Josh and Shelly Buck Family Ministries

Josh and Shelly Buck Family Ministries Josh and Shelly Buck Family Ministries exists to bring hope and respite to families in crisis. http://www.joshandshellybuck.org

11/07/2025

November 2025 update – A little update on how I’m doing emotionally and physically these days.
This summer reminded me of something simple but hard: sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is slow down, be still, and let Jesus speak.
He hasn’t stopped meeting me in the quiet. He hasn’t stopped being faithful.

08/08/2025

Update… Friday, August 8, 2025

Well… I'm heading home today. I would have loved to have given you a blow by blow of what the last two weeks have looked like, but honestly they have been filled with enough frustration, pain, and logistical busyness that I just didn't have the emotional bandwidth.

Since my last update I have changed wound doctors. I have been told by the plastic surgeon that he doesn't want to see me for 90 days. I have learned even more that you have to be your own best advocate, and sadly, the open incision that I was so concerned would still be open when I was discharging from Mary Free Bed, is still open.

So I I am so thrilled to be headed home after seven weeks of being away, but when I get there, I will still have several weeks more bed rest to face before I can start getting up in my wheelchair.

It is bittersweet, but I desperately miss my family, my house, and my dog. So glad for dear family, supported friends, but most of all grace and protection and constant learning from my Lord and Savior.

More to follow…
Love in Christ,
Joshua

PS  forgive any typos. I didn't go through this at all. I'm on my way out the hospital  in an ambulance (the open incision doesn't allow me to be in my wheelchair) 

MY VIEW for at least six weeks. DEALING WITH SETBACKS/BAD NEWSI haven't posted an update for awhile… I've been on vacati...
07/13/2025

MY VIEW for at least six weeks.
DEALING WITH SETBACKS/BAD NEWS

I haven't posted an update for awhile… I've been on vacation in the French Riviera…hehe

The title of my last post was FRUSTRATION… BUT A CLEARER SENSE OF PURPOSE. I feel like this one could be named the same thing. How often do you have to get bad news before it just starts to become news.

The type of surgery I had on June 19 leaves you with a very fragile surgical site for at least six weeks, and I am having to spend all of my time in a $100,000 bed (dead serious). But I have experienced another setback.

On June 31, I transferred from St. Mary's Hospital to Mary Free Bed. During the transfer, one of the staff members was too rough...

One of my incisions popped open slightly.

At another point, someone was sliding me in bed and wasn't careful….

It popped open a little bit more.

I don't think I can adequately describe my anger and disbelief. I've been dealing with a wound that is really out of anyone's direct control, and the fact that it has been surgically repaired and I'm dealing with another injury that is due to staff carelessness is stunning.

But spiritually and practically I know that dwelling in negativity isn’'t going to get me any closer to a solution. Only communication, positivity, persistence, and God's grace can do that. So here is what I have found.

The only person the hospital will allow to fix the incision is the plastic surgeon who originally did the surgery. For reasons I can't quite understand, and even though the two hospitals are connected by a long hallway, he is not permitted come to Mary Free Bed. I need to see him at his office, but I can't get in my wheelchair and use my van or it will ruin what the surgery has fixed. I will need to use an ambulance.

But according to the surgeon, even lying down in an ambulance would be too dangerous for my incisions,, so he does not want to see me until the inner layers of my surgery heal for 30 more days, and then he will worry about the incision.

I don't really have the ability to describe the increasing pain and frustration each step brings beyond what I have already expressed. (You probably won't have much trouble understanding that this is the case).

It just sucks.

But there are still possibilities. The administration here at Mary Free Bed are truly invested in helping me find a quicker solution. They are allowing me to roll in this bed all the way to St. Mary's and to a location where the plastic surgeon can see me. We are now just waiting to see if the plastic surgeon will do this. THIS IS MY BIGGEST PRAYER REQUEST RIGHT NOW.

So my current situation is this, instead of having a closed up surgical site that is healing, I have the addition of a small open incision that is deep enough that it continues to bleed. Yet again, just like since February, my skin is open!

I have already shared with you how I feel like the entire journey with this pressure sore and its closure has been unlike any other I have had. Instead of having ups and downs, it has felt like all downs… and it is causing any big summer plans we had to keep getting pushed back. With more setbacks, there wouldn't be any summer left at all.

I absolutely despise the fact that I have the thoughts of negative outcomes enter my mind at all. I am normally an irritatingly optimistic person. It can almost get frustrating to Shelly.

