Thursday, October 22, 2009

Review: What Difference Do It Make? : Stories of Hope and Healing by Ron Hall, Denver Moore & Lynn Vincent


Ron Hall and Denver Moore, authors of "Same Kind of Different As Me", share more of their stories about their quest to end homelessness. Ron also shares his struggle of how he came to grips with the death of his wife Debbie, who was responsible for bringing him and Denver together and was the inspiration for these books. He writes very honestly about his strained relationship with his alcoholic father and how they eventually made their peace.

Denver Moore, an uneducated homeless man who came from very humble beginnings as a boy working the plantations of Louisiana to a New York Times best selling author. Although he is unable to read or write, he is an incredibly wise man who tells it like it is. Denver's stories of life on the streets are honest and sometimes heart wrenching. You will never look at a homeless person the same way again. Most of us are guilty of believing that all homeless people are just a bunch of useless drunks and alcoholics who have no one to blame but themselves for their circumstances. This book will change your way of thinking about the homeless. You will come to find that many of them suffer from various physical and mental conditions that have caused their lives to spiral out of control and eventually found themselves living on the streets. It can happen to people from all walks of life, blue collar and white collar alike.

You will see how a book slowly catches on with thousands of people around the country and begins a movement to end the problem of homelessness across the country. From a woman with cystic fibrosis who builds blessing boxes for children to save money to donate to a book being picked up in a library in New York and begins a series of events that will save a marriage on the other side of the country in Washington State. There are a lot of other inspiring stories that will make you laugh or move you to tears. My favorite being the story about Denver's visit to The White House and meeting President and Mrs. Laura Bush and Barbara Bush.

"And now here I was, an ol' cropper with a prison record, shakin hands with the most powerfulest man on earth. Ain't nothin that can do somethin like that but love......while the president still had ahold a' my hand, God reminded me of that scripture where He says, "Through Me, All things are possible."

This is a wonderful book that will inspire you and cause you to think twice about judging others.
It is a lesson to everyone about being more accepting of others and stepping outside of your comfort zone to help those in need. My hope is that it will inspire many more of us to become part of this movement to end the plight of the homeless in America.