Starting Right

Episoade

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  A man can't just sit around and do nothing... 07.10.2026 5min

  A lawn chair, forty five weather balloons, a tank of helium, and a BB gun. That’s not a movie plot, it’s the true story of Larry Walters, a truck driver who wanted to fly so badly that he turned his backyard into a launch pad and accidentally floated to about 11,000 feet. We tell the whole story, from the dream that started it to the moment a pilot reports “a guy in a lawn chair” near Los Angeles International Airport, and the Navy helicopter rescue that finally brings him back to Earth.&nbsp...
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  Grandparents 06.10.2026 5min

  Childhood has changed fast, and you can feel it the moment you sit down with a teenager and watch how different their world is from the one you grew up in. After spending time with our grandchildren and sharing a simple moment around a new video game, we step back and talk honestly about the dangers, pressure, and confusing messages kids face today and why grandparents still matter more than ever. We lean on two anchors: lived experience and lasting truth. I read a striking letter Paul...
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  Starting The Week With Gonna Be Good 05.10.2026 4min

  Monday can hit like a wave, and if you’re already tired before the week even starts, you’re not alone. We’re keeping it simple and steady with a five-minute devotional designed to lift your focus and give you a clean start to the day. Grab your coffee, take a breath, and let worship music do what it does best: move you from stress to trust. Our Music Monday pick is “Gonna Be Good” by Taya, a voice you likely recognize from Hillsong Music and the iconic worship song “Oceans.” We talk ab...
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  Different Strengths, One Body 02.10.2026 5min

  You can love Jesus and still feel totally baffled by the people around you. One person wants a plan, another wants a party, another wants peace, and another wants to lead the charge. So what if the friction you feel is less about “bad attitudes” and more about God-designed differences you haven’t learned how to read yet? We start with 1 Corinthians 12 and Paul’s clear picture of the body of Christ: one body with many parts. Then we connect that Scripture to a practical, memorable personality...
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  A Shipwreck, A Fire, And The Prayer God Answers 01.10.2026 6min

  A ship goes down in the South Pacific, and one man makes it to shore alive: a preacher who is furious at God. He builds a life from wreckage, finds water and food, and still wakes up every day asking the same questions many of us whisper when life hurts: Where are you, God, and why won’t you answer me? Then the worst thing happens. While he’s away gathering food, his hut catches fire and everything he’s built is swallowed by flames. He collapses in anger and grief, convinced this is proof th...
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  You Have to Listen to Hear 29.09.2026 5min

  God can feel painfully quiet when you’re stressed, tired, and out of answers. That’s why so many of us end up saying the same simple line: “I need a word from God.” Today’s five-minute encouragement starts there, with the real-life emotion behind that prayer, and the honest question hiding under it: If God is with me, why does everything still feel so hard? We go back to Judges 6 and sit with Gideon in the middle of a crisis. Israel is being crushed by the Midianites, and Gideon is literally...
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  Be Glad 28.09.2026 5min

  Some mornings don’t need more noise. They need a reset. We open with a simple, sturdy line from Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made,” and we treat it like a real decision point. Before the emails, before the headlines, before the stress spiral, we choose to rejoice and be glad, not because life is easy, but because God is good and his love doesn’t quit. We talk about why gratitude is not shallow optimism but a daily act of worship that reshapes your mind and your reactions. When...
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  Wild Wolf 23.09.2026 5min

  A half-wolf with a taste for chickens sounds like an odd place to find life advice, but Jack London's White Fang story hits a nerve fast. We start with a simple picture: instinct lunges toward what looks good, a steady voice calls it back, and over time a wild heart learns a new “law.” That’s not just animal training, it’s a map for daily self-control when no one is watching and the temptation is right in front of us. We connect that image to real life “chickens” the distractions and d...
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  A Song You Have Never Sung 23.09.2026 5min

  Some worship songs feel like a warm blanket. This one feels like a spine. We’ve been reading through the Book of Acts and getting a fresh look at the New Testament church, where faith isn’t a weekend accessory. Believers share sacrificially, face life-and-death pressure, and still watch the Spirit of God move with power through miracles, spiritual gifts, and people coming to Christ in huge numbers. That contrast naturally raises a question I can’t shake: what did their church gatherings actua...
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  Turn On The Light 22.09.2026 5min

  You can know your “usual path” and still get hurt when one small thing changes in the dark. That’s the image I can’t shake as I talk through a moment we’ve all lived: waking up at night, trying to navigate the house without turning on the light, and suddenly slamming into what you didn’t expect. It’s funny until it’s not, and it’s a surprisingly honest picture of what uncertainty does to us when we keep moving as if nothing has changed. Right now, a lot of us are facing a world that feels un...
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  The Last Page Promise 21.09.2026 4min

