Phil Bonasso: A Love Story by Phil's wife Part V

( Hi everyone! Merry Christmas!! I hope your Holiday season is going fantastic! Thanks for visiting again and reading my beautiful wife's posts on how the Lord brought us together. Blessings, Pastor Phil Bonasso)



Although Phil Bonasso also grew up in a traditional denominational
church, his experience with God was quite different…a little more
"colorful" maybe. By the time he was in high school he knew about God
and believed that there was a God and participated in the traditions
of the church. But he was about to encounter God in an unexpected way.

As I said before, high school was a challenging and lonely time for
Phil Bonasso. Although he was a huge romantic at heart he was very shy
when it came to girls. He was in and out of trouble with the
Principal. He loved playing basketball on the school team but was
afraid of playing in front of the crowds. His father was a colonel in
the Army and therefore often gone. His brother with whom he was very
close had gone off to a Military Academy. His mother was engaging
challenges of her own. Confusion and depression were held at bay by
music and cigarettes…and God's everloving Hand on his life.

This was the time that God began to show Himself in unconventional
ways in Churches. His mother being a devout woman sought support in
the Church with the challenges she was facing. She was invited to a
meeting with other women who would come together to pray. This unique
meeting helped her so she thought it might help her son. After many
times of being asked and after many moments of misery, he agreed to
go.

How odd it was that a high school teenage boy would choose to go to a
meeting of middle aged women who just sat around and prayed. God was
using Phil Bonasso's desperation to set him up for a most amazing
encounter…with Him.


To be continued…

Phil Bonasso: A Love Story Part IV by his Wife

( Hi evreyone! Welcome back to my blog! Thanks for continuing to read my wife's post on how the Lord brought us together! Thanks again, Pastor Phil Bonasso)



This love story must now continue with my love story with God and
Phil Bonasso's love story with God. It has to continue here because
it was in each of our journeys toward God that we found each other.

It seems to me that at whatever age you encounter God, the experience
that occurs in your heart and soul is the same…and you always remember
the very moment it happens.
My story begins when I was 6 years old attending Catholic grade school
in Pennsylvania. In first grade I was introduced to the God who made
me and loved me. I was in awe of such a wonderful being. By the time I
was 7, I was learning about Jesus and how he died on the cross for my
sins. It was through learning about confessing my sins and the
sacrament of Communion that I came to the realization that I wanted to
know Jesus more.
I remember a specific moment kneeling in my second grade classroom
praying to Jesus. I told Him I loved Him more than anything and that I
always wanted to be close to Him. The response I experienced from the
Lord in my heart I had no words for then but years later I came to
understand as "being saved" or "giving my life to the Lord". From that
time on I had various encounters with the Lord as He led me, through
the traditions of the Church, into a deeper understanding of His death
and resurrection…for me and the world. The choosing of His will over
mine was another vivid experience which happened at twelve years old
as I was.praying "The Lord's Prayer" at my bedside before bedtime:
This I would eventually learn was called choosing His Lordship for my
life. With the advent of the Charismatic renewal upon the
denominational churches, I began seeking the presence and activity of
the Holy Spirit in my life. High school came while I was searching for
this expression of the Holy Spirit. It was a lonely, yet great time of
my life because my loneliness drew me closer to God whom I dearly
loved.

Meanwhile Phil Bonasso was on his own journey leading him to an
interaction with the God with whom we all have to do…


To be continued…

Phil Bonasso: A Love Story by Phil's wife Part II

(My wondeful wife contiues her story!)

So how can Phil Bonasso be my high school sweetheart if we didn’t even know each other…and we were so different? Well, high school is a very interesting time of life. It’s what’s happening in a person’s soul that makes it a unique, yet universal moment. As different as Phil and I were, we did have some similarities.

Phil Bonasso came from a Catholic family and so did I. The number of children in the two families would have given one a hint to that possibility. I never quite understood when I was young why the next question after how many kids were in my family was always followed by the statement “You must be Catholic! Anyway, our families were devout Catholics. By high school I also was very devout. Phil was not so much. I never got into” trouble” but Phil was in and out of “trouble”. We both seemed to be natural leaders. I was quiet internally but not afraid to lead. Phil Bonasso was the same. We each had many friends from both sides of the tracks, so to speak, which translated very differently in the Northeast compared to the South. But he was lonely and so was I: That’s the inevitable state of the high school person’s soul no matter how popular one is.

Because of this innate loneliness we were both looking for sweethearts … we were looking for each other…in high school…many miles and many experiences away…

To be continued…

Phil Bonasso: A Love Story by Phil's wife

(Hi Guys! My wife wanted to post some encouraging thoughts about the Lord's hand in guiding us to each other. I hope you enjoy her keen insights!)

I keep a picture of Phil Bonasso on my desk. I suppose many couples do that. But my picture is of him in his basketball uniform as a high school athlete. I didn’t know Phil then. He went to a high school in Alabama: I went to a high school in Pennsylvania. Not only were our schools far from each other but the lives we led before I knew Phil were also very “far apart” experientially.

I am the oldest of seven children. Phil Bonasso is the youngest of five children. I lived in one place all my life. He lived in Kansas, West Virginia, London, England, Germany, and Alabama. His father was an officer in the Army.

In high school I was a very conscientious straight A student, a cheerleader, a class officer and very naïve. Phil was not at all concerned about grades, played basketball, was student body president and very “street smart”. If you know anything about high school politics a class officer is very different than a student body president. A class officer pretty much works like an ambassador of the Administration whereas the student body president works for the rights of the students. At that time in history the “rights” were usually things that were not allowed like wearing jeans, smoking, free class periods, etc. I think you get the picture that Phil and I approached school in a very different way.

I keep the picture of Phil Bonasso on my desk and I tell my children that it is a picture of my high school sweetheart…

To be continued…