Table Of ContentPraise for Workin’ Our Way Home
It’s a rare opportunity for an actor to be blessed with a role so soulful as
in Same Kind of Different as Me. To embody Denver’s spirit was at once
an emotional challenge and an extreme privilege, learning the story of
a man who came from so little and gave so much.
— Djimon Hounsou, Academy Award and Screen
Actors Guild Award– nominated actor
I have known and loved Ron Hall for over four decades and it was my
joy to know and love Denver for a decade as well. Never have two men
lived with each other, learned from each other, and loved each other in a
more Christ- honoring way than Ron and Denver. There are lessons here
for all of us. After all, we, too, are just working our way home!
— O. S. Hawkins, president/CEO of
GuideStone Financial Resources
This book is so powerful. It opens my heart and deeply touches my soul.
Thank you, Ron Hall, for bringing this awe-i nspiring story to my life
and the world. I am forever changed— I love this book!
— Kym Yancey, cofounder and president of eWomenNetwork
Ron and Denver have done it again in this page- turning memoir about
the two most unlikely friends. This will go down as one of the greatest
buddy stories in history.
— Jon Gordon, keynote speaker and bestselling
author of The Power of PosiTive LeadershiP
For decades, legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey concluded one of
his nationally syndicated programs with these enduring words: “And
now you know the rest of the story.” That’s exactly what Ron Hall gives
us in Workin’ Our Way Home. Their authentic account is a powerful
reminder that the journey from human crisis to human flourishing
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does not play out on a downhill highway, but rather on an uphill track
through tough terrain with numerous turnouts and toll booths. And the
book’s abiding lesson for us all is this: it’s a journey God never intended
for anyone to take alone.
— John Ashmen, president of the Association
of Gospel Rescue Missions
In Workin’ Our Way Home, Ron Hall continues to remind us of the power
and inspiration that can be found in unexpected friendships. In this new
book, we have the gift of exploring Denver’s unique wisdom and ongo-
ing legacy that Ron keeps alive through his beautiful storytelling. What
a joy to experience this journey!
— Anne Neilson, artist, author, and philanthropist
Workin’ Our Way Home is a magical read and an important reminder that
each day we get closer to the end of life. What will you do with this day
and this moment? Ron and Denver, two amazing men, answered that
question as they searched their souls, only to discover we are all simply
working our way home. A must read!
— Louis Upkins, entrepreneur and author
of TreaT Me Like a CusToMer
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Workin’ our
way Home
The Incredible True Story of
a Homeless Ex- Con and a Grieving Millionaire
Thrown Together to Save Each Other
RON HALL
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© 2018 Ron Hall
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, scanning, or other— except for brief quotations in critical
reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.
Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-
raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@
ThomasNelson.com.
Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed
in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to
imply an endorsement by Thomas Nelson, nor does Thomas Nelson vouch for the
existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products
beyond the life of this book.
ISBN 978-0-7852-1985-9 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017918090
ISBN 978-0-7852-1983-5
Printed in the United States of America
18 19 20 21 22 LSC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Dedication
I'm dedicating this book to the memory of my father, Earl Hall. In
my first book, Same Kind of Different as Me, I wrote some unkind
things about him. Though they were true based on my under-
standing of his life, I own my part in the conflict we experienced
given that I never found a way to love him until Denver forced me
to “bless the hell outta him.” It was then I discovered the father I'd
wanted since my early childhood. I cherish the year we spent hang-
ing out together the way best friends do and getting to know each
other before he went to heaven at age ninety-o ne. I have just fin-
ished writing our memoir that can best be described as Same Kind
of Sorry as Me— an apology and a celebration.
And to Denver, who moved into my home bringing nothing
and gave me everything. I miss you.
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As Denver was the first face I saw every morning and the last
almost every night for nearly twelve years, I know his voice as well
as mine. I have tried to faithfully recapture it here as best I could.
For more than ten of those twelve years, we lived under the same
roof and experienced the events and had the conversations I’ve
written about in this book. Both are recounted as accurately as I
remember them.
— Ron Hall, September 2017
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Preface
I’m not really a betting man, though I am a gambler. That said,
if you are reading this preface, you are probably one of the mil-
lions who read Same Kind of Different as Me, the first New York Times
bestseller coauthored by a skitzy, homeless ex-c on known as Suicide
who could not read or write.
If that’s not the case, then let me say welcome. I hope you will
join Suicide and me on this untold journey that straddles a Texas
canyon between insanity and hilarity for a long tumble in the
whitewater until tragedy shows its ugly head. And hopefully, after
you have turned the last page and said, “Dang, that was fun,” you
will circle back to our first book and make some sense out of all this
craziness.
This story is for Debbie, who on her deathbed gave me a job to
do, and for Beth, who years later encouraged me to write about it—
then cracked the whip until I finished.
vii
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1
I am trav’ling tow’rd life’s sunset gate,
I’m a pilgrim going home.
— “THE SUNSET GATE”
DENVER
I looked out over the crowd— mostly white folk. Wadn’t nary
a dry eye in the whole church. They was affectin me, and that ain’t
normal ’cause I seldom makes eye contact ’less I be thinkin ’bout
takin care of bidness, if you get my drift. I paused, tryin to figure
out what I was gonna say next. Maybe I done said enough— seemed
like I’d been talkin ’bout thirty minutes. Then it come to me.
“I’m fixin to do somethin the Devil ain’t never done for you—
I’m gonna cut you loose. But before I do, I’m gonna leave you with a
little somethin to think about. 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.”
A rich- lookin man ’bout fifty years old on the front row stood
up and pointed his finger at me. That shut me down. I thought I
might have made the fella mad tellin rich white folk they’s homeless
just like me. But the next thing I knowed, the lady next to him stood
1
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