In the dusty, parched outback of southern Kenya an oasis of new life has sprung up. It’s called Philemon House, and it's a place of both refuge and rebirth for Kenya’s youth who were once incarcerated (aftercare), or beforehand if their probation officers believe they can be rehabilitated—and to avoid making they into hardened criminals as a result of prison time (this is mainly done for the girls).

Graduating from high school, or even receiving certification for a vocational training course, is a significant achievement for most young people. But for Abedi—whose future had once seemed so dark, so unpromising—many had said such an accomplishment was impossible. That's because Abedi had been rescued from a life of abandonment, drug use, mental/emotional problems and, finally, incarceration in the prison system of Kenya.

A certain communist Caribbean island off the coast of Florida may bring to mind lush beauty, white sands and clear water. But behind the mask of alluring beauty, the rot of many lost souls putrefies.

Abraham liked to hang out in Beersheba, a southern city in Israel situated in the Negev desert. So do some recovering drug and alcohol addicts.

Modern Israel, I've come to find out, is not just the romanticized land of the Bible, but it's also a messy melting pot of people who often carry a lot of pain, and have found various self-destructive, addictive ways to suppress it—at least for a few hours. Take away modern technology, however, and life is not all that different from Jesus' day—instead of Samaritans there are Palestinians; instead of lepers there are drug and alcohol addicts. And then there are the women who, just like 2,000 years ago, feel they have no option for survival but to sell their bodies by the hour. For many Jews and Christians, these kinds of people are to be avoided.