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
Joseph’s Quiet Courage
Plans can shatter overnight, and the days before Christmas often make the cracks feel wider. We share the story of Joseph—the often overlooked figure whose quiet courage turns scandal into purpose—and explore how his choices offer a practical path for trust when life rewrites the script. From the opening reflection on the season to the heart of Matthew 1, we follow Joseph’s journey from shock to mercy to decisive obedience, and we ask what it looks like to do the same when our own expectations fall apart.
We walk through the pressure of a small-town engagement, the risk of reputation, and the radical restraint of choosing not to shame. Joseph protects Mary before he understands everything, then listens when clarity arrives through a dream. That sequence—guard another’s dignity, stay open to guidance, and act promptly when conviction is clear—becomes a blueprint for resilient faith and character. Along the way we connect these ancient choices to modern challenges: social judgment, holiday stress, and the ache of plans that won’t happen the way we hoped.
This conversation offers encouragement for anyone navigating uncertainty right now. You’ll hear a grounded reminder that God speaks in the middle of the mess, that uncomfortable directions can still be good, and that obedience is less about drama and more about steady steps. If your calendar is chaotic or your expectations have collapsed, Joseph’s story points to a better response: mercy first, then trust, then action.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. 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. Wow, here we are, just four days before Christmas. And that's hard to believe, isn't it? The time between the middle of October and now has just flown by. And by now you have heard an abundance of Christmas music and Christmas stories about Santa Claus and the elves and the reindeer. And more importantly, you've heard the true meaning of Christmas. The Virgin Mary miraculously giving birth to the Son of God and laying him in a manger. The angels declaring peace and joy from the heavens to the shepherds, and the shepherds coming and visiting that manger where the baby Jesus lay. It is the story of Christmas, and one that needs to be shared and well known by everyone. But in the middle of that story of Mary and the baby Jesus and the angels and the shepherds, there's one character who is often sort of pushed aside. That's Joseph. And Joseph really was an amazing man. He had to be, because he was chosen to become the stepfather of God's son. I can't imagine what Joseph went through when he found out that Mary was pregnant. Here he was living in a small village, betrothed to a young woman. They were looking forward to their lives together to celebrate their marriage, to start a family, to be able to become an integral part of this community with friends and family all around them. But then something happened that messed that all up. Mary told him that she was pregnant. And then she told this incredible story about it her pregnancy being caused by God Himself, that it was a miracle of God. Joseph's life just suddenly took a turn. It just looked like it was going to be a complete disaster. He was facing scandal, he was facing heartbreak, and he was facing a great deal of uncertainty. But he was a righteous man, and he decided to put her aside quietly. And then the angel did this wonderful thing of speaking to Joseph in his dream. In the dream the angel said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what she has conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew chapter one, verse twenty-four, it says, When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife. I love Joseph, and he is truly one of the heroes of the faith. It would have been so easy to simply say, Man, that was just a dream. That's just my conscience talking to me. That's just something that I'm hoping is true. But no, he recognized that God was speaking directly to him and telling him what was important, that what was happening to Mary was just as she had said. So Joseph made a decision. He decided it doesn't matter what people will say about us, it doesn't matter what people will think about us. I don't care about the gossips of the town, I don't care about those who will take the story and twist it and make it even worse. I am going to take this woman, Mary, and she will be my wife, and we will have this child which is given to us directly from God. That's a man of faith. A man of faith that said, I had my plans. I had my plans for the future, for my family, for my wife, for my children. I was looking at the places we were going to live, the things that we were going to do. I had all of my plans, but God, I believe your word, and when your word says to me that something different needs to happen, God, I will follow your way. I will do what you want me to do, and I will set aside my own desires. What plans do you have that have been messed up? Have been totally set aside, and you can't do what you expect or what you want. All of a sudden, something completely different has to happen, and you're upset about it, and you're not happy with it. What plans are those? Maybe it's Christmas, maybe it's something else. Some plans that have had to change. Look at what Joseph did. First of all, he made sure that he was going to take care of Mary's reputation. He was a man of honor and integrity, and he wasn't about to compromise that. He was not going to shame her. He was going to do everything as quietly and as nicely as possible. But then he was open to listen to what God said. God spoke to him and said, This is the woman that you are supposed to marry. What she has explained to you is true. The key to who Joseph really was on the inside, the character of the man is in the twenty-fourth verse of that first chapter of Matthew. When he woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded, and he took Mary home as his wife. God will speak to us in the middle of our hurt, in the middle of our plans being changed and being messed up on us. When God directs us with his plans, they may feel uncomfortable, they may seem like disaster to us, but his plans will always, always work out for the best. We just need to be like Joseph and say, Lord, I will trust you. I put my faith in you because you have directed me in this. God is working in your life. He's working in your family's lives right now. And you can trust him and put your faith in him even when you can't put your faith in anything else going on around you. 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 Mack.
