Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore; published by Thomas Nelson; available from John Ritchie Ltd; 224 pages; price £10.49.
In this truly remarkable real-life story, written with honesty and frankness, we see the sovereign purposes of God in bringing together two men from completely different backgrounds and a woman who changed their lives. In Louisiana, a black plantation worker for thirty years jumped on a freight train and ended up in Fort Worth, Texas. Denver Moore was illiterate, violent, and homeless.
Ron Hall, born and reared in Fort Worth, progressed from selling canned soup to investment banking to art dealing. He became a millionaire. He regarded the homeless as "a ragtag army of ants bent on ruining decent people’s picnics". In 1969 he married Debbie, and four years later they became Christians.
When they were in their fifties, Debbie felt called of God to help the homeless at the Union Gospel Meeting in Fort Worth. Her faith, unconditional love, and determination brought hope and meaning to many lives especially Denver’s. He said she "looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth saving". Slowly and steadily a lasting bond was forged between Ron and Denver that no-one thought possible.
This book should inspire us all to be more Christ-like by showing compassion to others, because in Denver’s words: ". . . we is all homeless - just working our way toward home".
MY
The Seven Laws of the Harvest by John W Lawrence; published 1995 by Kregel Publications; available from John Ritchie Ltd; 130 pages; price £5.95.
This book is subtitled "God’s Proven Plan for Abundant Life". The author presents seven basic laws of spiritual planting, cultivating, and harvesting that should guide and govern the Christian life in order that a rich harvest of spiritual worth might be obtained.
In the Foreword Dr Joe Aldrich states, "In our fluid, compromise-seeking, relativistic culture we need to hear again God’s call to holiness".
The seven laws are as follows. Law 1 - We reap much we did not sow. Law 2 - We reap the same in kind as we sow. Law 3 - We reap in a different season than when we sow. Law 4 - We reap more than we sow. Law 5 - We reap in proportion as we sow. Law 6 - We reap the full harvest of the good only if we persevere; the evil comes to harvest on its own. Law 7 - We cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, but we can about this year’s.
With these seven laws serving as a solid foundation, the author presses home the challenge that we need to be concerned about what we are producing now.
In the sixth chapter the author observes, "The problem of the average believer today is not a lack of knowledge, but the application of truths he already knows". He is convinced that although we cannot control the length of our life, we can control its width and depth. With this in view, he urges the reader to read the Word of God and meditate upon it.
Numerous illustrations and verses of poetry are scattered throughout this gripping book. In the chapter dealing with the third law, a selection of last words from both saved and unsaved are quoted to profit. Charles Jones comments, "I began to underline almost every word and finally decided every word in the book was written especially for me".
There is a substantial Scripture Text Index with references to the majority of books in the Bible as well as a six page Subject Index. The Seven Laws of the Harvest skillfully presents God’s plan for a godly life that will be active and effective.
AC
