"My Gift to Jeanne"

On Tuesday, Shannon and I received a letter from our friend Stephen Hamilton that touched our hearts. Stephen is a missionary with Urban Youth Impact in West Palm Beach. He gave me permission to share it here.

December 18, 2007

Dear Stephen & Shannon,

Hello and happy holidays! I trust that you are looking forward to Christmas as much as I am. I will be heading to North Carolina to spend some much needed time with my family. I will hopefully have a lot of time to read and relax, especially since life has been keeping me busy.

I wanted to share a heartfelt story that happened this month in my ministry. My housemates and I take prayer walks through our neighborhood every morning of the week. It was rather cold one morning last week when we left our house, so I put on the UYI sweatshirt I had just received. It’s a great sweatshirt with a verse from Romans on the back of it. Towards the end of our walk, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who was cold.

We came across a young woman curled up in a ball on the sidewalk, shivering. She had stretched her thin T-shirt over her knees and down to her feet in an attempt to stay warm. I recognized her because we had met before. Her name is Jeanne and she looks about 25-years-old. Jeanne and I have had a few conversations, and I beep at her or ring my bike bell at her when we cross paths. She is always on the street and her life on these streets has taken its toll on her. If you saw her, you would understand what I mean.

I approached Jeanne and offered my sweatshirt to her, which she accepted. I told her to wear it with pride because it was my favorite. Since that morning, I have seen Jeanne wearing the sweatshirt, and some of my co-workers have seen her, too. The other day while on our prayer walk, my housemates and I passed her again. She was lying on the sidewalk asleep, cuddled up in the UYI sweatshirt.

I’m happy that she is staying warm, and it makes me smile to know that Jeanne is walking around in a sweatshirt that says, “I have become all things to all men so that I might save some.” I hope that this verse will reflect the way I live my life as I seek to minister to my neighbors in need.

Merry Christmas!

Stephen Hamilton

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