Happy Father's Day Dad!

I am not naïve enough to overlook how ‘lucky’ I was growing up. We had both mom and dad at home, they loved each other, and there was no alcoholism or drug abuse. But not just that, there was genuine love and a stable environment. Sure, we had our problems as everyone does. But I thought I would just take a minute and express my gratefulness for my father. It’s Father’s Day after all, and the Bible commands us to ‘honor our father and mother’ (Eph 6:2). So allow me to introduce my father.

Gene Bonham, Jr spent most of his career in Criminal Justice, starting out as a parole officer and administrator of a corrections program before taking his knowledge to academia. He is now a grad-school professor at the University of Central Missouri holding a Ph.D.



Very cool! (by the way, I always thought he looks a little like D.A. Carson. How cool would it be to get those two brains together to talk about the meaning of life!) But I digress ...

My Dad put up with a lot from us boys growing up. I was definitely the most argumentative and self-centered of the four boys and I am blown away when I look aback at his patience with us, especially me. He demonstrated wisdom in knowing how to pick battles with us boys and with Mom. He exercised restraint and showed humility in not having to ‘win’ every argument.

Dad taught the importance of education and study, by example. He could often be found marking up a thick book on this or that. I am grateful for the rather ‘nerdy’ qualities he passed on. I still can remember the day I finally beat him in chess! Sure, we threw the baseball around at times but I owe my love of books to Dad.

The way Dad treats his wife is especially commendable. He simply will not tolerate her to be disrespected and has shown us boys that he will come after us when we fall short of that respect!

There are a lot of other things I can talk about, but I never quite learned from Dad’s aversion to procrastination! Need to run help get those kids to church!

Dad, I am glad you are my dad and I truly love you. I wasn’t 'lucky' to have been born into your family, it was exactly the way God designed it. I am grateful He did not leave it to chance! In fact, even if it wasn’t predestined, I would still choose you 999 times out of 1,000 (just once I would choose a family where the gene pool allowed for a 40-inch vertical!)