First, I'd like to say thank you to Thomas Nelson publishing company who sent me a free copy of this book after reading my post about "What Difference Do It Make?" I truly appreciate your reading my blog and thinking enough of it to send me this book. Truly an honor.
This book took the seed that was planted in the first book and expanded the stories of Ron and Denver. In the first book, I could not stop focusing on Deborah to even think much about Ron and Denver, but this book really let me take a hard look at the lives of these men. I am going to split this post in two parts. The first, I'd like to discuss my opinions of these extraordinary men, and in the second, I'd like to talk about the two societal issues that I think they are doing a magnificent job of bringing attention to.
I really have to appreciate the character found within Ron Hall. He doesn't profess to be a great Christian or even a great man. He doesn't pretend that becoming involved with the homeless came naturally or easily to him. He is truly honest to the readers opening up his feelings of fear and disgust for the vagrants of his city. He admits he would never have gotten involved with the homeless without the passion of his wife. I find a lot of myself in Ron. I have done some work at the shelter's in Nashville, and I struggle with fear and the instinct to run away. In my life, I have experienced the compassion and total acceptance that two incredible women have shown in regards to the homeless. The first is my mother. There were several years when I was in high school that she took a job as a nurse in the local homeless clinic. Part of her job was to travel between the different shelters and man the local clinic while serving the forgotten of my hometown. I don't know how she did it, but every person she helped felt her compassion and understanding. And, she did it with a servant's heart. The other woman is my best friend, Kathye. Kathye is totally committed to working with the inner city food kitchen, Community Cares. Several times a year, she loads up students and faculty from school and heads down to serve lunch, clean the facilities, and load them up on supplies. She is an incredible woman who is always thinking of the other person first. She gives our students the eye-opening experience of how people, in our very city, struggle to survive. All of the kids that go with her are changed for life by their experiences.
Denver is still one of the wisest people I've ever read. After spending most of his life unable to read and write, he has a very simplistic outlook on right and wrong. His incredible faith and ability to care for others without judging is incredible. He makes the following call out to the Christians of the world, "If all the Christians - I mean all of 'em - go outta the pews on Sundays and into the streets, we'd shut the city down. We'd shut down hunger. We'd shut down loneliness. We'd shut down the notion that there is any such of a thing as a person that don't deserve a kind word and a second chance." Denver is cut from a different cloth, one of kindness, respect, and most especially, action.
This book is a revolution. It is starting people thinking about how they can get involved. I told my husband earlier today that I think we live in a wonderful country who jumped to the aid of Haiti in an instant, but how disappointing there are millions in our country with nowhere to live. Ron and Denver bring again to the forefront the plague of the homeless in out country. In addition, this book really revealed one of the things more and more Americans are struggling with, growing up with no true father. It was very interesting how both of these gentlemen were greatly affected by the lack of a father-figure. As a teacher, more and more, I see the affects of children growing up without a father. I find so many young men have no one to look to for guidance and discipline. I think for centuries, we've known the value of a mother, but it is becoming blindingly obvious the role of a father in families. I am blessed to have had the best father of his generation and to have married the best father of this generation.
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