You Just Never Know – Amanda Swiontek

Your next-door neighbor who just lost his job. A worried mother in the ICU where you also are watching over a sick child. Your daughter’s boyfriend. A man beside you on an airplane—all opportunities to tell others about their Savior. But often these chances go unnoticed. We’re not always fully aware of what is right before us—put there by God.

Sharon Buck of Fort Mill, SC, is a friend and supporter of Time of Grace who has learned to seek out the possibilities God has in store for her. She shares the Time of Grace mission to make outreach her goal. “You never know what God will put into your life,” she says. In Sharon’s case, God has put some wonderful witnessing opportunities before her through her job and the people she touches every day. But these opportunities haven’t come easy or without personal challenge.

Three years ago a car accident took the life of her son Russell. Though mourning her son, Sharon found that around her were many people who were also struggling—people who needed to hear about their Savior. In her witness to her sons’ Coast Guard friends and his girlfriend, she found joy in the knowledge that her son was in heaven and that God had given her a chance to share that joy with those who needed it. But Sharon’s outreach didn’t stop there. God had more plans for her and the memory of her son.

Russell was in the Coast Guard, and he traveled around quite a bit. Before he died he was stationed in Massachusetts and had not been able to find a good church home. In the meantime, he was sending his offerings to Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Green Bay, WI, where his uncle was the pastor. He was earmarking his offerings to help support the growing Hmong/Laotian ministry there, which served thousands of people in the Green Bay area.

After Russell’s death, several memorials were set up for him. When Sharon and her husband, Drew, found out that Russell had been giving money to Beautiful Savior’s Hmong/Laotian ministry, they also set up a memorial for that ministry. The ministry received about $20,000 in memory of Russell. Sharon’s brother, Pastor Steve Witte, contacted her about creating a Russell Buck Fund (russelbuckfund.org) to continue supporting the Hmong/Laotian ministry. Sharon was again filled with the joy of sharing her faith in this way.

God has truly blessed the ministry in the Green Bay area—over 45 adults and many children have been baptized. Many more are receiving regular instruction in the Word. Because of dedicated donors, the Russell Buck Fund now supports two men who are studying to be pastors. These men serve the Green Bay area by hosting Bible classes and church services and visiting homes and hospitals. They not only serve the Green Bay area, but they have taken the gospel to Asia, specifically Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Many hundreds have been baptized there, and God continues to increase the numbers of his people even in an area of the world where it is often unsafe to be a Christian.

Sharon is amazed and humbled by God’s power working through her tragedy. She is amazed at the people he puts into her life who are open to hearing about the gospel. As a Mary Kay National Sales Director, Sharon meets new people regularly and has opportunities to express her faith during many speaking engagements. Sharon encourages all of us to “keep our receptors up.” She says that God’s outreach opportunities are often surprises, but everyone is looking for answers and has questions. It’s just a matter of using those opportunities to turn people toward God.

“God’s the one that’s doing it all; we’re just jars of clay. The gospel stays unchanged; we’re the ones that need to adapt to those around us so that we can relate and share it with them.”

God promises us that he has a plan for our lives. He promises that each of us has a place in furthering his kingdom. But how do you know what that place is? If you pray for God to show you the way—you never know what or who he’ll put before you.