Even though I am feeling more negative than normal, on a completely practical level (maybe even a selfish level?) am aware of where the only real joy I have been experiencing lately comes from;
– sharing Shelly and my story
– sharing my faith
– encouraging others
– helping them through their difficult times

This week;
– I have been a marriage counselor while an aid was helping me eat lunch.

– I sincerely thanked a nurse for her help, and then I shared the hope of the gospel with her. She thanked me and told me that she was considering quitting nursing just earlier that night. She let me pray with her that she would find more joy and more service in her job.

– I explained to a hospital administrator where my freakishly joyful personality and outlook come from. We ended up talking about her life struggles and how she could better approach them.

– more…

It's like the more setback I face, the harder I press into sharing my hope. It helps me cling to hope and find joy. (is it OK if I do this with complete sincerity but also with self-serving motives? I don't want to feel negative. I desperately want to feel joy)

So I am desperately– proactively trying to seek Him, His kingdom and His joy… While at the same time trying to accept the words of Jesus and Matthew 6

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… or about your body… Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? "

I really hope this doesn't come off like I have it all together or that I am saying I am a super Christian.. I'm not exactly sure of my motives… It's possible that I'm doing those things just so I have joy. I'll just have to let you know when I figure it out more.

Fumbling my way forward in a mess…
– Joshua ‬ ‭

06/30/2025

FRUSTRATION… BUT A CLEARER PURPOSE

Greetings from Saint Mary's 4th Floor.

God has given me some remarkable opportunities in the last 10 days, but I will come back to that a little later…

This week has seen some key details frequently changing, ping-ponging my emotions some as well. These details have to be settled before I can leave the hospital. Here is what has unfolded.

The morning after my last update (morning of the 22nd) I noticed my nurse hanging an IV medication.

"What is that?"

"This is your antibiotic.

"Antibiotic for what?"

"Your osteomyelitis."

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection… that I was just finding out that I had. The normal treatment for osteomyelitis is shaving off the infected bone during surgery and then six weeks of IV antibiotics. it can even lead to sepsis. There was no bone exposed in my wound, so I was shocked... and scared.

When I talked to the surgeon, he said there was no bone exposed, but when he swabbed and cultured it there were bacteria there. In a case like this, no bone shaving is required, and the antibiotics are all that are required. I was relieved… Some. But to be really honest, it makes me nervous that something will go wrong and a new problem will emerge. This is really not likely at all, but I can't help this feeling in my gut. God, grant me peace.

Now that the antibiotics were sorted, the only thing keeping me from home was getting Insurance to cover a rental of this crazy, bubbling sand, pressure relieving bed. The plastic surgeon will not release me to anywhere that doesn't have this bed.

We have an amazing case manager who can really work magic, and by Wednesday, it was looking really good. The company was sending someone to my house to make sure the bed would work. But then late Thursday, Insurance backed out or some obscure reason that I don't really understand. I'm not going home until August.

But to make matters worse, we were even having trouble finding a facility that would take me. After several hours of scrambling, Mary Free Bed finally gave the thumbs up. Our case manager doesn't really understand why. I don't really match the qualifications, but we are just thankful I have a place to go.

When I came in for surgery, I was supposed to be inpatient for a night and then come home. The actuality is that I wouldn't be coming home for six weeks.

I spent the majority of Saturday Quiet, then sarcastically frustrated, then angry, then singing worship songs, then quietly pi**ed, then searching scripture… my emotions have just really been taking a beating.

Then I got on the phone with a dear Christian brother. After telling him all the details that I have just explained, he asked me what I had been doing with my time.

I told you in my last post about how I have been sharing and connecting with the staff here. People know that I am a Christian, so I strive to be who Christ would be if he were here. As the week progressed, I got more and more opportunities to share God's love and explain the comfort and peace that comes from following his will.

Honestly, there have been three people that have cried in my room out of joy or just longing for more from this life this week.

Our family's story so easily leads into talking about other's faith that I have solidly connected with a lot of people this week. (I even heard that during a nurse's meeting I was called a "ray of sunshine.")

(None of this is because of anything good about me or my effort. it is God's grace and the presence of Christ in me.)

After telling my friend all of this, he laughed at me. He said that he was genuinely sorry about all the pain… But he said that it was so obvious that God has a plan for me right now that I just don't like, but that I am being called to.

He said that I was getting a small taste of what Paul must have felt when he was in jail... living and loving like Christ and even being known by the prison guard.

