the same difference

"There's something I learned when I was homeless: Our limitation is God's opportunity. When you get all the way to the end of your rope and ain't nothing you can do, that's when God takes over. I remember one time I was hunkered down in the hobo jungle with some folks. We was talkin 'bout life, and this fella was talkin, said, 'People think they're in control, but they ain't. The truth is, that which must befall thee must befall thee. And that which must pass thee by must pass thee by.' You'd be surprised what you can learn talkin to homeless people. I learned to accept life for what it is." (p. 178-9)

When I first started reading Same Kind of Different As Me, I wasn't sure I would finish it, but slowly it drew me in, grabbed my heart, and held it fast. For one thing, the descriptions of the homeless shelter/street mission took me back to my youth and the times we would go sing at a Chicago street mission or help there in some other way. The bleak eyes in the faces of troubled men and women came back to me as I read the story.

So our book club met to talk about the book and the discussion was lively as we shared what we thought Denver's world view was, and what that meant to us personally. I think we were challenged to come out of our comfortable spaces and see how we also can make a difference.

This true story is about a unusual friendship between a homeless man and a wealthy art dealer. And it's a story about a woman who was determined to use her life to make a difference in others' lives. I had no idea the book would affect me so powerfully, but it did, and did so for others who sat around Lydia Grace's beautiful and gracious table.

The book ended with Denver, the homeless gentleman saying, "I used to spend a lot of time worrying that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks.... But I found out everybody's different--the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin' down the road God has set in front of us."

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