I'm Afraid, Lord (A Prayer For Those Who Are Afraid)

One of the typical symptoms of acid reflux is to get a chest pain under moderate exertion. I had a similar symptom when I was walking for 'Crop Walk' in October. After having discussed with my doctor, my doctor decided to order a stress test for me at Theda-Clark Hospital a week after the chest pain episode. The test turned out to be fine. But I found the following prayer (Lord, I am afraid.) on one of the desks in the hospital. I can relate to that prayer. I believe some of the readers in this blog can also relate to this prayer. I decide to share the prayer with my readers.

Here it goes.

God, I'm afraid!

That's hard for me to say.

I want to be strong-

for myself and for others;

I want to believe that all is well,

that everything is under

control.

But the truth is that

I'm concerned,

I'm worried,

I'm afraid.

I'm afraid

of pain,

of the unknown,

of feeling alone,

of being helpless,

of being weak.

God, you are the one who gives

strength to the weak,

comfort to the afflicted,

courage to the fearful.

Come to me, now, God-

not because I am strong,

but because I am weak;

not because I am reach,

but because I am in need;

not because I am brave,

but because I am afraid.

Come to me, God!

I want a miracle, yes!

But above all else,

I just want courage to meet

whatever comes

to me today!

Ms. Wang Played A Piece of Piano Music in A Practice Room of Lawrence University Conservatory

Wang Shuw-Jiing said that when she was a small child, her parent sent her to a piano teacher to learn playing piano. She still remembered playing few songs when she visited Lawrence University Conservatory on November 1, 2009 in Appleton. She was very happy to sit down in front of a piano and played a song she knew in one of the practice room of the Lawrence University Conservatory. It was a very nice song. She turned out to be a fine musician.

Photo shows her in front of the Lawrence University Chapel.

The Chens Thank Sandy and Wen-Tong For Their Generosity

The story on November 2, 2009 told my reader that Ms. Wang of NCHU visited me in Green Bay Oct.31-November 1, 2009. I believe that she had good times in Wisconsin. Many thanks to Sandy and Wen-Tong Lay for their generosity to allow Ms. Wang to stay in Lay's place overnight on October 31 and took her to High Cliff State Park in the afternoon of November 1.

The time of Ms. Wang's visit happened to be the time when Meeilei was in New York City taking care of our grand daughter and I was in relatively poor health and heavy workload at school. We really appreciate Lays' generosity to entertain her during her visit in Wisconsin.

Photo shows Sandy and Wen-Tong.

Dr. Chen Welcomes Ms. Wang Shu-Jiing from NCHU

Ms. Wang Shu-Jiing, a teaching assistant of mine at National Chung-Hsing University while I was on sabbatical leave in Taiwan took a bus ride of 14 hours visited me on October 31, 2009 from Cleveland Ohio. Ms. Wang is currently working at Case Western Reserve University as a 6-month visiting scholar with a support grant from the Taiwanese government. She came the US in April, 2009 and will return back to Taiwan at the end of November. I was very happy to see her. I gave her a tour at UWGB campus then I took her to another Taiwanese friend's (Lay Wen-Tong and Sandy) house to watch American kids coming over 'trick-or-treat' for Hallowin celebration. We had good times.

More stories will follow. Photo shows Ms Wang at UWGB Cofrin Library overlooking the Green Bay.