Authors: Ron Hall, Denver Moore & Lynn Vincent
Version: Paperback
ISBN: 9780849919107
Voice: Two First Person Narrators
Published: March 11th, 2008
First Published: June 1st, 2006Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Number of Pages: 244
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Denver Moore grew up a modern-day slave. It was all he ever knew and though he went to school for a couple of years he never learned to read or write properly. After a fire burned down his house and his whole family was killed he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in Red River Parish, Louisiana, his aunt and uncle were sharecroppers and so they put him to work right away. After working for many years as a sharecropper, even getting his own tract of land when he grew, he decided he'd had enough and in 1960 hopped a train out of Louisiana. After spending sometime as a prisoner, for being a vagrant, he made his way to Fort Worth, Texas where he lived for years on the streets.
Ron Hall was the opposite of Denver Moore, he had a loving family around him, grew up going to school with friends and graduated from college. It was in college that he met Debbie Short who eventually became his wife and the love of his life. When they moved to Fort Worth Ron found himself changing careers to become an art dealer. Although his business was slow to start it eventually became the smartest business decision Ron ever made. Debbie meanwhile was on a crusade, in her new found love for God, to help the homeless of Fort Worth. When they decided to start volunteering at the homeless shelter in one of the worst parts of town Ron was a bit skeptical at first. Especially when they encounter a homeless man that everyone else was afraid of, Denver Moore. What began as an occasional charitable trip eventually turned into a friendship of a lifetime.
As Ron and Debbie found themselves getting closer to Denver and Denver found himself trusting Miss Debbie, as Denver called her, and getting closer to the both of them they all started spending more time together. Miss Debbie and Ron taught Denver about God and the Bible and all that entails, and so when Miss Debbie was diagnosed with cancer Denver knew what he had to do. The homeless men and women at the shelter came to love Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron. When they hear that she is sick they begin praying for her everyday. When Ron witnessed it he is touched beyond words, but when he saw that Denver was nowhere in sight he became angered. Thinking that Denver was being disrespectful Ron started demanding to know where Denver was and shouting about how ungrateful he must be. One of the homeless men stopped Ron and told him that Denver was in his room sleeping. That the reason he was there was because he had been up all night praying for Miss Debbie. That Denver figured that since someone should be praying for Miss Debbie 24 hours a day he took it upon himself to take on the night shift.
Although Miss Debbie doesn't survive the cancer Ron and Denver's friendship continues on for years. Miss Debbie's love and faith in God brought the unlikely family of Denver and Ron together. It is a family and friendship that has continued on until today.
REVIEW: I was lent this book by one of my, now ex, roommates. We shared a love of reading and she thought that I would enjoy an inspiring read such as "Same Kind of Different As Me." And I enjoyed parts of it, found a lot of it beautifully crafted. Sure some of it was even inspiring. But to be honest I don't really believe in God as 'He' was seen in the book. I am not religious in the least so all the Bible and God stuff was a bit much for me. It was hard for me to stomach a lot of it.
I do however respect other people's beliefs in God and religion so I could appreciate the story. It was beautifully crafted and flowed well. Because Denver learned late how to read and write, and not all that well, his chapters were written the way he spoke and I think that it gave those chapters a certain charm. It was Denver through and through, no apologies and I enjoyed that a lot. With Ron's chapters I found his unconditional love for Debbie to be breathtaking. Reading about his journey with her was like looking into the relationship that we all hope for someday. It was a truly beautiful thing, and because it was so true and so heartfelt watching Debbie die through his eyes was heartbreaking. I admit it I cried when she finally died. It's hard to watch someone lose the person they love the most in all the world. Denver felt that loss too, in different ways, but he was still broken down by it. The only comfort that either of them had was the knowledge that Miss Debbie was now in heaven with God, whom she loved.
It's a moving story and I really did like parts of it. It's not my cup of tea but it's a great read for those out there that are looking for a religious boost. If what you want out of a book is a beautiful true story about three people's love for each other and God this is the book to search for. It's a good read, something that you won't regret reading by any means and on that may even lift your spirits in the process.
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