Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
When God's Path Isn't What You Expected
What happens when a promising athlete's Olympic dreams are suddenly derailed by a devastating medical condition? Jared Wallace's remarkable journey from elite runner to Paralympic champion offers a masterclass in resilience, faith, and discovering purpose through life's unexpected turns.
As you face your own unexpected challenges and redirections, ask yourself: are you willing to follow where God leads, even when the path looks nothing like what you expected? Your detour might just be your destiny.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day. Right Back in the spring of 2006, a young man by the name of Jared Wallace was one of the best runners in the entire state of Georgia. He had won several championships and was looking forward to trying out for the American Olympic team. This was his goal to be an Olympian for the United States. However, later that year he began to get some funny reactions in his leg. It began to not feel right and he was eventually diagnosed with what they call compartment syndrome, which is damage to the muscle and nerves in the leg. He went through several surgeries. He had some problems with some infections and some other issues as these surgeries were being done and eventually, in 2010, he was told that the only hope for his leg was to amputate it. So later that year he had his 11th surgery to remove his leg. They were able to save the knee joint, but from just below the knee down, his leg was removed. Shortly afterwards he had another surgery to fit him for his prosthetic leg. Jared is a fighter. He got knocked down, but sports helped him get right back up again and he soon realized he could still run. But now he was going to run in the Paralympics. He trained hard, worked hard and soon made his way to the American Paralympic team. He headed off to London in 2012 as part of the 4x100 team. On the day of the race, they ran very well and they finished third, only to find out later that they'd been disqualified because one of the runners had stepped over the line during one of the exchanges. Jared was devastated. Then that night, sitting frustrated in his room, he asked God what was his purpose behind all these trials? He said God seemed to say to me I've given you an amazing story. When you go back home, I want you to share this story. More people will be able to relate to a stumble than they will a medal. So Jared shared his story and he kept running. Since that time, jared has gone on to win many Olympic medals. In fact, he has set a 200-meter world record for Paralympics on two different occasions. Today, on the blade that now serves as his lower leg, jared has inscribed one short phrase that tells it all On it. He has written the words. I run for him.
Speaker 1:His faith is what's kept him going in the direction that he knew God had called him to be and what God called him to do. Many times we find ourselves in the position where we have sought out things that we thought were our plans and something devastating happens that keeps those plans from being fulfilled. We get disappointed, we get confused and it can even get us angry at God when things seem to fall apart around us. But that old phrase of when God closes a door, he opens a window Well, that's not taken out of the Bible. It is a very true phrase, because God often allows those disasters or those problems that come into our lives to shift us to a place where we can refocus on what really is important, what he really wants us to do, what he birthed inside of us, what we wanted to do was in the right direction. But God now lets those other things refine it. He lets the problems help to clarify where we want to go and what we want to do.
Speaker 1:Very early in Jared's life he had committed himself to Jesus Christ. He knew that he wanted to live the way God wanted him to live, and he thought that it was going to be in running. He believed that God had called him to be a runner. But then those plans seemed to change. And then he realized those plans didn't change, they were just modified a bit. He decided he was going to run. He knew that whatever he did, however, god was going to use him. He was going to do it the best way he could that would bring glory to God.
Speaker 1:Psalm 143, verse 10, says Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on level ground, jared. Let God lead him in a new direction and in doing so, he was able to bring glory to God and fulfill his dreams at the same time. So, my friends, as you are facing challenges and things that are changing around you, and things are not the way that you thought they would be or the way you were expecting them to go my challenge today is are you willing to say Lord, teach me to do your will. Just show me what you want me to do and I will follow where you lead me, because I know that's the best way that I can go. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
