BOOK REVIEW

Friday, October 16, 2009

WHAT DIFFERENCE DO IT MAKE?
Stories of Hope and Healing from the Authors of Same Kind of Different As Me
Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent

Instead of launching right into my review of What Difference Do It Make? I want to go back to my review of Same Kind of Different As Me. In January I wrote the following words about that book.

"It wasn’t a typical Sunday afternoon in Phoenix with an overcast sky and a cool mist falling. When I sat down to read Same Kind of Different As Me, I thought “I have already read sixty-three pages. I’ll read about that many more and then take a nap. It was around 1:00 p.m. when I started to read. When I read these words of Denver Moore: 'The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin’ place' I glanced up at the clock. It was 3:00 p.m. I had been reading all afternoon and had come to the end of this splendid book."

"Same Kind of Different as Me is a true story written by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent. Their story is so heart touching and inspiring that you can’t put it down. It is a story of faith and true friendship. It is a story of a woman who loved God, trusted Him and wanted to serve others. It is a story of a man who struggled to be what God wanted him to be and what he wanted to be himself and then matured into that man. It is the story of a black, uneducated man growing up in the South when black people were treated like animals. He lived among the homeless population with no hope for the future until he met a white Christian woman who befriended him, gave him hope, something to live for, and changed his life. He said, 'Until Miss Debbie, I’d never spoke to no white woman before. Just answered a few questions maybe—it wadn’t really speakin’.”

"I believe reading this story, may change your life. Living this story changed Debbie Hall, her husband Ron, and their black, homeless friend, Denver Moore."

"Denver said, 'Money can’t buy no blessins.' This is probably true. But you will not be wasting your money when you buy this book."

Hundreds of thousands have read and been stirred by the true-life tales of Ron Hall and Denver Moore. If you are one of the few who missed that book--don't miss this one. What Difference Do It Make? is filled with stories of Hope and Healing. There are stories like the following: A little girl in Alabama opens a lemonade stand to raise money for the homeless. A grieving son finds a surprising way to bless his crotchery, alcoholic father. A library book picked up on a whim in Syrcuse, New York, starts a chain reaction that saves a marriage in Washington State.

Your heart will be touched when you read this book. And you will go away with the conviction that one life really can make a difference in this world.

This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing Company.