One day, as I came home from a meeting, I found Rodolphe, a young man about 16, resting in our annex. A carpenter trainee, he was not a regular at our house, so I wondered why he was there. Toussaint explained.

Rodolphe had recently started hanging out with the wrong kinds of young men, those who did not have regular jobs and spent half of the night roaming the neighborhood, drinking and partying. Of course, that lifestyle does not go well with an apprenticeship, and Rodolphe missed work most of the time. His boss called his dad to complain, and his dad decided that a good spanking would solve the problem. That’s when Rodolphe took off and hid out at our house.

Toussaint had a long talk with Rodolphe, who admitted he had made some bad choices. He promised to end the unhealthy friendships, go back to work and apologize to his dad and his boss. But he was still scared to go home and face his dad. Toussaint decided to go with him and talk to his father so he would not beat Rodolphe and would give him a second chance. They waited until evening to give his dad some time to calm down.

All went well. The father accepted Rodolphe’s apologies, and the next workday Rodolphe was back at the carpenter’s workshop.

Just a week before this incident, our team studied the topic of “cities of refuge” in the Old Testament, and we discussed what that might look like today in our context. God quickly answered and gave us a good illustration.

We pray that our house will always be a city of refuge for those who did wrong but recognize it and want to make things right. May God continue using us to change lives and, most importantly, draw people to Him!

• Twitter