, Dr. Barnett, taught me one of the required courses in religion. Dr. Barnett told me
one time, after he had found out who my father was, that John Dicks knew more about the Bible than
any college Professor ever thought of knowing, and 1 suppose that might have been the first time that I
realized what a real scholar my Dad was.

I have heard several say that my Father was instrumental in causing many a man to give up chewing or
smoking, but that they had never heard him preach a sermon against it. The thought was that if a man
could do without a chaw, or a cigarette, long enough to last through one of his sermons, many of them
would decide that they could just give up tobacco all together.

One time when I must have been about 5 years old, we were headed home from Lulu one Sunday night
after church services at the Lulu Baptist Church, where Daddy was the Pastor at that time, and I recall
asking him “Daddy when you pray in church why do you pray so long and tell God so many things that
he probably already knows?

Make no mistake about it the Reverend John Dicks did not the least little bit appreciate my question and
he very emphatically let me know it. In fact I recall being fearsome that he was going to stop the old
Chevy and whip me right there side of the road.

Needless to say, I never again made any remark to him about the length of either his sermons or his
prayers. With the possible exception of Reverend Raymond Roberts, I suspect he was the champion for
all time of being long-winded.

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