Homelessness in a Different Light

Same Kind of Different as Me is one of those books that you’re glad you took the time to read. The subtitle is what caught my attention: “a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.”

As advertised, the story narrates the lives of two very different men, authors Ron Hall and Denver Moore—one a multi-millionaire art dealer, the other a homeless black man whose life began as a sharecropper on the plantations of Louisiana.

Although difficult to read the first few chapters while learning the characters’ backgrounds, the text quickly takes off once Ron’s wife, Deborah, prods the two men to begin a rather reluctant relationship where the Halls serve every Tuesday.

While I’m not about to give away the ending, the true story is heart-warming. In the end, it convicts all Christians to look at the nature of their service for God. Hall and Moore examine the need for Christians not merely to sacrifice time and money, but to instead invest themselves by opening their hearts, minds, and souls to others they minister to.

In other words, we need to stop playing it safe. To reach others for Jesus, Christians must cross socio-economic boundaries and build real relationships with others different from themselves.