Okay, I’m about to break one of my own rules (no names in the main blog area), but this situation overrides the usual rules. It is a day of Great Rejoicing!
Beng . . . IS ALIVE!!!
For those who may not know, Beng is a Catholic Indonesian gentleman who frequents the blog as well as Steve Ray’s message board. (That’s his avatar on the left.)
I was chilled to the core when a blog reader told me that Beng was in Indonesia at the time of the tsunami.
Working in cooperation with the folks on Steve Ray’s board, I and others tried desperately to verify that Beng was okay and to make contact with him. No luck. As time passed with no word from Beng, a lot of us were getting more and more concerned, but still trying to reassure ourselves that he was probably okay. Just yesterday at work I was seeing the horrific and mounting death toll and doing the math against Indonesia’s 200 million population to reassure myself that Beng was overwhelmingly likely to be okay.
Then when I got home, a kindly reader told me by e-mail that Beng had posted on Steve Ray’s board.
Then I discovered an e-mail from Beng himself! He wrote:
Jimmy, I really, really, really REALLY apreciate the concerns and you
is positively included. I can’t thank God enough for the fellowship
that we have on the net.
whew!
PRAISE GOD!!!
Glad you’re back online, Beng! You’ve been sorely missed!
Over on Steve Ray’s board, there is MUCH rejoicing.
One of the great things about Beng is his wonderful way of expressing himself, which frequently involves the word "anathema." One poster on Steve’s board wrote (tongue-in-cheek and yet in those dark days still-assured that Beng was really still alive):
I’ve trying to lighten my mood and picture Beng shaking his fist at the tsunami yelling at it that it is "Anathema".
Now folks are proclaiming the election of Pope Anathema I.
What was lost has now been found.
All 99 of us sheep who were not out of touch are now rejoicing.
this excerpt from the Beng-inator is a little scary, Jimmy:
“When I read Jimmy’s (Akin that is) message I was very very touch. I felt like…. to describe… an invisible nerd who heard that the most kind and popular babe concerns about him, let alone knows about his existance. ”
This blog has the BEST subject headings!!!!!
I’d just chalk that up to Beng’s distinctive manner of expressing himself.
In 2001 someone reported seeing a signature tag that said, “ll yr vwl r blng t s”. I had never heard of the game so I asked, “Shouldn’t that be
‘ll yr vwls blng t s’? or am I missing something?”
I received enlightenment.
Well Quasimodo, it’s actually (as Jimmy said) an expression. I was so overwhelmed by the concern of the many people who I have only met online. But then again because we are united by the “mystical body of Christ” I guess it’s should not be surprising.
I can’t thank enough (nad this is not just small talk!!) for all the concern that all of my brother in Christ has shwon. All I can do is to respond back adequately to that concern with the same love, enthusiasm, prayer, care and more.
And now, let us continue to pray for the deaths and the survivors (especially from the one Catholic Diocese in Aceh).
Dominus Vobiscum!
Beng,
I hope you make it back to OC someday. Thanks to Jimmy for helping track you down. I am impressed that Jimmy knows some Bahasa Indonesian. That blew my mind as I am barely fluent in spanglish.
-Ted
:rose:
Dear Beng:
I rejoice that you are still among us.
{{{{{hug}}}}}
I am also glad that you weren’t alone for Christmas. Hope the Lord raises up face to face friends when you come to the States again.
God bless.
Thanks so much for posting this, Jimmy.
Top 500 List
Top 500 Search Engines, Directories, Indexes & Catalogues…