  When the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, your mind can start writing the worst ending possible. We hit pause on that spiral and reach for a different anchor: a song Danny Mac could not wait to share on Music Monday, Matthew West’s “Last Page of the Bible” featuring Anne Wilson. We talk about the moment Matthew West connected the song to one of Billy Graham’s most memorable lines, that he’d “read the last page of the Bible” and God says everything is going to turn out alr...
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  A Demon’s Career Advice Gone Wrong 18.09.2026 6min

  The most dangerous temptations don’t look like disasters. They look like tiny detours that feel reasonable. Today we take a fast, focused look at C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and why this classic Christian book on temptation and spiritual warfare still feels uncomfortably current. Lewis flips the usual approach by letting us overhear demons strategizing, and that “backwards” view makes the patterns easier to recognize in our own habits, thoughts, and priorities. We talk through Screwta...
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  Hey God. Are You Listening? 17.09.2026 5min

  You can pray, ask the right questions, and still feel the sting of, “I haven’t seen God doing anything lately.” That honest frustration is where we start, because so many of us measure God’s work by what we can point to, prove, and post. I walk through a conversation with a friend who’s been faithful for years, yet feels like heaven has gone quiet, and I ask the question that changes the frame: what are you expecting God to do? We would love to hear your comments. Send us a Text Message Su...
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  When "What If" Shows Up At Night 16.09.2026 4min

  “What if?” It sounds small, but it can hijack your whole day, and it loves to show up at night when everything is quiet. Today I’m taking on that worry spiral head-on and giving you a simple, five-minute mindset shift you can carry into work, family stress, health scares, and all the unknowns that like to camp out in your thoughts. Here is what “what if” really does: it multiplies fear, steals sleep, and convinces you the worst case scenario is the most likely one. Then I tell a sharp s...
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  Reepicheep 15.09.2026 5min

  A brave mouse from Narnia might be the last person you’d expect to challenge your faith, but Reepicheep does exactly that. I’m Danny Mack, and today on Starting Right I share how reading The Chronicles of Narnia as an adult opened my eyes to the Christian theology C.S. Lewis threads through the story, especially in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. When Reepicheep reaches the very edge of Aslan’s country and chooses to go on with Aslan, it becomes a powerful picture of courage, surrender, and w...
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  Sunday Sermons 14.09.2026 5min

  Today's episode was originally broadcast on June 3, 2024. The message is just as relevant and powerful today as it was then.. Enjoy and be blessed Some lines don’t just sound good, they expose what you’re really standing on. Today’s five-minute Monday reset is built around one of those lines from Anne Wilson’s “Sunday Sermons”: “The devil’s gonna try and take me out of that church, but you can’t take the church out of me.” I share why that lyric hit me so hard and why this song is more ...
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  When You Are Tired Of Being You 11.09.2026 5min

  The strangest crashes often come right after a win. One day you’re handling everything, serving everyone, pushing through on faith and grit. The next day you wake up and think, “I’m just tired of the stress of being me.” That’s the honest place we start from today, and it’s exactly where Scripture gets painfully real. We open 1 Kings 19 and sit with Elijah after Mount Carmel, after the fire-from-heaven moment, after the public victory. Jezebel’s threat sends him running, and he ends up alone...
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  What Every Teacher Needs to Hear Today 10.09.2026 5min

  Teaching can feel like standing in the middle of a storm while trying to light a small, steady lamp. Today I’m dedicating this short morning episode to teachers everywhere, the ones in public school classrooms, Christian schools, and homeschooling families who keep showing up because they love kids and care about what happens to them. We talk honestly about the pressure many educators feel right now: the constant demands, the limits on what you can say or do, and the uneasy moments when expe...
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  Remember Who You Are 09.09.2026 5min

  One sentence can pull you out of a spiral. King Richard the Lionheart is known as a fearless warrior, yet even he has a moment where he retreats because the odds look impossible. Then an advisor rides up and says, “Don’t forget who you are,” and everything changes. The battlefield doesn’t suddenly get easier, but Richard’s identity snaps back into focus and his next move follows. That story sets up a five-minute morning reset for anyone who feels overwhelmed, worn down, or quietly afraid abo...
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  Ready To Give An Answer 08.09.2026 5min

  Someone looks you in the eye and says, “I don’t believe God exists.” Your mind races, your heart pounds, and even though you feel sure of what you believe, the words don’t come. That tension, knowing something deep down yet struggling to explain it clearly, is where we start today. We talk through one of the most common objections people raise: if God is real and loving, why is there so much suffering? We name the realities people point to sickness, abandoned children, starvation, racism, po...