Still Thinking

Our church hosted an ice cream social for the homeless in our back parking lot this evening. We are located next to the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita, so this was a good place for people to gather. We had a good crowd and constant flow of people in and out.
We went to help out. I’ve not had a chance to do this kind of thing very often, and appreciated the opportunity to be part of this outing. While there, I struck up conversations with a couple of folks who came. One older man was talking cattle, which I know something of, so I started conversing with him. Now, I don’t know how much he embellishes what he says, but he says he is a descendent of one of the Miller boys who ran the old Miller Brothers 101 Ranch in northern Oklahoma. He had a clipping from a newspaper that he retrieved from his old car, and told me all about the fact that his family had been in ranching, oil, and entertaining people with a western show.I never knew anything about that, but according to this Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Brothers_101_Ranch), what he was saying, if he was indeed related, had more truth than not. How he ended up homeless and at our ice cream social was anyone’s guess.
I talked with another man who was raised around horses, whether on a ranch or some other way, I don’t know. His woman (whether wife or not I don’t know) had just had surgery on her appendix 8 days ago. The man said they had been carnival workers, but weren’t now. Neither of them had any teeth to speak of, and they weren’t any older than about 40. It was obvious that life had been hard on them, and it showed.
The man ended our conversation by telling us that he has been blessed in life. He did equivocate just a little about his present circumstance, but didn’t retract his blessed comment. He just seemed to be more puzzled at his lot in life right now than anything else.
As these people melted back into the downtown area…some along the river, others in cars, and still others out to the streets, I had to wonder several things. Where were they going? What waited for them tonight? How is our present health care system working for them (including dental care)? Why did they end up where they are now? What else we can do that would be meaningful and pertinent for these folks? Why do I often feel like I’m not especially blessed and I have much, much more than the man did who said he has been blessed? How many church groups would invite this kind of people to their place of worship and rub shoulders with them, eat with them, and visit with them?
I’m still thinking. I may be thinking for a long time to come.