Same Kind of Difference Like Me

A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together .

I haven't given a book report since I was in the 8th grade. And we won't even talk about how long ago that was.

If you read my blog yesterday or the day before, I can't remember which, you know I won this book in a drawing at a dinner I attended Monday night. I enjoyed the talk that was given about it and had intended to purchase it, but was fortunate enough to have my name drawn for one of five copies given away.

I took it home and read the first three chapters. Chapters in this book may be as long as three or four pages or as little as one, so reading three was no great feat. Had I not been planning to come to work the next day, I probably would have read all night. I'll get on with the report now.

Denver Moore was tied to the land in rural Louisianna. He was a black sharecropper just like his family before him. Having no schooling, no medical care, no money and little food and shelter, people left him to be passed from one relative to another. By the time he was a teenager, he had been nearly killed by three young white men for changing the tire on a white woman's car, and was soon living alone sharecropping a small parcel of land.

He was shown a few simple kindnesses, but they were few and far between. He finally hopped a train and ended up homeless in Fort Worth, Texas. He eventually began finding food at a mission where Ron Hall and his wife Deborah came every Tuesday to hand out food and kind words.

Ron was a successful art dealer and Deborah was the love of his life and the wife of their two children. Even though they had become wealthy, they never forgot their small town roots. Ron's mother made his clothes for which he was laughed at in college.

Deborah was the one who soon became deeply involved with the mission, and Ron joined her there to please her. He even likened himself to a modern day Henry Higgins.

Deborah was the one to spot Denver, who had withdrawn into a shell and spoke to no one. She soon made it her goal to get him to communicate. She never pushed, she just continued to tell him God loved him.

These three people made an unusual trio. Both Ron and Denver were totally devoted to 'Miss Debbie' and she could get these two men to do anything she wanted them to.

Their devotion continues today even though 'Miss Debbie' is now with the angels, while her work continues in the Fort Worth area missions.

Ron and Denver now tour as a result of this book. They both speak, Denver preaches and sings. Each chapter is written in the voice of the person who is doing the speaking. You will read about prejudice from both perspectives. You will read about two men with different colored skin who truly consider themselves brothers.

Weekend will be here soon. Have you read a book lately that makes you laugh, cry and think? Tell me about it.

Have a great Thursday. Love one another.