Two must-read books make perfect holiday gifts

Inspire yourself, family, or friends with two must-read books over the holiday season.

They are written by a wealthy art dealer and a homeless ex-con.

Ron Hall and Denver Moore shared their remarkable story at my wife’s book club 2007.

I will never forget it, nor will you if you join their magical ride.

Triumph in a mess of tragedy

Whether it’s Denver Moore’s Louisiana slave background or Ron Hall’s worldwide art dealings, the first book is a rolling drama about surviving and thriving through suffering.

“Same Kind of Different as Me” invites us to taste the sweet smell of deliverance.

• Ron and Debbie Hall are enjoying great success in the 70s.
• Ron is selling Georgia O’Keefe’s and Renoirs like hamburgers.
• Debbie is passionate about her Christian faith and loves the homeless.
• But Ron has a mid-life crisis crushing his sweet Debbie.
• He confesses his transgression and asks her for forgiveness.
• Debbie does, but she insists both commit time to serving the homeless.

How much drama can love really stand?

• Can love withstand lies?
• Can love withstand anger?
• Can love withstand repentance?

The book shows how the folks you love and love you back are the keys to triumph.

Love and faithfulness trump failures

Debbie took Ron to the Mission in South Fort Worth every week.

That’s when Denver Moore stomps into their lives like a pissed-off cougar.

His nickname, “Suicide,” matched his violent temper with his violent past.

“We heard the crash of metal and a man roaring in anger near the chapel door.  Alarmed, we turned to see about twenty people scatter as a huge angry black man hurled another chair across the dining hall floor.  ‘I’m gon’ kill whoever stole my shoes!’” Denver Moore, “Same Kind of Different as Me”

“That’s the man I saw in my dream,” says Debbie.

She told Ron that God had given her a vision of Denver based on a verse in the Bible.

“Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.”  Ecclesiastes 9:15-17

Denver’s conversion to love and faithfulness through “Ms. Debbie” is the remarkable story of the book, not to mention the suffering and rebuilding of Ron’s life after her death.

Love is not “catch and release”

Debbie never let go of Ron.  Ron didn’t let go of Debbie.

And Debbie overwhelmed Denver with love.

When Ron asked Denver to be his friend, Denver responded with a parable.

“I heard that when white folks go fishin they do something called ‘catch and release.’  When colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off.  So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water.  If you goin’ catch and release, then I ain’t got no desire to be your friend.  But, if you is lookin for a real friend, then I’ll be one.  Forever.”  Selected excerpts from Same Kind of Different as Me

Sequel: Workin’ Our Way Home

Denver dictums from Workin’ Our Way Home

“If a man tells it all, he ain’t got nothin else to say.”

“Thank God for nothin’!  When you can do that, he’ll give you everything.”

“Like I always say, if the Devil ain’t messin’ with you, he’s already got you.”

“Everybody’s bidness ain’t nobody’s bidness, and if everybody know your bidness, you ain’t gots no bidness.”

“Whether we is rich or whether we is poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place.  So, in a way we is all homeless, ever last one of us, just workin our way home.”

Enjoy this brief but amusing story of Ron and Denver at The White House.

What part of this story can you relate to?