So I head to Mary Free Bed tomorrow, flat on my back, unable to move, continuing my journey since February of a missing out on life: my own, my wife's,, my kid's, BUT I am fairly certain what God is calling me to do…

Open up to those around me– showing the hope, peace, contentment, and life that come from living for something greater than ourselves– living for the glory of God. And even though I desperately want to be home, I know that he will bring me some

Joy in the midst of pain.

In Christ,
Joshua

(Sorry for any typos, but it's 3:25 and I am not proofing :)

06/21/2025

Friends and family,

GOOD NEWS, AND DISAPPOINTMENT
I'm sorry you haven't received an update since surgery. The surgery was successful, and the surgeon said that there will be a solid successful outcome. Great news.

By the time I was through recovery and got up to my room, it was basically time to go to sleep.

I woke up to a parade of doctors at about 6:30 (pretty normal). The surgeon wasn't here, but he had told me 3-4 weeks recovery at home, and only a day or two in the hospital.

All of the doctors acted like I was crazy when I mentioned that this morning… "We always have our pressure sore patients stay six weeks." or "the only way we would let you go home is if you can find a way to rent a specialty sand pressure relieving mattress to your home."

Thankfulness for the surgery and deep disappointment for the next six weeks.

This pressure sore has been a strange journey. It started out the size of a BB... the first Wound Clinic I went to inadvertently (almost negligently) made it much worse. Each time they tried something new the outcome would be bad. Every visit was bad news. By the time I switched to a new Wound Clinic, the hole in the back of my leg was the circumference of a quarter and the depth of probably three quarters. And then it formed a 2 1/2 inch tunnel inside.

I switched Wound Clinics.

Even with 24 hour bedrest, the main wound got much better, but the tunnel would not get shorter. And I worked on this for several months… Flat on my back 24 hours a day.

As I left every appointment, I was disappointed. Bad news every time.

So when Surgery was finally approved, and when the plastic surgeon confidently said 3-4 weeks… At home, it was the first good news I had really had. Hopes...

Dashed this morning.

I have had so many operations and serious illnesses… Massive pneumonia multiple times… Septic infections-multiple times… Bilateral amputation due to massive pressure ulcers… countless UTIs… The implanting of a hockey puck size stainless steel pump into my abdomen to keep me from having crippling spasms… Spinal fluid leaks… and two surgeries on pressure ulcers at different locations.

Through all of this, I have seen God move, and I have always been able to find hope.

But since February, there has been almost no hopeful news, and I have found myself becoming a bit cynical and hopeless. I know this isn't what God has for me, but I just can't shake it I lie here hurting 3:10 AM.

(I know there are people out there with much worse diagnoses… I am just kind of exhausted from not feeling hope. )

After the doctor left I just stared at the ceiling here in my room feeling pi**ed. After about two hours, I realized that it wasn't helping, so I kicked into hospital mode.

Hospital mode is a way that I carry myself that is engaging and fun for the staff, but it ensures that I get really great care as well! I am a people person and extrovert. I know that I will get better care and more friendly conversations if I learn the staff and treat them kindly. I had long conversations with multiple people, and I even got to share Jesus was a guy that works on this floor.

It helped, but I knew that it wouldn't last. So I invited the chaplain in for a chat.

I am realizing that one problem I have is that I always want people to be able to see my Faith and the miraculous works He has done for me (and Shelly).

But I think my tendency has become "when bad things come… Don't get too worked up… Just keep doing what you need to do because God is going to use this somehow." I knew that I wasn't taking time to grieve the bad things… I just threw that part out… And went straight for the redemption. It's not healthy… Always being the face of joyful redemption… Because I believe it… But it still is exhausting.

And in this case, when there has been a bad report SO many times... hope feels foolish.

So I invited the chaplain down for a chat. I told him the entire story and then invited him to tell me what I need to do better… Or what I needed to do differently.

He sat silently and thought for a couple minutes and then he said, "even if in your faith you believe that God will redeem all the ugliness, pain, and grief, you have to let your heart and your emotions lament. So I read and meditated on Psalm 130 and Psalm 6. Psalm six blew me away. It felt like the words that I could have written.

“Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.

My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?

Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬-‭4‬

It didn't change everything, I am still frustrated and so sad that I will continually lose the summer with my wife and kids just like I lost this friend… BUT it was a moment of truth, a moment of catharsis, and of a deep lament. I cried hard the first time I read it. It gave me a weapon so that I can fight against resignation in suffering.

Finishing this at 4:58. Can't sleep.

Thank you all so much for your hearts of love for the Bucks, your generosity and supporting our ministry, and your constant attitudes and lives of prayer joining with us.

