was getting desperate.  The gap between knowing and doing was growing day by day.

     The more I read the Word of God the more discouraged I felt. Jesus' definition of ministry was so drastically different from mine.  The Words of Christ that I esteemed and loved had no trace or evidence within my own life. 

     Jesus' words kept ringing in my mind.  "If you love Me, you will obey My commands."

     I realized that my love for Christ was marked by beliefs rather than actions.  I had to seek out the commands of my Lord Jesus.  What did He desire that I pursue?  Surely the abundant Christian life was more than just agreeing with truths.  The love that my Lord desired was one marked by obedience. 

     In my search I came across this verse that radically altered my thinking.  Jeremiah 22:16 says, “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well.  Is not that what it means to know Me? declares the Lord."

     Wait a second!  My knowledge of the Lord consisted of quiet times spent in coffee shops with His Word.  Did the Lord desire that I come to know Him through actions as well?  An alarming thought crossed my mind.  If this verse is true, than I only partially know my Lord.  There is still another half that I have yet to ever know or see! 

     I had to dive deeper into the Scriptures to see what else the Lord had to say about pleading the cause of the afflicted and needy.  Was this really a major theme in Scripture that I had flippantly passed by? I had spent hours in His Word -  how could I have missed this? 

     David writes in the Psalms, "Defend the poor

and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.  Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." 

     Micah writes, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

     Solomon wrote, "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

     God's law commands in Leviticus, "But the stranger (refugee) that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself..."

     After reading these Scriptures the Spirit of God tugged on my heart. "Kelly, you need to leave this coffee shop in order to find the poor.  You need to step foot into uncomfortable places to find the fatherless.  Justice doesn't take place in coffee shops, Kelly, it takes place on the front lines.  You are sitting on the sidelines..."

     At this point in the study I cried out, "My Lord, I do not know You because I do not know the poor, needy and afflicted!  Show them to me! I am desperate to know all of You!"

     Little did I know at this moment what the Lord had in mind when I pleaded to know Him by knowing the afflicted.

     One of my greatest fears was the inner city of Rochester, near where I live.  Though Rochester is a wonderful place to live, there are certain areas that are some of the most dangerous in the country.  I have been told to avoid these areas all of my life. 

     Well meaning Christian leaders have even stated, "There is no need for such a sweet girl like yourself to venture down there.  You are not wanted there and are most likely to end up at the wrong place at the wrong time." 

     Did I really have to go down to the city?  Yet as I looked around my church I realized I didn't

see one poor person.  As I observed my neighbors, I noticed that there were no orphans, no widows, no refugees.  There were people that were just like me, healthy, comfortable and well taken care of.

     As I turned on the news I saw what was happening in the inner city.  There was the poor.  There were the needy and afflicted.  There was an overwhelming population of refugees who were in great distress.

     For months I contemplated if knowing Christ more really meant knowing the people who I had avoided my entire life.  The Word of God clearly stated yes.

I called up one of my friends and explained my great dilemma.  She simply responded, "There is someone I want you to meet."

     Over the next several months she took me to meet a group of people that has changed my life, the refugees fleeing from genocide in Burma - the Karen people.

As I got to know the refugees this astounding thing happened.  The more I also got to know my Lord Jesus by experience.  As I ventured into the darkest places in the city, the Scripture verse, "The Lord is my shelter" was no longer theory, it was my reality.

     Then something mysterious happened. I actually died to myself.  Though I had claimed to die to self years earlier there was no experience by which it would be tested.  Yet as I have had to engage in work among the least of these, it is truly no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me.

    I met Christ in the coffee shops.  Christ met me among the least of these in the inner city. As a result the Lord has led me to start a non-profit addressing the various needs of refugees, orphans and widows.  It is called the R.O.W. Project with the simple mission, "to obey God's command to love, defend and deliver the refugee, orphan and widow."

     We are in the process of establishing a center specifically designed for refugees in the Rochester area.  This center will be a place where refugees can become empowered by the Word of God to build needed life skills and receive assistance with daily needs.  The R.O.W. Project will be a place refugees can come for safety, learning and rest. We then hope to send workers back to the refugees’ home countries and minister to the orphans and widows in their homeland.

     Our desire is not to be humanitarians.  Our desire is to bring the Kingdom of God here on earth.  Our desire is that others will know Christ by this work.

     Though the vision for the R.O.W. Project is overwhelming and the work immense, the Lord's hand is mightily moving.  He has supernaturally provided in ways I could never dream of.  His Word has been proven true time and time again.

     There are times when it is hard.  Self wants to reign again and proclaim that this is just too much time, effort and cost.  It is in these moments that God graces me with His presence.  I am reminded of Him as one of the seven-year-old refugee girls puts her hand in mine and asks, "Can you please pray with me?" 

     There are no costs too high compared to knowing and experiencing the presence of Jesus Christ. 

     It is no longer the inner city that I fear, rather it is the coffee shop that keeps me away from actually knowing firsthand the Lord's heartbeat. *