About me ...
Hi, I'm Frank, and among other things I work as a writer, story teller and pastor in Northern Germany. The last part is weird; I don't look or feel like a pastor, have a lot of doubts and to this day I get uncomfortable when I am together with more than three pastor colleagues.
I am married to a wonderful wife and awesome musician, Loretta (www.loreddajacque.com) and together we live in a house with our three fine children.
I WAS A STRANGER -- THE REFUGEE CRISIS - A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Kindle Edition
Last night they were night they were still determined that there was simply no other way. But early in the morning when Samer is about to leave, his pregnant wife is crying relentlessly and pleads with him to stay.
His promise to get her and the baby as soon as he has found a new home, can’t stop the flow of her tears. But there simply is no way back.
There will be a long way In front of him away from the bombs and the death, in his Syrian homeland, towards a new, hopefully much better life.
The refugee crisis—arguably the greatest geo-political issue of our time—invokes all kind of feelings but can no longer be ignored.
How do you even begin to respond to something so massive and complex?
In „I was a Stranger,“ Frank Bonkowski offers stories. Stories about
… his friends who are fearful, that welcoming new people is potentially dangerous.
… about his own family who immigrated from Canada to his hometown in northern Germany.
And many stories about the adventures of refugees who made the way from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and many other places to find a new life in Europe.
These are stories that portray the plight of refugees and also the extraordinary opportunity we have to love our neighbors as ourselves.
This is a book that shows very practically how you can start a relationship without sharing a common language.
Has anyone seen God? We lost Him: How my son and I lost our faith. And how we went to Africa to look for it. Kindle Edition
When 8-year old Lukas announces that he no longer believes in God, his dad, who happens to be a pastor, is shaken. Not so much about the fact that his son has doubts. Frank himself is in a middle of a major crisis that makes him question just about everything he used to believe and now his son mirrors a lot of his feelings and thoughts about God.
Instead of trying to convince Lukas, father and son attempt a unique experiment. They decide to take a road trip to Africa to ask people if they have met God.
If Jesus told that you can find him where the weak and needy are, maybe they can find him in Uganda.
Encounters with poverty and sickness and even more the pure joy of life and unshakable faith in God take hold of their hearts and begin to make changes.