Dr. Sue Dickson

Sue Dickson, my citizen of the week and guest speaker.  Never introducing someone before, I may ramble a little, but Sue Dickson is one of my dearest friends and I have the utmost respect for her and who she is, and she is….

Dr. Sue, Pastor Sue, Professor Sue, Consular, Musician, Singer, Humanitarian, Mother, Grandmother, Wife and Friend.

I first met Sue ten years ago when she was called to our church as one of 3 candidates for new pastor. Sue took us by storm when she was introduced wearing a bright and ornate southwest themed robe, the sun from the sanctuary windows gave her a glow like a rock star on stage, she preceded with her sermon or interview .She had no notes, no cue cards, and no script. She offered us as her “Interview sermon "simply spoken, God’s word.  Like in the movies,

She had us at Good morning.

Jumping ahead, when hurricane Katrina hit the south, Sue assembled the elders and deacons and reinforced with us that we were a mission based church and that our calling was to go and help. 17of us made the trip for 7 days and we sponsored the cost to go and do whatever we could. Never have I felt more alive and humbled to give of myself to help others, than when we helped the families we worked with. We were just a small handful of the countless people who felt the same, but it was Sue who organized us to go and help. We went back the following year to do more.

Sue is married to one of my closet friends, the mother of 6 wonderful children who share in her passion of life, and knowing the stories from Wayne, she is surrogate mother to so many others who she has touched, who were in need of her special gift of giving.

Just one of the countless reasons I want to honor my dear friend is because of the work or calling she has been doing every summer for the last 5 years. She finishes her year of teaching at A.U. and almost immediately gets on a plane and travels to parts of the world where most of us wouldn’t want to go. Thailand, India, Columbia, Ecuador, and it’s not to sit on the beach and soak up the sun,

She goes to do what God has called her to do and that is to give herself to those who are in such need as we, hopefully, have never known. She commits herself to those who long for a loving and caring hand to hold, ear to talk with or a mind to learn from.

Sue is this week’s “Citizen of the Week”, but to those whose lives have been touch by her, she’s an everyday citizen…

To change the mood from, as our speaker, Sue is going to talk to us about some of the work she does and what she experiences when she goes to these countries that are involved in the Sex trafficking business and how we need to stop this one person at a time.