Forgiven, Then Free

Five minutes can change the tone of your whole day. We share a small farm story with a big truth: an eight-year-old’s impulsive shot, a hidden duck, and a sister’s quiet leverage that turns daily life into penance—until a brave confession meets unexpected grace. That simple moment opens a window into how guilt lingers, how secrets exhaust us, and how real forgiveness breaks the cycle and returns us to joy.
We walk through the emotional mechanics of hiding—why fear makes us easy to control, why doing more never feels like “enough,” and how shame negotiates terrible deals we keep accepting. Then we ground the shift in two anchor texts: Psalm 139, which reminds us that God knows our thoughts, our sitting and rising, our paths and rest; and 1 John 1:9, which promises faithful, just forgiveness and cleansing. Together, they paint a clear picture: confession doesn’t update God; it liberates us. Love arrived before your words. Grace is not a loophole; it’s the way home.
From there, we offer practical steps to move from burden to freedom: name what happened without hedging, make honest amends where you can, stop paying shame with busyness, and adopt small daily practices that shrink the gap between impulse and action. The goal isn’t to ignore the damage; it’s to end the endless dishes and get back to the “fishing”—the ordinary moments that feel light again. If you’re starting the morning with a knot in your chest, let this story breathe room into your soul and reset your pace with courage, clarity, and peace.

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Chapters

• 0:10 Welcome & Morning Setup
• 0:34 Johnny, the Slingshot, and the Duck
• 2:12 Sally’s Secret and Silent Blackmail
• 3:02 Confession, Forgiveness, and Freedom
• 4:05 Scripture, Assurance, and Next Steps
• 5:30 Blessing and Daily Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mack and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right. Have you ever done something that's really dumb and then tried to hide it? Only to find out that it wasn't as hidden as you thought it was. Today is a story of a young boy who went through that scenario. He did something on impulse, made a big mistake, and then tried to hide it. But then he wound up paying for it in ways that he didn't have to, because it wasn't as hidden as he thought it was. Eight-year-old Johnny was visiting his grandparents out on their farm. To keep him busy, his grandfather had given him a slingshot, and together they walked out into the woods behind the house and set up a tin can on a fallen log so that Johnny could practice. Well, Johnny practiced all afternoon, but he was never able to hit the can. He bounced some rocks off of the log beside it. He bounced some rocks into the ground, and many came close, but he never was actually able to hit the can. As the afternoon was fading away and feeling very discouraged, Johnny headed back to the house for dinner. But as he was walking along, he saw waddling across the field in front of him Grandma's pet duck. Don't ask me why, in fact, Johnny himself could never explain why, but as he saw the duck, he lifted up a slingshot and let loose one shot at it. Well that one rock hit the goose square in the head and immediately killed it. Johnny was overwhelmed with grief and with panic. He didn't know what to do, so he took the duck's body and he decided to hide it in the wood pile. But what Johnny didn't realize was that his sister Sally had seen the entire thing. The next day after lunch, Grandma said, Sally, let's wash the dishes. Sally looked over at Johnny and said, Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen. Then she whispered to him, Remember the duck? So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked the children if they wanted to go fishing. And Grandma said, I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper. Sally just smiled again and said, Well, that's alright, because Johnny told me he wanted to help. She whispered again, Remember the duck. So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of doing both Johnny's chores and Sally's, he couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. His grandmother knelt down beside him and gave him a hug and said, Johnny? I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I I saw the whole thing. And because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you. The lesson of that story for us all is that whatever is in our past, whatever we've done, whatever mistakes you've made, whatever failings that you have in your life, whatever it is that keeps coming at you and attacking you, bad habits, cheating, lying, anger, gossip, whatever those things are, you need to know that God has already seen it. He's already seen your entire life. He's already seen everything that you've been through. He's already seen every mistake that you ever have made, and he knows every mistake that you ever will make. And he still loves you. And he forgives you. Psalm 139, verses 1 to 3. O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit, you know when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar, you discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. And then over in 1 John, we are told that God forgives us. 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what God does for us. He sees everything that we do, He sees every mistake that we make, and He still loves us. And once our sins are forgiven by Him, they are gone, as far as the East is from the West. So this morning, my friends, if you're carrying around some guilt, some problems, some stress from the past, some things you don't like about yourself because you know the mistakes you've made and you know that you're less than perfect. Know that your God still loves you and he still declares you righteous before him. Be right with him today. Ask for his forgiveness, get the strength that you need, and go on in the strength that he gives you every day. God bless you, my friends. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Max.