Please pray for me that I can do this remaining time well and in a godly way… And pray that something works out with getting a bed to our house or having the plastic surgeon go ahead and OK be 3-4 weeks. Pray for my spirit and pray for my energy. This has been a long long exhausting road.

The next time I will share with you about how this affects Shelly and the kids. Keep them in prayer as well!

Thank you so incredibly much!
Joshua

06/19/2025

Josh here…
Surgery today is running a little behind so I can post a prayer request quickly.

The surgery is a fairly routine surgery. Should be about an hour long repairing the damaged skin where the pressure sore is. There is a lot to pray for, but this is probably what weighs on my heart the most heavily...

If you could pray that the recovery details are still what the plastic surgeon assumed they would be from the beginning… 3-4 weeks at home on bedrest. it has been SUCH a long road… Having a shorter recovery time like he thinks I should well be so helpful.

Thank you for always surrounding our family when things are tough. You all are such a blessing!

In Christ,
Joshua 

03/19/2025

JOSH HEALTH UPDATE 

03/09/2025

My daddy has left his earthly body and has been called to His Lord. Our hearts are grateful he is no longer suffering but we are heartbroken.

02/28/2025

Just a quick update on John and Callie:

John
After a fairly sleepless night in Florida last night, John's flight back to Michigan was fairly routine. Jean, Derek, and Joan (John's dear sister-in-law) flew from Sarasota to Grand Rapids with him. He did pretty well knowing where he was and what he was doing… And spent some of his time reading through an aviation magazine that Derek bought for him.

Shelly and Zoë picked them up from the airport, and then they drove to Allendale while Derek hopped right back on a plane to Sarasota so he could pack John and Jean's things and then road trip back to Allendale.

John was well aware that he was home, and altogether they said that it was a good day. Today was fairly positive, but they will still remain in continued need of your prayers.

Callie
As I mentioned yesterday, Callie is still in the hospital for at least a couple more days. Geoffrey tried to get some work done today while Sarah Beth spent her time at the hospital. After some decent improvement yesterday, Callie remained on her upward trend earlier today.

There was one discouraging thing that happened today. Although all of her labs and levels had normalized by the time they were checked midday, they found some bleeding in her bowels. This probably doesn't change much as far as her treatment is concerned, it is just further evidence of her G.I. fragility. Please keep them in your prayers as her little body is still so tired and her intestines need time to heal.

Thank you for continuing to be so firmly behind us. We covet your prayers.

More to come.

Family and friends,Just a quick post to let you know about two serious needs for prayer: Shelly's dad (John) and our nie...
02/27/2025

Family and friends,

Just a quick post to let you know about two serious needs for prayer: Shelly's dad (John) and our niece (Callie).

John
In the midst of dealing with some serious heart issues (which the doctors were seeming to get control of), he contracted a viral infection of the brain and spinal cord (encephalitis and meningitis) from the shingles virus. After almost 3 weeks, he was medically stable enough to return to their place in Florida.

But there are still serious medical and cognition challenges. Everyone in the family agrees that now is the best time to return home to Michigan. PLEASE be in prayer for the flight home tomorrow (Thursday mid morning), his continued healing, and for Jean (Shelly's mom) as she is returning to Michigan with a different life than she left with.

Callie
Monday night my almost 2 year-old niece vomited at least 16 times. When they couldn't keep any fluids down her the next morning, they ended up taking her to the ER. Initially, fluids brought her high heart rate down, but very quickly the doctors realized that her lactic acid levels were WAY too high, and she had to be medevac to a large hospital (in Denver).

She had contracted Enterocolitis (bowel infection) that had come on fast and severe. After treatment, she is doing much better. Callie has Hirschsprung's disease, which can severely affect the motility of the bowels, and people with Hirschsprung's have a much increased chance of contracting Enterocolitis.

Now that Geoffrey and Sarah Beth (my brother and sister-in-law) know more about Enterocolitis (they were never fully informed of prevention and first steps of treatment), they will be able to spot it and even treat it at home to a certain degree, but they have realized how fragile Callie‘s G.I. system truly is.

Please be in prayer for Callie, her twin (Mac), Geoffrey, and Sarah Beth. Pray for continued healing of Callie's bowels. Pray that she's strengthens quickly. Pray for continued protection for her tiny digestive system, and pray for emotional and spiritual encouragement for their family (their son, Ames, who passed away would have been 5 today).

I will let you know how the flight goes and try to keep you informed on Callie's recovery. Thank you for loving and supporting us and for being there for our family.

Joshua

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2951 Coppergrove DR NE
Grand Rapids, MI
49525

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